Being Thrown in at the Deep End －窮地に立たされる－

“I’ve got a serious situation here.  My pilot has gone incoherent,” said a passenger, who was trying to control the plane.  “I have no idea how to stop the airplane.  I don’t know how to do anything.” 

The plane was flying at 9,000 feet in the air when the pilot suffered a sudden illness and lost consciousness.  One of the passengers then managed to operate the radio to ask for help.  An air traffic controller on the ground then managed to help the passenger, who had no idea what he was doing, to land the plane in Florida. 

This is a true story, which was reported this week.  Thankfully, the flight from the Bahamas landed successfully, and the passenger and air traffic controller are being hailed as heroes. 

This is a pretty extreme example of being thrown in at the deep end. 

I don’t recommend it as a way to teach someone to swim, but the phrase comes from the idea of simply throwing a child in at the deep end of the swimming pool, and hoping that their survival instinct will somehow make them start kicking and struggling so desperately that they learn to swim in moments. 

When I was a child, and visiting my uncle in Australia, he suddenly picked me up and threw me in at the deep end of his swimming pool.  I knew how to swim, but I had never been in the water with my clothes and shoes on before.  They were quickly soaked with water and my body seemed incredibly heavy.  For a few moments, I was sure I was going to drown.  Oh how my uncle laughed as I struggled to the side of the pool and climbed out, water dripping from my clothes. 

There is a phrase used about language study which is similar to “being thrown in at the deep end.”  Homestay trips abroad offer “immersion English.”  To be immersed in water is to be completely covered and surrounded by water.  For a non-native speaker to be immersed in English means that they are completely surrounded by English speakers, and so they cannot rely on their native language. 

Would you be able to stay calm and quickly learn how to fly?  Or would you crash and burn?

 

Vocabulary:

to be incoherent – to be making no sense.  For example, “After drinking too much alcohol, my friend started mumbling nonsense.  He was completely incoherent.”

to lose consciousness – for the mind to lose awareness, and to lose control of the body.  For example, “His head was hit by a baseball, and he lost consciousness and fell to the ground.”

to be hailed (as a hero) – to be cheered and congratulated (and called a hero).  For example, “After publishing his theory of relativity, Albert Einstein was hailed as a genius.