Risk Management Magazine

As aviators, we know the importance of conducting a thorough preflight of our aircraft. It helps us ensure nothing is out of place, such as hardware or tools from a previous maintenance task.

In today’s fast-paced operational tempo and multiple mission sets with multi-national forces, it is important to know how our allies operate in similar circumstances. Likewise, it is important for our allies to know how we operate with regard to mission-essential details that may be required when working together. I state it this way because of a situation my unit encountered while deployed to Basra, Iraq.

It was to be an exciting night in northern Iraq. The mission was a little different from the standard ring route to the north or south of Forward Operating Base Speicher and I was eager to get started.