Risk Management Magazine

Group motorcycle rides can be one of the most enjoyable — or terrifying — ways to ride. Groups vary in size and purpose and usually consist of three or more motorcycles to upward of 100! Sometimes, the rides occur by chance or are organized to support an event or cause. Others are planned to raise awareness for a national observance such as Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month.

Understanding the direction a safety program is headed — or why it’s moving that direction — requires knowledge of how the program evolved over the years. Successes and failures; mission and manpower changes; and, of course, regulatory changes are all contributing factors instrumental to moving forward.

The following incident happened a few years ago while I was an AH-64A instructor pilot at the Western Army National Guard Aviation Training Site at Silverbell Army Heliport in Marana, Arizona. It demonstrated to me that when things happen, some of them go the way you want while others do not.