United Airlines flight 175 hits the 110 storey North Tower of the World Trade Center. Photo / AP
Andy Studdert was in the hot seat when United Airlines was ''at war'' during the 9/11 terror attacks and has some hard-earned crisis management advice.
Make sure your drills are so real they provoke an emotional response, is one suggestion. And when the real thing happens, make sure you play by the rules, he explained in a recent presentation to New Zealand's Institute of Directors.
Studdert was United's chief operating officer when terrorists hijacked four planes in the US and deliberately crashed them.
He was in a meeting with the United chairman at the airline's Chicago headquarters when a secretary told him an American Airlines plane had hit one of the World Trade Centre towers early in the workday on September 11.
The assumption was that the information was wrong - it had to be a private plane - but minutes later Studdert was in the airline's crisis control centre.
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''But by that time we've got reports that [United] Flight 175 has been hijacked and were in communication with the flight attendants and the pilots have been killed.''
The picture was becoming chillingly clear. Initial reports of an American Airlines plane hitting the North Tower were confirmed and five minutes later UA175 hit the South Tower, killing all 65 on board and causing the tower to collapse hours later.
Although it was the second tower hit, it was the first to fall because of the way it was hit.
''The terrorists didn't learn to fly properly and they were flying the airplane above its structural integrity, so the control surfaces were not responding. If you watch the aircraft, the 767 is flying sideways and the guy is trying to hold it in line and he's hit - it takes out multiple floors because of the wingspan.''
Most of the crisis team were in the control centre when they heard United Flight 93 was hijacked and heading to Washington DC, where the attackers had targeted the White House or the Capitol.
Studdert says the crisis control room looked something like the Starship Enterprise with him in the centre, and had communications with a flight attendant.
''What I was working on - and this is not something we talk about publicly - but I'll share it 18 years later.
"Once we heard the flight crew had been killed and they were trying to take the cockpit back, we were developing a protocol for a non-pilot to fly that aeroplane.''
The Boeing 757 aircraft had equipment on board that meant passengers following simple instructions could get the plane to land itself at a medium to large airport.
They would have to drop the landing gear and once on the tarmac, the only thing those in the cockpit would have to do was apply the brakes when the plane had slowed down.
But before the plan could be enacted, the terrorists - not wanting to hand over the cockpit - crashed the plane into a field at Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people on board.
Studdert is now chief executive of a British safety consultancy firm and says he crafts his 9/11 experience to help businesses prepare for a crisis.
United's 9/11 experience actually began 13 days earlier, on August 29, with a drill so realistic that staff were physically ill.
He made a call to United's operations centre to say contact had been lost with an aircraft over the Pacific, following an engine explosion and unconfined decompression.
''I arrived at the ops centre five minutes later to see the place in complete stress,'' he says.
''You know that when they tell you there are 270 souls on board, they're worried the airplane is not going to make it.''
Some staff were crying and were sick.
The drill activated 3000 people in different jobs, from humanitarian to operational.
Thirty minutes later, and with 180 people on the line, Studdert called off the drill.
''I said mark the time - this has been a no-notice drill.''
The extreme reaction of some staff proved the drill was realistic.
''If we're not doing that, are we still doing our job to make sure the airline is safe?''
Studdert says lesson from that drill helped the airline cope with the real thing two weeks later.
''It helped us be prepared as possible for something that you cannot be prepared for.''
During the drill, it was found that many staff had pagers or home phone numbers that were out of date. There was a wall in the crisis centre with 30 clipboards on it, all with typewritten instructions.
On 9/11, Studdert had to make it very clear that this was a real crisis. There were up to 80 people in the room and he says that was too many - he had to order some people out.
He can't recall his exact response when he realised the airline was under attack, but remembers what he did to remain as cool as possible.
''I do remember my training from being around pilots and operating people - you return to where you last had positive control,'' he says.
The airline started grounding its fleet and holding planes on the ground before being told to do so by the authorities.
''You don't want to be adding to the problem by having more people take off.'' With more than 160 flights in the air, it took hours to get them all down.
''We sent messages out to all pilots to be aware of cockpit intrusion and to barricade the cockpit and get them as safe as we could until we could get them down.''
He says it was essential to stick to process and the rules, no matter how intense the pressure.
Three hours after the tower came down, the FBI turned up at the ops centre and demanded the details of anyone who had flown on United in the previous year with all their contact information.
''Here you are in the middle of a war and what do you do? You say 'yes sir' to a guy with a gun in his belt,'' he says.
But an airline could insist a court order was needed to release this data.
''We did that, the other airlines didn't and six months later they all got sued for violating the confidentiality of individual passengers,'' says Studdert.
''Stay with process in the middle of a crisis; you've got to fall back on your training.''
Studdert says drills need to be realistic and spark an emotional response - otherwise they are just table-top exercises. However, businesses are now worried about fallout from no-notice drills.
''Given the social media issues and the pushback against causing anybody upset, are we now as leaders not doing those drills because we're afraid? There is concern because of the potential repercussions of 1000 people getting on social media.''
Businesses need to keep problems in perspective. Not everything is a crisis.
''Everything has become a felony immediately - if everything is a felony then nothing isn't.''
He says there is a risk of society becoming desensitised.
''What I try to do is bring perspective - let's calm down, what's happening, what's the real impact, not the hysterical impact?''
He said he uses the phrase ''swallow your spit and calm down.''
It is also worth preparing for social media attacks.
''Companies that prepare have a much better chance of riding out the initial shock wave on social media - if you last through a simulation, you should live through that and make a wiser decision during that time of crisis.''
Andy Studdert's crisis advice for business:
• Any drill has to be realistic
• Companies must take into account social media pushback on drills that are realistic
• In a crisis, recapture the moment when you last had positive control
• Stick to the rules even if it seems counter-intuitive at the time
• Keep it in perspective - not everything is a felony
• Be prepared for social media attacks at any time - simulate responses
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