CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER 2 MATTHEW D. RUSSELL
159th Combat Aviation Brigade
Fort Campbell, Kentucky
I was stationed at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia, in the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade when I had an incident during a day training mission I’ll never forget. My unit recently received its UH-60s back from reset and it was my first pilot in command (PC) flight after revalidating in the national airspace system. As PC, I would be conducting four hours of continuation training with two pilots — two hours of day flight with one pilot, and two hours with night vision goggles flight with the other.
I was properly briefed and approved for my single-ship mission and was performing a brief with my crew. Before proceeding to the aircraft, I was informed another aircrew conducting a readiness level progression flight wanted to integrate formation flight into their tasks. They asked if they could join with my aircraft to accomplish that task. We were once again briefed and approved for multiship and the requirements for the air mission commander. We then sat down as a flight and briefed the routes of flight (off the reservation) and contingencies. However, when it came to actions on eastbound Blue Route R-3005, we opted to fly the route as published.
My aircraft would be Chalk 1 so the other aircraft, as Chalk 2, could conduct formation flight training. I thought nothing of it at the time and proceeded with my preflight and crew brief at the aircraft. Once the flight was up on the radios, we confirmed our actions and set out to complete our training.
Everything went smoothly until reaching KP-26, an almost 90 degree left-hand bend in a dirt road with no identifiable terrain features, just east of Red Route. About a kilometer away was another significant turn to the right. While most aviators do not fly the route precisely as published — meaning they would ease around the turns rather than doing them aggressively — this day we flew the exact route.
I wasn’t prepared when my pilot suddenly turned aggressively to the left, banking more than 45 degrees at 100 knots indicated airspeed. I looked out the green house and saw the belly of Chalk 2 less than two rotor disks away. Chalk 2’s pilot applied aft-left cyclic, and I watched as the aircraft ballooned away from me. Due to the evasive maneuver by Chalk 2’s pilot, the PC — sitting in the left seat — couldn’t see what had just happened. Chalk 2 then conducted a 360 degree turn, reacquired us and continued the flight. Fortunately, both aircraft and crews landed safely and were still around to gain some lessons learned.
Just as driving accidents often happen close to home, many aviation mishaps occur while training in our own backyards. Continuation training has the potential to involve toxic levels of complacency. Every flight, we go out to the aircraft, perform a preflight and run down a crew brief. Aircrews tend to focus on who is flying together, what mission is being performed and if they’re familiar with where they’ll be flying. While all these factors come into play, for something as routine as a continuation training flight, most assume nothing could possibly go wrong. Unfortunately, this complacency — and the assumptions that came with it — is what nearly did in my aircraft and Chalk 2.
My biggest takeaway from this incident was not to take anything for granted. More accidents happen during routine missions than nonstandard ones. Ensure you are conducting detailed briefings, especially for flights in which personnel have not flown together. Stay alert to identify possible hazards, even on missions that seem routine. Consider their potential consequences and plan ahead so you won’t be the next entry in the statistics column. Complacency doesn’t always result in a lesson learned you can talk about later. Sometimes it results in a catastrophe.