What Did You See First — the Instruments or the View?
26 Nov 2025
A relief pilot’s job isn’t to admire the view – it’s to notice what others miss.
What did you see first — the instruments or the view?
One of the privileges of being a pilot is the front-row seat to some of the most remarkable views on Earth. But during departure, a relief pilot isn’t there to enjoy the city lights — their role is to monitor the operating pilots.
Humans are surprisingly poor at noticing what’s missing, unusual, or incorrect. That’s why critical thinking is essential on the flight deck.
Critical thinking is the ability to analyse what’s happening, challenge assumptions, and form an accurate judgement about the situation — even when everything appears normal.
A relief pilot constantly uses their spare capacity to observe, evaluate, and speak up. In a healthy flight-deck culture:
• Communication is open
• The authority gradient is low
• Anyone can raise a concern, regardless of rank
• The contribution matters more than who makes it
What effective leaders do differently:
Effective leaders welcome challenge. They test assumptions. They look beneath the obvious. They value the colleague who spots what others miss.
On the flight deck — as in leadership — critical thinking keeps us safe, smart, and adaptable.
It’s not about being negative or “catching people out”. It’s about keeping the shared mental model accurate, especially when the stakes are high.
Building critical-thinking culture:
Critical thinking is a skill that can be coached, mentored, and strengthened through practice:
• Inviting questions and alternative views
• Lowering unnecessary authority gradients
• Treating corrections as contributions
• Reflecting together after key decisions or events
If you’d like to develop this capability in yourself or your organisation, let’s talk about how Flightpath Mentoring can help.
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