Risk Management Magazine

It was another hot afternoon in the eastern part of Afghanistan known to many as RC-East, where the temperature can exceed 120 F in the summer. My unit was tasked with providing two CH-47D Chinook helicopters to transport 40 personnel from Kabul to Bagram Airfield. This was supposed to be a simple mission, but as everyone knows, there is no such thing.

When I went to work that morning, I never thought I would later be sitting in the emergency room with one broken hand and a piece of metal in the palm of the other. Complacency and overconfidence had won the day.

Day-to-day operational activities seem to always provide opportunities for flight crews to grow complacent. Although there is no intent to arbitrarily shortcut proper maintenance procedures, isolated incidents or aircraft discrepancies that are relatively simple to rectify often get corrected using improper tooling, maintenance practices, personnel and documentation.