Risk Management Magazine

Perhaps the worst thing a Soldier can hear in a vehicle during training is someone yelling, “Rollover!” What usually follows is a discombobulated few seconds where only gravity and momentum have control of everything left unsecured inside the vehicle — including its occupants.

A few years ago, my girlfriend, Allison, and I decided to take a trip during spring break to a nice costal town in Oregon named Seaside. We made the arrangements, checked the weather and packed accordingly. Little did we know that this trip would teach us the importance of always planning for the unexpected.

We’ve all heard that there’s no such thing as a “routine mission” in Army Aviation. Time and again, mishap investigations have proven this to be true. The devil is often in the transitions before and after the primary mission. The paragraphs below detail the most common findings in recent Class A aviation mishap investigations.