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Mar
28
2025
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Posted 31 days ago ago by Admin
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In the mid-1980s, during my first tour as a young and inexperienced U.S. Army AH-1F Cobra pilot in Germany, I went through a near-catastrophic event that forever changed my approach to cockpit safety. It happened during a routine but fun training mission where I was performing low-level flight maneuvers in a loose trail formation with several other Cobras. I was at the controls in the back seat, flying in the trail position, focused on terrain using the peaks and valleys to try to remain clear of a notional surface-to-air missile threat. It didn’t get much better than this for an easy day of flying.
I aggressively banked left and descended into an approaching valley. As I reached my desired heading, I attempted to return to wings-level. Nothing happened. Uh-oh. Despite my maximum effort to apply right-aft cyclic, the aircraft stubbornly continued a left roll and descent. I blurted out my problem to my front-seat copilot. No response. He had problems of his own.
He heard me and knew exactly what was wrong. During the last turn, his handheld camera had launched from its perch above his glare shield and wedged itself between his side-mounted cyclic and the adjacent fuselage wall. He knew it was blocking the cyclic control. He also knew he had little time to react before we rolled inverted and crashed into the rapidly approaching valley floor.
However, at that moment I didn’t know the cause of the problem. Believing I was facing a catastrophic flight-control failure, I released the collective and gripped the cyclic with both hands, pulling with all my strength to stop the roll. The aircraft continued its leftward roll, far beyond my intended angle. I then felt subtle crunching feedback in the cyclic control as I leveled the wings and arrested my descent. This all happened in a few seconds; it felt like an eternity.
I wasn’t fighting for my life anymore, but I didn’t think we were out of the woods yet. That crunching sensation could mean only one thing, I thought: we had just caused severe damage to the flight control system. How long could we remain airborne before we departed controlled flight again? It was time to put it down on the ground now!
I told my copilot that we needed to make a Mayday call and land immediately. Again nothing. What was going on up there? After a bit, he finally told me what had happened. His camera was the culprit. While I was applying the excessive lateral cyclic force to recover, he was frantically trying to dislodge the camera from where it had gotten stuck. Finally, the cheap plastic model (thankfully not a metal-framed one) cracked under the pressure. Once that happened, he was able to claw the pieces out of the way, just in time for us to restore control.
That incident left a lasting impression. What began as a routine training flight nearly ended in disaster because of a single unsecured item in the cockpit—a camera, of all things! From that day forward, I became relentless about maintaining a clean and secure cockpit.
The memory of that flight receded somewhat as I retired from routine flying. It returned with full force in 2022, after a tragic CH-47D Chinook accident. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary investigators appeared to be exploring the possibility that an unsecured iPad obstructed the copilot’s pedals. The final NTSB investigation report has not yet been published, so several other contributing factors may yet be discovered. But when suspected loose gear was revealed in the preliminary report, it brought me right back to that unplanned aerobatic flight I had decades ago. I felt a heavy sadness for those affected by this most recent loss and gratitude for escaping a similar fate more than 40 years ago.
Of course, nearly every pilot and crew member will acknowledge the critical importance of securing loose items. But how can we ensure we do not get too rushed or succumb to complacency and forget to check before every flight? It’s not just about keeping things tidy—it’s about safeguarding lives. All seemingly harmless yet unsecured objects are just waiting for a chance to launch—and turn a routine flight into a fatal one.
My experience taught me this lesson firsthand. I got lucky. Others have paid the ultimate price. After my brush with death, I became obsessed with stowing loose items in the cockpit and cabin. I have no regrets.
I hope you make it your obsession too.
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