Controlled Flight Into Terrain

Posted in , , By Nick Smith 0 comments


On the evening of July 16, 1999, John F. Kennedy, Jr. was piloting a small aircraft with his wife and sister-in-law as passengers.  At some point during the flight, visibility decreased, Kennedy became disoriented, and he crashed the plane into the ocean.  All three people on board died.
 
His crash was a clear example of Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT).  CFIT is when there is a perfectly good aircraft and a perfectly good pilot, but the pilot unintentionally flies the aircraft into terrain.  According to aircraft manufacturer Boeing, CFIT is the number one cause of fatal aircraft accidents.  In Kennedy’s case, this occurred because he became spatially disoriented (i.e. he lost track of where the ground was).   Kennedy was a certified pilot, but he was only certified to fly as long as he maintained visual contact with the surface; he could not fly in clouds or anything that would require him to fly solely by reference to the flight instruments.
 
Insert Christian metaphor.
 
It occurred to me that, as Christians, we are in danger of our own type of Controlled Flight Into Terrain.  We are flying along in the world and there is only one source that we should depend on to tell us which way is up – God.  All other sources lead us toward spatial disorientation.  And to maintain control, we have to maintain constant vigilance.  We have to look at, trust, and use our flight instruments (a.k.a. the Bible and the Holy Spirit).  We are still in control of the aircraft and can fly however we want, but the flight instruments tell us the best way to fly.
 
Let’s be honest.  This is hard.  When the world is telling us this way is up and God is telling us the other way is up, it’s not nearly as easy as it sounds to decide who is right.  Truthfully, I think I usually pick somewhere in the middle and justify it as being okay.  And it probably is okay – for a short time.  But it also means that my course has changed.  I’m no longer flying in the direction the flight instruments are telling me I should.  Over time, these small changes are going to mount up.  I’m going to find myself further and further from where I should be until I either run out of fuel or crash.
 
This is CFIT and it is happening all the time.  Maybe it isn’t always getting to the crash part, but we’re all get off course to some extent.  The only way to fix it is to develop a habit of frequently looking at our flight instruments and making necessary adjustments.  In a nutshell, this is sanctification (see Ephesians 5:26-27).
 
Sidenote:
 
I also thought of another appropriate CFIT metaphor.  New pilots (i.e. new Christians) may be very intelligent, well put-together people, but they are still new to flying.  And just as we wouldn’t ask a new pilot to immediately fly into clouds, we shouldn’t ask new Christians to immediately feast on spiritual meat.  They need to start with milk (see 1 Peter 2:2-3).  We are all in different stages of learning to trust the flight instruments, so we should not begrudge those who are new and struggling.  If anything, we should offer our support.