CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 2 JOHN D. CURATELLA
B Company, 1/229th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion,
16th Combat Aviation Brigade
Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington
It was the last month of our deployment and things were pretty routine. My back-seater and I were sitting in our Apache on Mustang ramp in Kandahar, Afghanistan, preparing for an air assault. We were on the auxiliary power unit, ensuring all our systems were functioning, when something caught my eye.
I asked my back-seater if he also saw it and, sure enough, he did. The aircraft next to us had a situation with sunshades, which protect the cockpit from extreme heat, flying all around the helicopter and dangerously close to striking the rotor blades before the crew chief was able to secure them. Luckily, a mission-stopping incident was averted and the crew was able to continue on time. I remember thinking, “What just happened and how can I ensure it doesn’t happen to my battle buddies or me?”
With temperatures reaching 114 F, it was standard to ensure the sunshades were placed back in the aircraft after every flight. On a planned mission, we had time to preflight, remove the shades and secure them in the storage bay. While performing quick-reactionary force (QRF) duties, however, we would preflight at the beginning of our shift, run-up the aircraft to ensure there were no deficiencies and then place the sunshades back in the windows to keep the cockpit temperature down. Once called out for a QRF mission, we would quickly begin our run-up while our crew chief secured all the shades to save valuable time in responding to the situation.
On this day, the crew next to us removed the shades and proceeded to “spin blades” without verifying all of them were secure. That sent the shades flying — literally. This incident reminded me of something our commander reiterated at every meeting: “Don’t become complacent.” Here was a perfect example. Trying to rush instead of taking 30 additional seconds to confirm the shades were secure could have damaged the aircraft and caused the crew to miss the mission. There will be countless times in our Army aviation careers we feel rushed, and timelines are critical, but it is our duty to not skip steps and become victims of complacency.