CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 4 MICHAEL KAILIAN
U.S. Aviation Support

Most of the stories you read in this publication begin with something like, "No $@%!, there I was ..." Usually, those stories end up with some kind of damage occurring to the aircraft or an exceedance of a limitation. This one doesn't. What this story begins with is, "How did I let myself get here?" But first, a little background on the situation to help to paint a better picture.

I was a junior CW3 and the pilot in command of the flight. I'd been in the unit for a year or so. The mission was to fly single ship (UH-60L) from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Dahlonega, Georgia, to provide casualty evacuation and search-and-rescue support for a land navigation course. We had a crew of four — two pilots and two crew chiefs. All of us were experienced in the mission tasks as well as having strong flight experience. We were to relieve a crew that was already on station for the previous two weeks.

We conducted all the required flight planning, determining our required weather and fuel stops. The weather was good all the way to our fuel stop, then marginal from there to our destination. The first leg of the flight was uneventful, just the way we wanted it. While we were refueling at our planned stop, we went in to update the weather brief. The weather had deteriorated to our briefed minimums. However, the briefer noted that the weather was supposed to improve at our planned arrival time.

We departed on time and encountered deteriorating weather within 20 minutes of takeoff. We decided to press on. We knew the other crew was as eager to get home as we were to get there and get situated. Before we knew it, we were flying between two solid layers of clouds on a visual flight rules flight plan. We discussed our options — to include picking up an instrument flight rules clearance and even turning around. Our destination had no published instrument approaches and the closest airfield which did have one was too far away (only for the suitability of the crew/aircraft swap).

We ended up dodging clouds, towers, wires and hilltops into a mountainous environment. Not a good place to be with bad weather. Again, we decided to press on.

Ultimately, we made it to our destination without incident; but I learned a lot of lessons. First, I was far too eager to get there and accomplish the mission. I didn't want to cancel. That mindset ended up endangering the crew. Second, I should have filed IFR from the gas stop and landed short of the destination at a site which provided all the services we might need. I also could have opted to wait out the weather at our fuel stop, then proceeded when the weather conditions improved.

I know the other crew would have understood we had no control over the weather and gladly supported the tasking until we could arrive safely. Unfortunately, I let my overconfidence override my good judgment.