Risk Management Magazine

When I found out my application for the Fixed-Wing Multi-engine Qualification Course was approved and I was selected to attend, I was very excited. However, I was a little apprehensive — not about the overall course, just one area in particular.

Just as we crossed the protective barriers — BOOM! — the entire helicopter shook violently. The unsecured crewmember monitoring the load was thrown to the side of the airframe. Our flight engineer shouted, “We’re hit, put it down, put it down,” an intense task for the pilot on the controls given the DZ location.

It was a typical multiple-unit training assembly five-drill weekend. The unit had planned a battalion field training exercise at an area a little over an hour away. Like most drill weekends, everyone seemed to have too much to do and not enough time to get it all done.