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    Wear it as Intended 0 Military Ops & Training
    USACRC Editor

    Wear it as Intended

    In March 2003, my unit began its mission in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. We fought continuously, ending up at Saddam Hussein’s palace in Baghdad. We spent a few months in Baghdad when my unit received orders to deploy to Fallujah....
    Recognize, Retreat, Report 0 Off-Duty
    USACRC Editor

    Recognize, Retreat, Report

    In the wake of two recent incidents involving the discovery and detonation of live grenades, the Army’s Three Rs Explosives Safety Program is increasing its efforts to raise awareness about the dangers associated with munitions.

    Throw Professional Courtesy Out the Window 0 Aviation
    USACRC Editor

    Throw Professional Courtesy Out the Window

    Professional courtesy can be defined as the courtesy given to senior-ranking officers or more experienced Soldiers. Unfortunately, it can also become a danger to a flight crew when inexperienced Soldiers are reluctant to announce hazards or lack...
    It's a Gas! 0 Home & Family
    USACRC Editor

    It's a Gas!

    Since this was a weekday, I was hoping for an easy shift. Little did I know that wouldn’t be the case. At some point, rumors began circulating that a battalion-level room inspection was scheduled for the next morning. I watched the camera...

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    Who is Flying the Aircraft?

    Who is Flying the Aircraft?

    CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 2 ADAM EPLEY
    1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment
    Fort Bragg, North Carolina

    I showed up at my first assignment as an aviator right as we were headed out the door for a deployment in Regional Command East. I was excited and nervous. My Readiness Level 3 to 2 progression took two flights and suddenly I was flying combat missions with my troop standardization pilot (SP). Flight school had given me just enough experience to make me dangerous, so there were good days where I was nearly competent, and bad days where I was a liability in the cockpit.

    Our SP and commander decided the best place for me was on one of our night shifts at a time of day when the enemy was less active, allowing me to get more experience before throwing me into the fray. It was on one of these early morning flights that I nearly killed us.

    We were departing a forward arming and refueling point. I was in the left seat, doing my best to run the mast-mounted sight, when appropriate, and trying to change radios when needed. My SP needed to adjust his goggles and transferred the controls. Now I was flying, brand new, almost zero illumination.

    Our trail aircraft was talking with our SP about what our plan was for the rest of the mission when his floor mic got stuck. He couldn’t stop transmitting, so he was in the right seat, stomping on the floor and trying to fix the problem. We climbed out of the departure end when trail came over our alternate internal radio frequency, asking if everything was all right. I reached forward to change my radio, but not having much experience flying in a full kit, the body armor and magazines I had strapped to my chest pushed the cyclic forward, so much so that I put us in a 500-foot-per-minute rate of descent.

    My SP realized what I'd done and yanked back on the cyclic, arresting the descent. I released the controls, thinking he'd taken them back, even though we hadn't positively transferred them. At this point, no one was flying the aircraft. He told me to make a correction, which confused me, since I thought he was flying. We both realized what was going on at the same time. At that point, he took the controls and flew us back to the parking area. We were done for the day.

    This experience has been shared as part of my crew brief every time I fly with a new pilot. My unfamiliarity with my gear, coupled with my inexperience as a junior aviator put us in a dangerous situation and could have easily killed us. I got a red “U” in my records that day, but, fortunately, we didn't damage the aircraft and lived to fly another day.

    • 1 December 2020
    • Author: USACRC Editor
    • Number of views: 740
    • Comments: 0
    Categories: On-DutyAviation
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