AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2018 - 28

FLYING LIFE

The fascinating human brain

BY NATALIE BINGHAM HOOVER

How aviation forces us to live in the moment
IN THE ONGOING BATTLE OF THE SEXES, it has been
suggested that men are better at compartmentalizing their thoughts than women. In other words,
when a man is troubled by something, he is able to
put that worry into a mental box and allow his mind
to focus on other things. Women, on the other hand,
tend to allow all areas of their life to run together-
relationships and work and religion-thus making it
harder for a woman to simply file something away
into a corner of her mind to be dealt with when she's
ready. Although I know there are studies to back up
this theory, I have attempted to sleep next to a man
who is tossing and turning because he's had a stressful day at work. If the proof is in the pudding, then
my husband is evidence that compartmentalizing

Because of the demands of planning for and
executing a flight, I was forced to just be in the
moment, to give all of my focus to flying the
airplane.

Speaking of mentally demanding
situations, NATALIE
BINGHAM HOOVER
took her first flight
lesson in June 2004.
Over the next 21
months, she completed her private,
instrument, commercial ASEL,
commercial AMEL,
CFI, CFII, and MEI
ratings.

28 | AOPA PILOT May 2018

may not come as easy to all members of the male
gender as the theory may suggest.
However, worriers, take heart, for I think I have
found the secret for those of us, male or female, who
sometimes let anxious thoughts replay in our minds.
It's a trick shared by musicians, athletes, and-yes-
pilots. I noticed it one day while flying the Beechjet
on a corporate trip for a local bank. For the week
prior, I had been worrying about an issue one of my
kids was having at school. It wasn't anything serious,
but the worry was just there, constantly in the back of
my mind, popping in uninvited whenever I grew still.
On the day of my corporate trip, however, my mind
was preoccupied with everything related to the flight.
Where did my passengers need to sit in order to keep
the weight and balance within limits? Should I put on
some more fuel for the weather en route?
Once in the air, we had our hands full, navigating
a busy departure out of congested Memphis airspace.
At some point, maybe 30 minutes in, when we were
safely at altitude and on autopilot, I realized with a
smile that for the last hour, my mind had not once

wandered to thoughts of the kids, or work stress, or
any other concern.
What a wonderful gift the Beechjet had given me.
Because of the demands of planning for and executing a flight, I was forced to just be in the moment, to
give all of my focus to flying the airplane. I've noticed
the same ability to keep anxious thoughts at bay when
I play the piano or go for a run, although not to the
same extent as flying the airplane that day.
Fascinated by this newfound mind trick, I called
a friend who is a neurosurgeon and flight instructor/
designated pilot examiner, Dr. Morris Ray. I told him
about my experience in the jet and asked what happens in the human brain that inhibits outside worry
while we fly. He explained, in mercifully simple
terms, that humans aren't very good at multitasking.
So, when we fly an airplane, our brain shifts priorities from that anxious thought we've been harboring,
to what is arguably a more pleasant sensation, flying. Because flying does require a certain amount of
multitasking-we are scanning for traffic while also
monitoring instruments, listening for changes in
engine noises, using hands on the control wheel and
feet on the rudders, and more-our limited human
minds must put everything else aside in order to focus
on the task at hand.
Doc did caution me, however, that sometimes,
when the anxious thought or outside stressor is too
great, our minds do not have the ability to push it
aside in order to fly the airplane. That's when flying
is dangerous. Psychologists have come up with a list
of these stressful life events, including things such as
death of a loved one, divorce, moving homes, major
illness, and loss of a job.
It seems that the mentally demanding nature of
flying is a double-edged sword-wonderful in that it
forces us to focus on the present, but dangerous for
those facing major life stressors. Regardless, here it
is, reason number 973 in an infinite list of things I
love about aviation: It doesn't matter who you are,
man or woman, flying gives us the ability to leave
our worries behind, if only temporarily-but perhaps long enough to remind us that everything is
going to be just fine.
AOPA
WEB

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http://www.myaviation101.com

AOPA Pilot Magazine - May 2018

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