Sunday, July 8, 2012

A521.7.4.RB_FogartyShawn

The context of my story is based a personal experience of mine as a junior aviator in the Armed Forces. I was both young as an officer and as a pilot, more over a pilot in command. I allowed the elements to control my decision making and failed to properly plan for the weather. This resulted in a causation effect that potentially impacted the next day’s operations. This was a learning experience and I’ve this story several times as I’d mentor junior pilots. Y sharing this story my knowledge and personal feelings are conveyed and hopefully helps as people make decisions in the future.  

Expeditious Failure:

It was a bitter cold afternoon which rolled into a rainy winter night. We completed a through pre-flight inspection in the warmth of our hanger to ensure our aircraft was mechanically sounds prior to the training flight. As our training mission was wrapping up after the sun went down we all dreaded the rainy walk from the parking apron back into the hanger. Once the engines and rotor blades stopped our minds were focused on getting out of the cold rain. We rushed through post flight and expeditiously tied and chained the aircraft. When I arrived at work the next day I found out a support mission was cancelled due to maintenance. It was discovered that our transmission filter button had popped and we failed to catch it during post flight. Even through there’s a possibility it popped well after we left I could not say with certainty. If we caught it they could have repaired it in time to support the missions. Our negligence was an expeditious failure to our flawless support.

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