Risk Management Magazine

It was a fairly routine flight. The weather reports showed conditions deteriorating slightly, but it was still within our briefed minimums and the unit command approved the flight.

Throughout my career as an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) operator, I was fortunate to never experience a near-miss or mishap. While this may be considered one of my greatest accomplishments, I cannot take full credit. I attribute much of my success to the many lessons learned from noncommissioned officers (NCOs) at the smoke pit.

As we proceeded back to the airport, we requested the instrument landing system (ILS) approach, and ATC assigned vectors. This particular airport during this time of day was busy with many types of traffic — commercial, general aviation, helicopters and military aircraft — all trying to make it back in before the weather hit the airfield.