How much difference is there between leaping tall buildings in a single bound and landing on them in a helicopter?
Or between the power of a locomotive and the power of a Gulfstream jet?
Is flying people in your arms really that much different than flying people inside your state of the art, medically-equipped air ambulance?
Maybe we’re just splitting hairs making comparisons at all?
If you think about it, comic strip superheroes save lives in comic strips; emergency medical services (EMS) flight crews save lives in real life.
Do you see how easy it is? To get caught up in it all?
To start down the dangerous path of thinking we’re something we’re not?
It’s easy to do. Really easy.
What do Flight Crew and Superheroes really have in common?
In reality, not much. Not much at all.
Don’t get me wrong. There is absolutely nothing better than saving a life. And EMS flight crews and the rest of the Flight Safety Network team save plenty of lives.
The problem is that EMS flight crews live in the real world. Superheroes do not.
Superheroes are invincible. Emergency responders are not.
The even bigger problem is how easy it is to leave reality, even just momentarily, and fall into the superhero trap.
What is the Superhero Trap?
If you’re picturing Superman inside a Kryptonite jail cell strapped to a table with a circular saw inches from his super noggin….. well, give yourself an “A” for creativity, but that’s not what we mean.
The superhero trap is when emergency responders let their egos outgrow their brains.
It happens, and not just to air ambulance crews.
When it happens crews start to believe because they participate in lifesaving miracles, they too, are somehow larger than life.
A Superhero Sized Problem
If taken too far, the superhero trap can and does become a serious problem. Sometimes a fatal one.
You can understand why, right?
After all, do superheroes really need to be concerned about the weather? Or the tail rotor? Or waiting for police to secure a scene? …… you get the idea.
So what’s the answer? What should you do if you, or a member of your team, experiences superhero-like symptoms?
The super hero trap needs addressed as quickly as possible. It almost always leads to unsafe practices. It sometimes is the first link in the chain of events that leads to an accident.
A Superhero Solution
If you see someone acting super-hero like, you have a responsibility to yourself and your team to address it. Constructive feedback and self-evaluations are the keys to squelching the superhero trap quickly.
See our article Constructive Feedback: How to do it for more information about the importance of providing feedback to your team.
Nothing deflates an ego quicker than a heart-to-heart conversation with a peer. It’s one thing to hear it from an uninformed supervisor, but completely another from a peer. Most of us learn through experience to constantly critique our own performance.
Feeling good about our career choices is a good thing. By all means, please do. That’s the reason we all picked Flight Safety Network careers. It’s just important to keep it in check.
Leave the superheroes in the comic strips. Keep the real EMS world safe.
Clear skies and tailwinds,
Fly-write
p.s. Sign up for our Crew Glue Newsletter here and we’ll send you a free copy of The Flight Stuff getting started eBook.
