--- id: 20150601_land_as_soon_as_practical title: BLOG - Land As Soon As Practical category: Biblical Life Counsel predicted_narrative_arc: emergency-procedure-to-endurance-joy sentiment: Instructive emotions: - Challenging - Steady - Hopeful keypoints: - Third emergency action after Maintain Control and Analyze is Land As Soon As Practical - People often linger in turmoil instead of extracting themselves from danger - T-38 thunderstorm lesson: turning back extends time in the storm; pressing through shortens it - Sometimes fighting straight through a challenge is wiser than retreating to former calm - James 1:2–3 reframes trouble as opportunity for joy and growing endurance summary: > Dean Rush completes his in-flight emergency triad with Land As Soon As Practical: do not linger in turmoil — extract yourself. Using a T-38 thunderstorm brief, he argues that turning back can lengthen exposure while pressing ahead reaches calm sooner, then applies the lesson to life and closes with James 1:2–3 on joy and endurance when faith is tested. tags: - blog - policy - aviation - emergency-procedures - thunderstorm - endurance - james-1 - trials - decision-making - dean-rush sycophancy: 0 truth_score: 8 entropy: 4 sample: false consent: owner_approved agent: blog created: '2015-06-01' updated: '2026-09-09T00:00:00Z' vault_stage: 07_CODEX headwaters: BLOG prefix: BLOG enrich_status: ok enrich_blockers: [] enrich_method: manual pipeline_filename: BLOG_2015-06-01_land-as-soon-as-practical.md source_kind: blog_article proposed_topic: Wisdom lane: Wisdom voice: desk active_voice: desk voices: - desk routing_source: carbon corpus_topic: Wisdom content_status: active date: '2015-06-01' share_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/land-as-soon-as-practical source_url: https://deanrush.net/blog/land-as-soon-as-practical site_category: Policy archive_month: 2015-06 description: > Dean teaches the third emergency rule — land as soon as practical — via a thunderstorm brief and James 1:2–3: press through tested faith toward endurance. --- # Land As Soon As Practical **Author:** Dean Rush **Original post:** [deanrush.net/blog/land-as-soon-as-practical](https://deanrush.net/blog/land-as-soon-as-practical) **Archive month:** June 2015 · **Site category:** Policy > Voice note: Everything under **Dean's article** is Dean's original prose (lightly cleaned of HTML/image artifacts only). Sections marked **Biblical foundations**, **Scholar sidebar**, **Takeaways**, and **First-time learner** are enrichment for Asker / first readers — not Dean speaking. --- ## Biblical foundations (preface) Dean finishes his emergency triad with a counterintuitive flight lesson: sometimes the fastest exit from turbulence is straight through, then land. He already cites James 1:2–3. The enrichment shows how that Scripture and related texts underwrite endurance without romanticizing danger. | Dean's claim | Scriptural undercarriage | | --- | --- | | Do not linger needlessly in danger | Flee youthful passions / pursue righteousness (2 Timothy 2:22); make every effort to escape folly's snare (cf. Proverbs 22:3) | | Facing the trial can shorten suffering vs. circling in it | Run with endurance the race set before you (Hebrews 12:1–2); forgetting what lies behind, press on (Philippians 3:13–14) | | Trouble can grow endurance and joy | James 1:2–4 — count it joy; testing produces steadfastness | | Learn from others' experience before your own emergency | The wise listen to counsel (Proverbs 12:15; 19:20); remember former days (Hebrews 10:32–36) | --- ## Dean's article ### The third emergency action ![Aircraft landing from Dean's original post](https://deanrush.net/Portals/0/images/article/aircraft-landing.jpg) One of the most essential ingredients of flight is to safely land the airplane. When the rules of flight are written for safely handling an in flight emergency there were three essential actions discussed extract yourself and your passengers from the situation. We have already discussed two. They were **Maintain Aircraft Control**, and **Analyze the Situation and Take Proper Action**. The third and, equally important action, in an emergency is to **Land the Airplane As Soon As Practical.** When we encounter a problem, it seems we sometimes remain in the quandary because we do not take the opportunity to land and get away from the challenge. We seem to inadvertently remain in the turmoil and fail to take actions that would extract us from the dangers surrounding the problem. When I was in pilot training in the USAF, I remember having an excellent instructor who told us what we could anticipate incurring an emergency at some point in our career when we were flying the jets in operational squadrons. He said our job was to learn from the experience of others. As an example we were learning to fly the T-38 Talon. The airplane has a service ceiling somewhere around 39,000 feet, a cruise speed of nearly 400 knots, and is capable of going supersonic. Some people have likened it to flying a supersonic sports car. He went on to provide the following example: > **Scholar sidebar — Three rules, one aim** > Dean's triad — maintain control, analyze and act, land as soon as practical — is extraction doctrine: get people out of lethal airspace. Biblically, wisdom both *endures* trials (James 1) and *exits* avoidable folly (Proverbs 22:3). "As soon as practical" is not panic landing; it is refusing to loiter in known danger once control and analysis allow a safe exit. ### Through the thunderstorm — and James 1 My instructor told me that someday I would be cruising at an altitude of 35,000 feet, in the clouds, with zero visibility outside the cockpit, and inadvertently fly into the top of a thunderstorm. A storm at that altitude is normally very violent. Updrafts, downdrafts, and lightening make for a very unstable environment. His point was that the first reaction in that situation is to turn around and head back to where you entered the storm because it was calm and peaceful. However, if you choose to turn around, you will extend your time in the storm as you turn. If, instead, you chose to move straight ahead and accept the challenge of the storm, you will get to calm air much faster on the other side and reduce your time in the turbulent environment. It seems that the reaction to turn around to get back to where we felt comfortable in a calm situation is natural. The point is that sometimes it is better to fight directly through a challenge and get it behind us. When we do we are in a better position to land and get out of the emergency. The theory also works well in life. James 1:2 "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow." Tyndale House Publishers. (2013). Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Jas 1:2–3). Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers. > **Scholar sidebar — James 1:2–3 and the thunderstorm brief** > James does not say trouble is pleasant; he says tested faith grows endurance (and v. 4 adds maturity). Dean's instructor argued that the instinct to turn back can *increase* exposure. Spiritually, circling endlessly in avoidance can prolong the very trial God means to produce steadfastness. Hebrews 12:1–2 joins the same race metaphor: lay aside weights, run with endurance, looking to Jesus. Dean's "land as soon as practical" still stands — get through, then get down — not stay airborne in drama for its own sake. --- ## Takeaways 1. **Third rule completes the triad.** After control and analysis comes landing as soon as practical — extraction, not loitering. 2. **People linger in turmoil.** Dean names the habit of remaining in danger instead of taking the off-ramp. 3. **Learn before your emergency.** Pilot training used others' experience so crews would not invent procedure in the storm. 4. **Straight through can be shorter.** The T-38 thunderstorm brief challenges the instinct to turn back toward former calm. 5. **James reframes the test.** Trouble becomes opportunity for joy because endurance grows when faith is tested. --- ## First-time learner ### What is Dean saying in one sentence? In an emergency — airborne or in life — don't loiter in the storm; press through wisely, then land as soon as practical, counting the test as endurance-building joy (James 1). ### Why the thunderstorm story? Because the natural urge is to turn back to where it felt calm, yet turning can lengthen time in turbulence. Dean uses that to teach decisive forward obedience, then landing. ### Key verses to read with this post - **James 1:2–4** — Joy in trials; testing produces steadfastness. - **Hebrews 12:1–2** — Run with endurance, looking to Jesus. - **Philippians 3:13–14** — Press on toward the goal. - **Proverbs 22:3** — The prudent see danger and act. - **Proverbs 19:20** — Listen to counsel and accept instruction. ### A simple practice (Dean's challenge made concrete) Name one "storm" you have been circling. Ask: what would "straight through, then land" look like this week — one concrete action that shortens exposure without abandoning control or wise analysis? ### How this feeds Ask Dean This post is seed material for questions such as: *What are Dean's three emergency rules? When should I press through vs. turn back? How does James 1 apply to hard seasons?* Answers should keep Dean's voice primary and use the scholar notes only as supporting biblical scaffolding.