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Whenever I hear about lightning-related injuries in the military or civilian community, I always share my experience. My hope is that it provides a little awareness about the dangers of a potentially deadly natural phenomenon.
We’d been home about 15 minutes when my phone rang. On the other end of the line, I heard my wife’s trembling voice. Before I could speak, she told me Hector was killed in a riding accident. My fears hardened into reality as she gave me the facts.
As we shake off the winter chill and welcome more favorable weather, now is a good time to take a look at yourself and your motorcycle before the riding season begins.
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.