Risk Management Magazine

I remember like it was yesterday. It was Nov. 12, 2017, and a few friends and I decided we wanted to go for a ride on this beautiful Hawaiian day. We met at my house and headed toward Highway 3. I was riding my Suzuki Hayabusa to get the fluids running through it. Since it was a show bike, I didn’t ride it much. Out of my motorcycle collection, the Hayabusa was my favorite because of all of the custom work I put into it. Sadly, I wouldn’t be riding it back home.

Late winter 2012 found me on a four-day mission flying a UC-35 to transport distinguished visitors to various locations throughout Europe. The second day of the mission had us departing Bydgoszcz, Poland, at mid-morning, refueling in Bucharest, Romania, then continuing to Ankara, Turkey.

Our crew in the UH-60 Black Hawk was a good mix with a 1,100-hour night vision goggle pilot in command in the left seat and myself, a 650-hour day/night PC acting as the pilot in the right seat.