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To preflight of not to preflight, that is the question - preflight checks
Approach, Feb, 2003 by Tony Pham
As an experienced aviator, I know the value of a good preflight. As a former safety officer, I know there is nothing we do on a daily basis that is so important we should disregard safety procedures. However, in the blink of an eye one Easter morning, I forgot all of that.
We were manning-up for another counternarcotics mission while on detachment in Puerto Rico. Other than having to fly on Easter Sunday, the day began like any other day. We got the mission brief, gave our crew brief, and started to preflight our aircraft. Except for the nugget naval-flight officer, who joined the squadron right after cruise, recently returned veterans from Operation Enduring freedom comprised the crew. Everyone knew their duties, and we proceeded with our tasks like the professional aviators we were.
When we tried to bring one of the engines on-line, it would not turn over. We waited the required time and tried to restart. The propellers tried to turn, but the mighty Hummer wouldn't start, so we shut down and got our troubleshooters into the cockpit. After a few minutes of discussion, we went to our spare aircraft.
We quickly collected our trash and headed over to "Nuts," our "Old Reliable." In our self-induced rush to get the spare started, we hurried our preflights. As the mission commander, I normally would preflight the inside and outside of the aircraft. On this morning, however, I just preflighted the interior and trusted the pilots to do their normal exterior preflights.
We were about to run our prestart checklist when a troubleshooter noticed a gash in the fuselage behind the cockpit. He immediately told the launch coordinator, and we suspended our start sequence. The gash, which barely had missed the cables and wires inside, was in the pressure bulkhead and would have prevented aircraft pressurization during climb-out. Further damage to the fuselage could have occurred in flight.
We all felt a false sense of urgency that morning--a leftover condition from our last deployment, when we had to do everything possible and allowable to make our launch time. Otherwise, we left the hostile skies unattended and our flights unshepherded.
We have to keep everything we do in proper perspective, and we never can shortcut established safety procedures. Although we have to trust each other in this business, we also must verify, which is why the NATOPS checklists are written that way.
LCdr. Pham is the maintenance officer in VAW-117.
COPYRIGHT 2003 U.S. Naval Safety Center
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
