AROUND THE HANGAR Terry Peed | Contributing Author
What the Blanking Blank!?
If you’re a helicopter mechanic, you can probably fill in the blanks. I believe that curse words were the first spoken words to come from the mouth of man, shortly after he stepped out of the sea and stood upright on two legs. His first barefoot step forward was probably onto a sharp stone, which brought the pain that induced the instinctive response from his brain of a curse word. The spoken language was thereby created. This story might not be true, but it is widely accepted that some of the first sounds emitted by our ancestors were in the form of grunts or shouts that were produced by reactions to danger or pain. The first humans on earth expressed feelings of anger, fear, threat, pain and delight verbally. That was millions of years ago. Our language has evolved considerably since then — or has it? If you have gotten this far into this article, you are
probably asking yourself, “What does this have to do with helicopter maintenance? Has Joe Escobar gone crazy letting Terry write about cursing?” I can’t answer the second question but I will elaborate on the first. Cursing and obscenity has become more common in the workplace. I would like to discuss the reasons, both pros and cons, and what the practice is doing in our industry. What is the public’s perception of us? I think that this is an important subject that doesn’t get the attention that it deserves, other than in the human resources office when it is too late.
I am not going to climb up on the pulpit and preach
that cursing is a sin and you will all go to Hades for doing it. If any of you know me personally, you will know that I am no angel and that I used to be a sailor. I have been a helicopter mechanic for more than four decades and believe me, I can speak fluent “mechanic” with the best of them. Maybe I am just getting older and more mature but I have begun to question cursing’s suitability in the workplace.
Why do we curse? Let’s look at a typical example of it in the hangar. Mike the mechanic is working up on the main rotor
head, trying to break loose the nut on a blade bolt, when the wrench slips and he smashes his knuckles into the main rotor head. This begins an event over which Mike has no control. The nerve endings in his knuckles send a signal directly to a small part of the right side of his brain called the amygdala, which triggers a neural response in the hypothalamus. The initial reaction is followed by activation of the pituitary gland and secretion of the hormone ACTH. The adrenal gland is activated almost simultaneously and releases the neurotransmitter epinephrine (we know this as adrenaline). This increases blood pressure and blood sugar, and it also suppresses the immune system. The initial response and subsequent reactions are triggered in an effort to create a boost of energy. This burst of energy, along with the brain’s acknowledgement of the pain, is immediately vented by a verbal response that comes directly from the right side of the brain (the left side of the brain controls, logic, speaking, calculating, etc.). This response is not very well thought out and so the “f-bomb” and/or other colorful words are often dropped. This process is called the fight or flight response. It
is a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack or threat to survival. It was first described that animals react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system, priming the animal for fighting or fleeing. We, as animals, have all experienced this at some time in our lives. This was probably the same response the first human had when he stepped on the sharp stone. This reaction is instinctive and can’t be helped. Another example of cursing in the hangar might come
from the mechanic who is working on the aircraft in a tight spot and is in a very uncomfortable position. He is
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HelicopterMaintenanceMagazine.com February | March 2016
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