Essential “Mental Toughness” For Aviation Success

Mental toughness is essential to aviation success and safety. Both during initial training and while flying, aviation provides unique challenges. When I ran a school and interviewed candidates learning to fly, I always searched for “head, hands, and heart” during the intake discussion – native intelligence, hand-to-eye coordination, and motivation/passion. If a candidate was missing any one of these attributes, their success was always a more difficult, if not impossible.

In modern times, the only considerations on pilot intake seem to be a fat wallet, as if we can turn *anyone with $125K* into a successful pilot/CFI in 8 months. Without mental toughness, many of these learners end up in the 80% group that never finish, or whining on a Reddit stream, limping along, and only partially capable. Courage, resilience, and perseverance are essential qualities that every pilot must either possess or acquire. Aviation is challenging and unforgiving at times, and “stuff happens.” Persevering and overcoming the inevitable obstacles are the most important predictors of aviation success and survival.

Angela Duckworth argues that, contrary to popular belief, the secret to extraordinary achievement isn’t talent, “genius,” or IQ, but rather effort…Duckworth has found that the most successful people tend to have grit—which combines a sustained commitment to specific long-term goals (or passion) with the ability to work tirelessly toward those goals and easily bounce back from failure (or perseverance).

What we eventually accomplish may depend more on our passion and perseverance than on our innate talent.

Dr. Angela Duckworth’s NYT best-seller “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” found that this critical personality trait was the secret ingredient to success in almost every difficult, long-term accomplishment. For over ten years, she studied a wide variety of exceptional success stories, from cadets at West Point surviving “Beast Barracks“to the winners of the National Spelling Bee. She developed a “Grit Scale” and has suggestions for developing a positive, reslient mindset. The common personality characteristic she discovered for success was the mental toughness that she termed “grit.” You either have this and push on, or you quit. And since 80% of aviation learners drop out before getting a certificate, we should focus on this essential personality trait enabling success. We need to understand and build “mental toughness” both for pilots and educators.

Grit accurately predicts success in various fields.

Mental toughness is essential for achieving goals and making a difference.

Mental toughness allows one to stay focused and committed to goals.

Mental toughness is built through small physical wins and habits, not just motivation.

Greg Harden, a well-respected coach at the University of  Michigan, took a skinny freshman from California named Tom Brady and helped him become a 7-time Super Bowl winner. When you watch his amazing comeback performances, you wonder, “What is the fuel that powers that amazing performer?” Mental toughness!

On Sunday night, with less than three minutes left in the game, Brady, his team trailing 28-20, led an epic 91-yard touchdown drive that will rank among the most astounding in league history. 

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For SAFE Members Only (soon come):
“Mental Toughness and Flight Mastery”

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Greg Harden also worked extensively with Michael Phelps (23-time Olympic Gold Medal swimmer) and 400 other highly successful athletes. Greg proved that mental toughness and positive self-image can be taught and applied successfully. This is also the super-power necessary for aviation success. This motivational powerhouse is essential and a central element in many of my 600+ SAFE blogs (e.g. Incremental Mastery , Motivating Excellence, Rewire Your Brain). These articles are being collected and expanded into exclusive content for SAFE members. Join SAFE now and be ready for these new resources to turbocharge your teaching technique. Our mission is to improve educator effectiveness and professionalism. Fly safely (and often)!

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Join our live SAFE webinar on Oct 26th at 8pm on training superior Commercial Pilots. (Moved back a week due to my pilot workload.N) With the disappearance of retractable training/testing and also “real solo,“ Commercial is rapidly becoming “Private Pilot 2.0” even testing in the same basic trainers. What can be added to define professionalism at the commercial level?

Enter your ideas on this Google Form, and please sign up to attend HERE.