CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 2 JOSHUA MCCOY
A slow week in the medevac world can turn crazy in a heartbeat. I know because it happened to my crew. There I was, a new pilot in command flying with a senior pilot in command who was also the company’s aviation safety officer. We were in Afghanistan flying med-chase out of a remote outpost. As a company, we rotated crews once a week, so we would spend one week out there about every eight weeks.
As a crew, we decided that if we received an urgent medevac call, I, as the pilot in command, would run to the tactical operations center and the other pilot and crew chiefs would run to the Black Hawk and prepare for departure. At the TOC, the PC would get all the information needed to complete the mission such as grid, radio frequencies, number of patients and mission approval. The PI would get the aircraft up to engine start, to include APU started, avionics on and loaded. They’d have everything on the aircraft ready; the only thing left was for the PC to buckle in and start the engines.
This particular week had been relatively slow. We had only a couple of urgent calls and routine transfers, and all were during the day. We were satisfied with the low flight time, which meant that no Soldiers were being injured or killed. On the forth night of our week-long stay, the call came.
It was 3 a.m. and we were all in deep slumber. Over the handheld radios came the call, “Medevac, medevac, medevac,” which meant we had 20 minutes to get up, prepare and take off. I jumped up, threw on my flight suit, put on my boots and I was off on a 200-meter sprint to the TOC at 7,500 foot elevation that was not enjoyable. At the TOC, the medevac aircraft PC and I received mission details and launch approval. As I arrived at my aircraft, I noticed the APU on, the pilot in the left seat and crew chiefs preparing for engine start. All was good. I put on my aviation life support equipment, climbed into the front seat and buckled my seat belt.
As I looked over at the other pilot, I noticed he was holding the controls, staring forward, completely zoned out. I asked if we were ready for engine start and his reply was, “Yep.” I looked down and noticed none of the avionics were turned on; not a big deal, just an extra step. So I said, “OK, I will turn on the radios and load the GPS, you start the engines.” I got the radios on and the GPS point loaded for the mission and he got the engines started with no issues. I asked if we were ready for departure and his reply was, “Yep.”
As I was doing the before takeoff check, I notice the engine power controls were both at idle as opposed to fly, which is where they needed to be. I looked at him, and he was still just holding the controls staring forward and zoned out. I said, “I guess I will put these (engine power control levels) to fly.” He looked up and said, “Oh, oh, oh, I was just trying to test you.” Typical SP response when they make a mistake.
We flew the mission without any further issues, and, wouldn’t you know it, he flew the entire time. The lesson I took away from that medevac call was to never get too comfortable with anyone you are flying with, even seasoned pilots. Also, always use your checklist. Taking that extra 10 seconds to double-check with the checklist saved us from a potential accident.