FINE CUT FILMS - MEDIA SKILLS

SEE THE GOOD POINTS CLEARLY

The key to being a successful interviewee is to go where you want to go; to talk about the good things you, your company, your product, your organisation or whatever.

Here's how the Donald-McEwan story might go if the interviewer went in there with positive things to say and talked about what he wanted to talk about, rather than just answering the questions.

Here's another imaginary transcript. Similar questions, different answers:

Q: As Shaw might have said, once is a mishap, twice carelessness, three times is stretching credulity to its limits. But four of your aircraft have gone down. Yet you don't seem concerned.
A: Let me tell you I've been flying all night. I just got back from Montevideo. I went down there to talk to some of the relatives of the missing people and try to find out something, anything, about what happened.
   
Q: And what did you find out?
A: I must be honest with you. Not a lot. Only one airline would let me get beyond the offices and onto the airside. But that airline doesn't operate any of our planes - any Donald-McEwans. The others turned me down flat.
   
Q: So why didn't you insist? Six hundred people have died!
A: I've begged, I've pleaded, I've got a whole file of letters I've written asking for access to their planes. And attached to each letter is the reply - a big NO. Well, it's the same as - see, I can come round to your house and ask to see your lawn mower. And you're quite likely to tell me to get lost. You don't have to show me your lawn mower if you don't want to.
   
Q: But my lawn mower doesn't kill people. Your aircraft do, it seems.
A: Our aircraft, if they're looked after properly, are perfectly safe. We haven't managed to get access to any of the South American airline's planes, but we have checked every single Donald-McEwan 7-11 of every reputable airline running them. And we found... nothing. Absolutely nothing. Tells you something about the reliability of those aircraft. Let me ask you something - do you have a car?

   
Q: Yes.
A: Okay, you bought it new?
   
Q: Yes, two years ago.
A: And you get it serviced regularly, I bet. But after three, five years or something, you'll sell it. And the buyer may not look after it so well. He may just keep it a year or so and sell it to someone else. This bloke's only paid a few hundred for it, so he'll do the minimum he can to keep it running. In the same way, a reputable airline will make sure its aircraft are in tip-top condition. Ten years down the line, the operators aren't as likely to take as much care. And if your car has a problem you coast to the side of the road and call for help. But if a badly maintained aircraft has a problem it can't do that.
   
Q: So are you saying that all four aircraft were badly maintained? Sounds rather like blaming someone else for your own mistakes.
A: I'm not blaming anyone. I'll let the facts speak for themselves. Take just one example - the main impeller assembly in a 7-11 engine should be replaced after sixteen thousand hours. That's about four years flying. The aircraft that went missing were between ten and twelve years old. They should have had a new set of impellers at least twice by now. Right, here's the order book (SHOWS). Total number of impeller assemblies ordered in the last five years by the operating airlines - exactly nil. Other parts ordered for that model. Same total: none at all.
   
Q: But you can't be certain they're all flying with worn-out parts.
A: Absolutely. But I know they're not using new parts. They could be using second-hand parts or cheap copies from some Eastern block country - I don't know. What I am sure of is that every - repeat, every - 7-11 that's operated by a major airline gets regular checks and first quality replacement parts fitted at regular intervals. And each one of those aircraft has a hundred percent safety record. One hundred percent.
   
Q: So why is it your aircraft are crashing? No other make?
A: Well, I suppose you could say Donald-McEwan aeroplanes are too reliable. They last and last. So second-line operators, as they're known, snap them up when they come on the market. In Europe seventy percent of the aircraft flying short hops use Donald-McEwan 7-11s. And some of them are eighteen, twenty years old. And they're still one hundred percent safe. That's how good they are.
   
Q: You could, of course, save lives by recommending grounding of all similar aeroplanes. Of course, to do so would send a negative signal to your shareholders. Is this simply a financial decision to let the aircraft go on flying?
A: I want to ground those aircraft. I recommend grounding of ALL aircraft of ANY make that aren't serviced to the manufacturer's standards. But this is a foreign country. I have no authority there. What I can do is tell people what's going on. And thank you for giving me the chance to do that here. As for grounding, I've asked the air transport safety board to use whatever pressure it can bring to bear on these operators. Ask them to let us inspect the aircraft.
   
Q: So you're just washing your hands of the matter?
A: I'm an engineer, not a dictator. I do what I can best. And what I do best is make safe aircraft and make aircraft safe. Donald-McEwan has got a team of engineers and tons of spare parts ready to go. They can be in South America bringing the planes up to scratch within 24 hours of getting permission.
   
Q: What would you say to someone who's going to fly coast to coast to a daughter's wedding or to see an aged grandmother, and sees he's scheduled to fly on a 7-11? Q:
A: I'd say he's going to have a great trip. And a safe one. Our safety record for aircraft that are regularly serviced is one hundred percent perfect. One hundred percent. Our 7-11 is saving lives - it takes doctors into the African bush, it takes drugs to malaria victims in India, it ferries tons of food into Ethiopia every day. Thousands of lives saved. Hey, I came here today in a 7-11 and I'm going home in one. The Donald-McEwan 7-11 is a fine aeroplane.

Game, set and match to Donald-McEwan!

PREPARATION is the name of the game.

Of course not all interviews are hard challenging ones. And not all interviews are straight one interviewer, one interviewee pieces. The next few pages are about the different sorts of interview you might meet.
Planning for Success