The news media reported on Monday, July 7, that Barack Obama’s chartered campaign aircraft experienced elevator problems in flight from Chicago and made an “unscheduled” landing in St. Louis. Unfortunately, the mechanical description in the press reminded me of the catastrophic airplane crash involving Alaska Airlines off the coast of California several years ago. To my knowledge (and maybe I missed something) a presidential candidate from a major political party has never died while campaigning. It makes one wonder what the effects on the country and the election would have been if the flight had become deadly.

But it also reminds me of how being an airline pilot is much like being a project manager.

The slang definition of being an airline pilot is something like “Thousands of hours of boredom, punctuated by a few moments (every now and then) of stark terror”!

We think we know how the airline pilot gets his or her moments of terror. Weather conditions, proximity to other aircraft and mechanical “challenges” can punctuate the airline pilot’s day (and the day of the passengers). But, think about how this resembles project management. Generally, what project managers do is pretty routine. Project managers have a pretty boring life – if the project goes OK. Project managers define and document the elements associated with the project. Project managers work closely with and communicate with stakeholders. Project managers work with subject matter experts to achieve results. Just like the study of the standard for project management – the PMBOK Guide® Third Edition…it can be pretty high on the D&B scale (Dull and Boring).

That’s not to say that there is not job satisfaction. I am not saying that the thrill of doing something, of creating a new product or service is not satisfying. But generally, when things go well, the project manager takes the project from “point A” to “point B” and the project closes.

But what happens when the project does not go so well. What happens after you leave “point A” and find out your destination has changed; “point B” is not the end point, but only a connection along the way! What happens when the stakeholders say “I know I told you that was what I wanted, but what I really want is…”? What happens when everything that can go wrong does and all of the risks that were identified, mitigated and accepted come home to affect the project?

In the case of the project manager, it can provide more than “a few moments” of stark terror. It can provide days and weeks of challenges that have to be managed, mitigated, negotiated and resolved. The big difference is that the project manager usually has time to consider alternatives, to take corrective or preventive actions and to work through alternatives to resolve the situation. The airline pilot’s actions have to be instantaneous.

But just like an experienced pilot, an experienced project manager is worth their weight in gold when the unexpected challenges occur.