Why are pilots so calm?

Why are pilots always so calm? Seriously, it's amazing, isn't it? I was on a flight once – a tiny little puddle jumper to Nantucket, of all places – and we hit some seriously nasty turbulence. I swear I thought we were going to be tossed around like a rag doll in a washing machine! People were screaming, I was gripping my armrests like they were lifelines… and the pilot? Just this calm, reassuring voice over the intercom. Something about "a little bit of bumpy air," like it was nothing. I mean, nothing?

It's not magic, though, is it? It's all that training. I read somewhere – maybe it was a magazine article, or maybe it was that documentary I watched about flight simulators – that they spend years learning how to handle all sorts of crazy things. Not just routine stuff, but emergencies. Engine failures, unexpected weather, crazy passenger behavior – you name it, they've probably practiced it a hundred times in a simulator, probably even more. That builds a kind of muscle memory, right? An ability to react instinctively, even when things are totally going south.

So it's not that they're fearless, I don't think. It's probably more like… well, it's like that time I was learning to drive. I was terrified at first, completely petrified of everything. But after a while, I started to feel more confident, more in control. It takes time and practice, but you start to develop a sense of what to expect and how to respond. Pilots just have that, but on a scale that's... well, a lot bigger than my beat-up old Corolla. They've earned their calm. They've earned that quiet confidence.