Taking the blame: Why fighter pilots have to own their mistakes

Even the best fighter pilots make mistakes.

One of the things that often shocks new pilots is how brutally honest our debriefs can be. After nearly a full day of planning, briefing, and flying a mission, we'll gather in a room and spend hours picking apart everything that went wrong. Even if all our objectives were met and the mission was a success, we'll still comb through a "god's eye view" of the flight, along with the various recordings from inside our cockpit.

Rank comes off in the debrief, meaning the most senior officer, or the most senior pilot, are open to just as much criticism as the newest wingman. I've been in debriefs where a young Captain held the Wing Commander's feet to the fire over mistakes he made in the air. This usually comes as a shock to many in the military who are typically required to follow a strict hierarchy.

When is comes to mistakes, fighter pilots worry more about improvement than they do about rank. (USAF Photo)

As with all things related to flying, prioritization is key—we'll start with the biggest things that went wrong and try to uncover their root causes. I was recently explaining to a civilian pilot that in the debrief we spend 90% of our time on the 10% that didn't go according to plan. They were amazed that 10% doesn't go according to plan. In reality though, it can often be much higher.

The type of flying we do has more in common with sports than a typical commercial flight. We are fighting a thinking adversary that is specifically targeting our weaknesses. We, in turn, are making decisions that are trying to exploit theirs. As we fight to seize the initiative inside this decision loop; dozens of potential outcomes can occur at each phase of the mission. A mission therefore almost never goes exactly according to plan. It's a dynamic environment that forces the pilot to perceive, decide, and execute in a harsh environment, often with limited information and time.

A three-ship formation of Air National Guard F-16 Fighting Falcons flies over Kunsan City, South Korea. (U.S. Air Force photo/Tech. Sgt. Jeffrey Allen)

In training, if the bomber we were escorting was shot down, or if an enemy aircraft bombed the point we were defending, it's usually multiple overlapping mistakes that led to the failure. In fact, everyone probably had an opportunity at some point to intervene and save the day. The fighter pilot debrief works because everyone is willing to take ownership of their mistakes.

Taking ownership is a skill. As fighter pilots, most of us are predisposed to win at all costs—within the rules and regulations. In the debrief though, with the mission already flown, the way to win is to accurately identify lessons that will make everyone better for the next flight. It's a fragile environment that only works when everyone is willing to first look inward for failures to the mission.

U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptors fly in formation with F-35A Lightning IIs (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Shane A. Cuomo)

It only takes one person trying to pass the blame for the collaborative environment to fall apart. Because it's not stable, it requires constant maintenance, especially by those who could use their status to get by. The mission commander must be the first person to call themselves out for a mistake they made. Likewise, the pilot with the most experience must be willing to say they made a basic error that even a new pilot shouldn't have made. The officer with the highest rank must be willing to set the example that rank doesn't shield mistakes.

By treating everyone equally in the debrief, the mission can be analyzed in a sterile environment. We can figure out what went wrong and capture those lessons for future flights. To the casual observer it's a brutal environment, but to the pilots in the debrief it's just a puzzle on how to get better.

This article originally appeared on Sandboxx. Follow Sandboxx on Facebook.