Risk Management Magazine

After 15 years flying the UH-60M, I was back in the cockpit as a UH-60L instructor. Most of my state’s 60M aircraft were deployed forward, and more instructors were needed in the 60L to handle a sizable number of new aviators returning from flight school. I received some refresher training in the 60L, consisting of day, instrument and night vision goggles (NVG) flights, and was signed off to conduct instruction.

While the refrigerator power failure was unanticipated and unavoidable, this was a close call. There were several issues that could have gone better.

It was 3 a.m. on a Sunday when I received a call from the brigade staff duty NCO. As a company first sergeant, you dread the middle-of-the-night phone call because the news is never good. This call wasn’t an exception. One of our Soldiers had been involved in an accident just 200 meters away from the battalion and brigade headquarters. I hung up the phone, crawled out of bed and prepared for the worst.