Risk Management Magazine

In a rush to get the bump aircraft run up, the PC passed in front of the weapon the door gunner was carrying and arrived at the aircraft an instant before the door gunner placed the weapon on the ground. Then, the inevitable happened. As the 240H was placed on the ground, it discharged.

Under night vision goggles (NVGs), none of us could tell the area I picked was going to be soft, deep sand that grabbed us by the wheels the second we touched down. As the aircraft abruptly stopped, all of us were thrown forward and caught by our harnesses, except one crew chief.

The radios were silent, systems were in the green and the Atlantic Ocean was rolling calmly along the empty white-sand beaches below. “Bird, 11 o’clock,” the left seater said matter-of-factly. “Contact,” responded the right seat, followed by smooth cyclic inputs that guided the aircraft effortlessly toward the one o’clock position.