Risk Management Magazine

Flying in a multiship formation into inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions can be a wakeup call to revisit tactics, techniques and procedures for your unit. The following incident led my unit to update its procedures.

One night, I was on a night vision goggle training flight with my company instructor pilot and two crew members. The IP was a very experienced NVG aviator who was trained at the High-Altitude Army Aviation Training Site in Gypsum, Colorado, and made it a point to demonstrate mountain flying and pinnacle operations.

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 and others don’t.