Many years ago, I was an 18 year old learning to fly a glider.  It was a fabulous experience, and an interesting challenge: learning to fly without an engine, relying on air currents and awareness of your surroundings to keep your safe and aloft.

As part of learning to fly solo, one of the scenarios you train for is tow failure.

When a glider launches, it’s pulled into the sky by a winch on the ground. If that tow cable fails mid-ascent, it leaves the glider without power needing to be landed pretty quickly! Practising simulated tow failures is therefore a necessity.

After a few dummy runs, I had it pretty much nailed – less than two thirds down the runway, dip the nose quickly and make as short landing at the end of the field. If it was closer to the end of the runway when you’ve got a bit more height, you do a very small loop around the airfield to bring the glider in to land at the start of the runway.

All boxes ticked, I then progressed to some final check flights before they let me up completely by myself. These had the instructor sat in the back, just keeping an eye to make sure I didn’t do anything dumb and was sufficiently competent to fly solo., On the second check flight, just as we were taking off, I felt the cable release. The instructor behind me had pulled the cord that disconnected the winch, simulating a tow failure…at pretty much two-thirds down the runway. 

I was pretty high, and there wasn’t much runway left to give me space to get down and land on – but did I have enough height to do a loop of the airfield and make it back to the runway without crashing into the air traffic control tower? I wasn’t sure either option would end well. I panicked and froze. Probably only for a few seconds, but it was enough. 

“I have control” came a voice from behind and the instructor took over, angled the glider into a steep descent, and bought us in to land on the grass right at the edge of the airfield.

We opened the cockpit canopy, climbed out, and the Fight Lieutenant gave me the biggest bollocking of my life! In amongst the shouting and expletives, he made it clear that he was unhappy that I hadn’t done anything. “But, I wasn’t sure what to do” I said, as I explained my lack of action – either of the approaches I could have taken might have ended in disaster and just didn’t know which was right. 

Yep, he agreed, neither option was ideal in the circumstance, but that’s sometime the case. What was important was doing SOMETHING. 

The one course of action that would have certainly meant crashing was not doing anything.  

The Cost of Indecision

It’s a lesson I have always been very aware of since:  

It’s one thing to be cautious, to weigh options – but sometimes you don’t get the luxury of certainty. Sometimes, every option looks risky, and you have to move anyway.

We see this in business, in relationships, in leadership, in life. Waiting for the perfect answer, the perfect timing, or absolute clarity can paralyse us. But life rarely gives us that clarity upfront. What we do get is the ability to act.

So that’s been my takeaway: make a decision. Even if it’s not perfect. Because often doing nothing is the one thing that guarantees failure.