Risk Management Magazine

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

I always begin this story with, “It was 100 percent my fault.” Pride aside, here are the events that led up to my Class D accident.

“Beat the heat” — those three words used to remind me of my early days in the military. Beating the heat could be the difference between life and death at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. However, this historic motivational quote took on a whole new meaning following what I consider to be the scariest moments of my deployment.