If you fly long enough, no matter how outstanding your maintenance program, no matter how thorough your preflight, no matter how highly trained you are, you will eventually face a major emergency. When that day comes and the yogurt hits the fan, how you react may determine how you spend the rest of your days. If you survive, that is.

Will you spend your golden years playing with your grandchildren and hanging out at the airport telling lies to other old fliers? Or will you be propped up in a wheelchair and rolled into the family room to watch “Days of Our Lives” and “Jenny Jones” every day? To the extent…