Risk Management Magazine

Nothing will make you reflect on how lucky you are more than escaping a bad situation unscathed and beating the odds that were stacked against you. Predicting weather in Iraq was difficult at best. And even though the Air Force weather forecasters were highly trained professionals, if they gave you a weather brief, it could change quickly.

The Jenga tower is your safety system, and each block is a risk control — policies, procedures, training, leadership actions and resource support. In a perfect tower, every risk control is fully implemented and consistently evaluated for effectiveness. Removing a couple of blocks to meet a mission demand creates a small weak point, yet the tower still stands. Herein lies the trap.

After an exhaustive training flight in the desert, the crew was pleased with what they accomplished. All that was left was to conduct their before-leaving-the-helicopter checks. What they didn’t know was their biggest mistake of the night was about to occur.