Risk Management Magazine

Like the rest of the Army aviation world, the UAS element performs its mission planning and receives a mission brief as well as a weather brief. On this particular training flight, we went through the usual routine — mission brief, weather brief, preflight, engine run-up, trainee records review and briefing the trainee on his flight requirements.

It has no electrical cord, gas engine or whirling blades; yet it’s still one of the most potentially dangerous items in your garage. Each year, more than 220,000 people are injured while using it. In fact, annually, it sends more people to the emergency room than lawn mowers and home workshop saws combined.

My crew was fortunate that the terrain surrounding the airfield was flat, no major obstacles were present between the FAF and the runway, and clouds were above minimums. A similar mistake at many other airfields could have resulted in a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) mishap with dire consequences.