When Risk Materializes at 35,000 Feet: A Lesson in Contingency, Leadership, and Empathy

Late last week, I was traveling from Mumbai to Ahmedabad, expecting a routine landing around 8:30 pm. Instead, nature had other plans. Severe lightning, heavy thunderstorms, and unsafe landing conditions meant our aircraft attempted to land three times and then made the only responsible decision left: divert to one of the nearest viable airport, Surat. This was not a hypothetical risk. This was risk materializing in real time.

To add to the emotional backdrop, Ahmedabad had recently witnessed a tragic Air India crash that killed almost everyone on board except one survivor. That reality was not lost on many of us sitting in that aircraft. As the pilot announced this diversion, I was talking with people near my seat where some were calm but afraid what would happen to the flight!

Once we landed in Surat, we were asked to remain seated on the tarmac while authorities coordinated next steps. The pilot stepped out of the cockpit and addressed us directly—calm, composed, and transparent. He explained that the risks avoided by not forcing a landing, the air traffic and safety regulations that prohibit deplaning without clearance, and their immediate next steps to identify safe and lawful alternatives before moving passengers. The pilot further announced that refreshments are being ordered from Surat to serve in the cabin as soon as possible and if anyone had further connecting flights that he was willing to talk with the authorities to evaluate options. 

This is a textbook example of risk response planning. As the primary risk of not landing in the destination city became an issue, the secondary risks were identified and analyzed working within the constraints of safety for all. And yet—this is where things started to unravel when risk management meets human behavior. 

As announcements continued, emotions in the cabin escalated.

• People began raising their voices (raising is put mildly here).
• Many formed informal lines in the aisle inside the aircraft inconveniencing others.
• Others demanded to deplane because they “had friends in Surat.”
• A few insisted this was the airline’s “fault” and demanded vouchers.
• One passenger demanded that their checked-in luggage be retrieved immediately—on the tarmac because their Uber would be coming soon (what, to the tarmac?)

The emotional intelligence of this pilot operating under this pressure was commendable! He was patiently addressing that he was still working with the air traffic control (ATC) authorities as the opportunity to take off to Ahmedabad was very likely as the weather storm will clear soon. He emphasized that situation is still fluid and that the flight is officially not yet cancelled and no one can be deplaned unless there is a medical emergency or he got ATC confirmation.  

As if he jinxed the situation, he got on the call and quickly announced that another diverted aircraft had a medical emergency, requiring a passenger to be deplaned for urgent treatment. He said that the refreshments are on the way but the medical emergency is being prioritized. It created another uproar between the passengers where some complained that why someone can deplane in another plane but they can't deplane from this plane! Others were answering in their own words which part of the medical emergency they didn't understand! 

Amidst this chaos, the most surreal moment of all happened! I saw a few teenagers and adults pushing forward to take selfies with the pilot and airhostess. Really! It was disheartening to see safety and empathy deprioritized over social media hype! In that moment, I wasn’t just witnessing travel frustration. I was witnessing a complete breakdown in understanding how people break the systems under stress.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most people are fine with processes until those processes inconvenience them. We celebrate safety protocols when they work quietly in the background as long as we are not impacted. We challenge them the moment they interfere with personal comfort, entitlement, or impatience.

What many failed to understand:

• Contingency plans are not personalized
• Exceptions are not scalable
• Safety decisions cannot be crowd-sourced mid-crisis
• Regulatory constraints are not negotiable based on emotion

In project management, product delivery, aviation, healthcare, crisis response or virtually any discipline or industry, the rule is the same:

"Once risk materializes, options narrow. Discipline increases. Flexibility decreases."

In that chaos, I also observed the pilot's leadership. I wish I had got his name but I didn't want to make things worse! He didn’t retreat behind the cockpit door; didn't lecture; didn't react emotionally to provocation. Instead, he patiently, politely, and assertively communicated what was known, clarified what was not yet possible, explained why safety and compliance came first, and remained empathetic without becoming authoritative. In my experience, great leaders don’t “cash in” on adversity. They rush to the front of the line and hold the line, even when it’s unpopular.

Everyone of us is also a leader! So, we need to practice leadership when adversity strikes us. Don't ever waste a risk! When an issue presents, practice the leadership hygiene on how to accommodate these contingencies that arise. Having only plan A is an unrealistic optimism. Having a plan B is a realistic professionalism. Knowing when to activate and respond to the issues that presents before us is leadership. Contingency and fallback plans exist precisely for moments when conditions change rapidly, emotions escalates, conflicts arise over individual preferences over group safety, and decisions are made with just-enough incomplete information! 

And yet, in corporate settings, I often hear:

• “Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it”
• “We’ll figure it out if it happens”
• “That’s an edge case”

Until it isn’t. This practice makes us complacent leaving us to react unempathetically!

The real lesson from that flight wasn’t about aviation but leadership. It is about how humans process and respond when the control is taken away! If you respond with entitlement, blame, or opportunism, then, there is a continuous improvement opportunity. Learn to respond with patience, practice situational awareness, trust/appreciate/respect other's people expertise, process guidelines, and systems in place for larger society. 

Leadership—true leadership—shows up not when things go as planned, but when they don’t.

That night, safety won. Process won. Calm leadership won. And while not everyone appreciated it in the moment, everyone benefited from it.

How do you relate to my interpretation of this experience? What other experience, similar to or different from mine, have you experienced? I am looking forward to hearing from you!