Risk Management Magazine

It started out like most any other night in Balad, Iraq — same mission, same timeline, same hot preflight. My co-pilot/gunner (CPG) and I were to be the trail aircraft in a flight of two Apaches for yet another ground support mission over Baghdad.

Since I started working at the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, I’ve noticed four common themes in almost every aviation mishap I’ve investigated.

Late winter 2012 found me on a four-day mission flying a UC-35 to transport distinguished visitors to various locations throughout Europe. The second day of the mission had us departing Bydgoszcz, Poland, at mid-morning, refueling in Bucharest, Romania, then continuing to Ankara, Turkey.