Risk Management Magazine

Army aviation is a demanding profession. You quickly learn how important it is to recognize and control situations that can cause problems, like being in a hurry. My story happened during routine flight operations.

About a year after graduating from flight school, I was conducting instrument meteorological conditions training at my local airport with an instructor pilot. It was early spring and weather conditions were cloudy, with temperatures hovering at the freezing point.

All too often in aviation we are hesitant to admit when we don’t know something or, even worse, that we made a mistake. This is not surprising considering that, as a community, we are mostly Type A personalities.