The Weight of Hearing 'State Your Intentions'

While consensus is good, in an airplane inflight, where things are moving in real time, it’s an autocracy and there’s only one decision-maker that counts.

Ben Younger

Thursday, December 22, 2022 at 08:43 AM ET

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The Van Nuys Airport (KVNY), in the Los Angeles Basin, has been the scene of much filmmaking—aviation and otherwise. [Credit: Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

The author contrasts their experience as a TV director, where decisions are made by consensus and reliance on expert input, with decision-making in aviation.
In aviation, particularly during emergencies or safety-critical situations, the Pilot in Command (PIC) holds sole responsibility for all decisions, acting as an "autocrat" rather than seeking consensus.
While Air Traffic Control (ATC) provides information and guidance, they cannot make go/no-go decisions or dictate a pilot's actions during an emergency due to liability and lack of full situational awareness, requiring the pilot to "state their intentions" and own the outcome.

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I am currently in Los Angeles gearing up to shoot a TV pilot for ABC. Three weeks out from our first day of filming, there are more than a hundred people working for me to help create the vision and, ultimately, the result that will get this show on the air for what we all hope will be a years-long series.

Every day I ask the same question to multiple people: “What do you think?” In some instances, I have a pretty good sense of what I want (on camera). Other times (for costumes, mainly), I really don’t have a clue. I simply can’t weigh in with any authority on what kind of ballgown a Korean-American woman in her 60s would be wearing to a political fundraiser. And that’s okay. My costume designer does.