Mistakes One of the ways we often respond in emergency situations is to hurry. But that usually proves to be a very bad idea. Many of these slogans remind us to insert a short period of reflection between any emergency and any action. If we respond with a toxic mixture of adrenalin and haste, much like some of the Seattleans did, we will likely do something stupid, like shutting down the good engine on the Aztec. That is not always easy.
Training plays a big part in emergency or abnormal scenarios.
In Seattle, those with formal earthquake training probably reacted automatically because they had something burned into their memories that triggered an appropriate recognition-action. Training can also serve pilots when an abnormal situation is presented us because it gives us a place to start, a programmed way to react without inventing each step. Trouble is, this was the first BIG earthquake in 50 years. Earthquake training wasn't very recent for most of these people. If we don't get regular recurrent training to reinforce correct responses in emergency situations, we will likely respond inappropriately.