Risk Management Magazine

It is zero-dark-thirty on a Saturday morning and you’re starting the car to drive to your weekend drill. As you set your coffee in the cupholder, did you realize you were already on duty?

As aviators and crewmembers, we are highly trained professionals. We are expected to operate with great attention to detail. But once we are off duty, why do we find ourselves taking risks we might not take on duty?

Looking back, I realize how lucky I was I didn’t kill myself. The truth is I was safer jumping out of a perfectly good aircraft than I was riding on that motorcycle. I’d been trained to jump out of airplanes, but I hadn’t been trained to ride a motorcycle.