CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 3 KYLE PROSOSKI
B Company, 1-82nd Attack Reconnaissance Battalion
Fort Bragg, North Carolina

It’s natural for an aircrew to be focused on performing its mission. But what happens when focus crosses the line into fixation? What happens when situational awareness is momentarily sacrificed in a crowded sky?

My unit was conducting AH-64D aerial gunnery training at Fort Carson, Colorado, in the fall of 2009. I was fresh out of flight school and completed my readiness level progression weeks before starting the gunnery training. I was confident in my skills and out to prove myself. As the newest aviator in the company, I was scheduled to fly with the company standardization pilot — the best risk mitigation available.

The SP had nearly 4,000 hours total flight time. He’d conducted some of my readiness level progression, so I was excited to fly with him for gunnery. We worked well together as a crew and received a perfect score during our table V in the simulator. We’d also scored well in our table VII day and night in the aircraft. I’d done tower duties the week before gunnery and was very familiar with the target sets. I felt confident our table VIII would go well.

When I climbed into the front seat that day, I was completely focused on earning the best possible gunnery score. As it turned out, our day table more than met my expectations and we posted a perfect score. But as we went to the aircraft to complete our night table, focus morphed into fixation. As we took to the air, I became not only blind to the dangers around me, but deaf too.

The gunnery range we were using bordered on the Class D airspace surrounding Butts Army Airfield. In fact, during the outbound and inbound prior to the start-fire line, you’re in Class D airspace. Therefore, we not only monitored tower on radio, we also monitored Butts radio, which controlled traffic in the restricted airspace where we were shooting. In addition, we also monitored the battalion tactical operations center frequency along with a simulated FIRES net on which we conducted our table.

As I flew the aircraft and attempted to monitor the radios, I was wearing an integrated helmet and display sight system. The IHADSS provided me a heads-up display for the gunnery shoot that night. On our outbound, I was so busy discussing the IHADSS shot with the SP in the rear seat that I never heard Butts tower transmit a traffic advisory. As we turned inbound and readied the gun, I was totally focused on acquiring the target and lining up the shot. Imagine our surprise when, about 500 meters from the start-fire line, a Bell 206 crossed our flight path from right to left, maybe 250 meters in front of us. We quickly turned right to avoid them and contacted tower about the traffic. They told us they’d tried to contact us after the crew of the 206 reported seeing us, but got no response. Apparently, the crew in the 206 wasn’t aware we were maneuvering close to one of the known checkpoints when they turned into our flight path.

We conducted another orbit and finished our table. The shoot went well and we posted the highest score in the battalion, earning recognition as the top crew. But things could have gone much differently. Fixated on the target and devoid of situational awareness, we could’ve hit another aircraft instead of the target. That’s a price no one wants to pay.

Before our next gunnery training, we put out an advisory in the notices to airmen about our operations in the area. We also changed our gunnery aviator procedure guide to discuss airspace operations and specify radio duties. This helped contribute to creating a common traffic advisory frequency for operations in and around Fort Carson’s restricted airspace.

As an aviator, I focus strongly on completing my mission. However, I can never become so focused on one task that I let slip the other things necessary to completing the mission safely. When the mission ends, I want to climb out of an aircraft — not be dragged out of its wreckage.