05 - When hesitation enters the system

Hesitation does not usually show up as a clear pause. It settles in more quietly and starts to influence how people respond before anyone really notices it.

Some years ago, during a climb through seventeen thousand feet, a sharp crack filled the cockpit. For a brief moment the sound was the only clear piece of information. The windshield in front of the left seat had fractured and the outside view disappeared behind a network of cracks.

The situation was not understood at that point. We did not know what had caused it, whether the damage would remain stable, or how it might develop. What mattered immediately was keeping the aircraft stable while we began to understand what we were dealing with.

We levelled off and informed air traffic control that we would maintain altitude while assessing the situation. The instruments became the first reference. Cabin pressure remained stable and the aircraft behaved normally. There were no indications that the situation was deteriorating.

Only once that was clear did we take out the checklist.

Procedures exist for situations like this, but they do not remove uncertainty. They structure it. Some elements become clearer, others remain open. The decision that follows is not based on full reassurance. It comes at the point where there is enough understanding to move, even though questions remain.

We reduced altitude and coordinated a diversion to Prague, where we landed the aircraft without further complication.

Looking back, the event itself is not what stands out. What remains is how the situation developed around it. The uncertainty did not disappear, but it also did not turn into hesitation. As a crew, we accepted early on that the picture would remain incomplete and that decisions still had to be taken within that.

In many organisations, hesitation takes hold differently. Action is expected to wait until the picture feels complete. The search for reassurance continues, discussions extend, analysis becomes more detailed, and the moment of commitment moves further away.

From the outside this can look careful. Underneath it often reflects the assumption that clarity will eventually present itself if we stay with the situation long enough.

Operational environments rarely allow that. The situation continues to evolve while we are still trying to understand it.

Direction appears when people accept that understanding remains partial and that movement cannot wait for doubt to disappear. 

Decisions become possible when hesitation does not take hold of the system.