Risk Management Magazine

A few years ago, as part of a Black Hawk crew, we encountered a close-call incident while conducting a routine training flight. We were returning to base when we experienced a phenomenon known as settling with power or the vortex ring state. This occurs when a helicopter descends too quickly and loses lift from the rotor blades.

In my cockpit, we started discussing turning around and how comfortable the crew felt. We communicated the idea to Chalk 1, and they said they could still make out terrain features. They were comfortable to proceed though the pass if we were good, so we continued.

Many articles are written about situations that could have resulted in something catastrophic happening because of a momentary lapse in judgment. These are tough lessons to learn. However, I believe important lessons can also be learned when everything does go according to plan.