Risk Management Magazine

For a line company pilot on deployment, things can become very routine. We often perform daily operations without being able to account for every step needed to accomplish our final goal.

I’ve been told many times in my Army aviation career that it’s the little things that will come up and bite you. While this bit of advice has served me well throughout my career and life in general, an accident that happened to a fellow aviator several years ago really drove home this point.

Let me tell you a story as old as time itself. It’s the classic “head-meets-hard-surface.” End of story. Now let me present you another one — this time with a happy ending. It’s a story about how a simple decision saved my life.