What Caused the Crash?

"Twenty years before the crash of KAL 801, a Korean Air Boeing 707 wandered into Russian airspace and was shot down by a Soviet military jet over the Barents Sea...Then, two years later, a Korean Air Boeing 747 crashed in Seoul. Two accidents in two years is not a good sign. Three years after that, the airline lost another 747 near Sakhalin Island, in Russia, followed by a Boeing 707 that crashes in 1989 in Tripoli and Seoul, and then another in 1994 in Cheju, South Korea." (179-180)
-Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers

In the chapter, "The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes," Gladwell talks about how plane crashes were more likely to occur depending on the pilots cultural background. In Avianca flight 052, the plane didn't crash due to any problems of the aircraft, airport, or pilots. The plane crashed because it "had run out of gas." (186) When referring to the plane ran out of fuel, it was not because the plane did not have enough fuel to get from Columbia to New York, however the cause of the crash was fuel exhaustion. (186) The crash that killed seventy-three out of the 158 passengers, could have been prevented if there wasn't a lack of communication between the pilot (Laureano Caviedes) and co-pilot (Mauricio Koltz), and between Koltz and Air Traffic Control (ATC). Koltz mentioned to ATC that they were "running out of fuel" (193), but that phrase has no meaning to ATC as all planes start to run low on fuel when approaching their destinations. Caviedes was ordering Koltz, "Tell them [ATC] we are in an emergency!" (193) But Koltz did identify that there was an emergency.

Why would a pilot put so many lives at risk? Gladwell uses the term "mitigate speech" to describe why Koltz acted they way he did during this extreme situation. Mitigate speech "refers to any attempt to downplay or sugarcoat the meaning of what is being said." (194) Koltz felt inferior to ATC, he was trying to be polite, but in a situation that Koltz was in one can not use mitigate speech, instead he should have said "Listen, buddy. I have to land." (202) However, this did not happen because Koltz was Colombian and he saw himself as a subordinate. (207) He did not think he had any authority to tell ATC what to do. When Koltz advised ATC that his plane was running low on fuel he felt that he had offended those in the control tower.

CAVIEDES: What did he say?

KLOTZ: the guy is angry. (208)

Gladwell explains something called the Power Distance Index (PDI) which refers to attitudes of an individual and how much a particular culture values and respects authority. Koltz, being a Colombian, had a high PDI. This meant that although he was the co-pilot of the Avianca, he felt that he was unable to speak up if he saw a problem or saw a bad decision that was made. Koltz felt this way because he had an inferior position on the aircraft. "But he's using his own cultural language, speaking as a subordinate would to a superior." (207)

David Greenberg, from Delta Air Lines, was brought in to help Korean Air with their flight operations. His first step to achieve this airlines success was to evaluate the pilots English skills. His second step was that to have a firm take over the company's training and instruction programs. (218) This firm made sure that every pilot who wanted to keep their job at the company was fluent in the English language. "Their problem was that they were trapped in roles dictated by the heavy weight of their country's cultural legacy." (219) Greenberg was trying to give these pilots a chance to improve their communications skills which allowed them to transform their relationship to their work.

"When we understand how much culture and history and the world outside of the individual matter to professional success - then we don't have to throw up our hands in despair at an airline where pilots crash planes into the sides of mountains. We have a way to make successes out of the unsuccessful." (220) David Greenberg did a wonderful thing for this airline, he changed the style of these pilots. Instead of feeling inferior, they now take initiative, take charge in the role they play, and they do not wait for someone to direct them; they just do it.