Air Force Now: Flying Safety

for [Music] [Music] geometry on this stick is miserable when design that I don't know okay I got a little there oops F control I've lost the flight FL control system go just second I can't hold ited [Music] military aircraft fatalities began in 1908 and they continue today the causes have always varied an inexperienced pilot a mechanical failure a combination of both but whatever the reason one thing is clear when airplanes crash people die at Norton Air Force Base students from across the country participate in the flying safety program the only one offered in the Air Force to help us in the classroom the students are equipped with the necessary skills needed to effectively manage their own Wing safety program it will be their job to work directly with the wing Commander to keep the accident rate low here we have an exhibit that shows us some evidence that we had no rotation when this engine hit the ground here we see damage that was done to the case at that point and it correlates directly to the damage that we see on the fan in spite of our best efforts and best intentions there will occasionally be an accident when that happens a part of our course is to teach these young off officers how to investigate how to make sense out of that chaos that they're going to find on the ground I think of the scene of an accident the crash site if you will as if it were the scene of a crime a murder or something of that nature and I always try to tell the students to to treat all of those broken parts with with a great deal of respect because they're like fingerprints they they each have some sort of a story to tell if we can just learn the language of those parts and our desire is that we will be well enough informed and and have enough knowledge when we leave the course to be able to to make sense and to work our way through this this debris to find the cause of the accident in 1982 as a result of the investigative training provided in the safety program a new cause of aircraft disasters was identified G induced loss of consciousness the advancement in aircraft design had created a new danger for the pilot if we look back to the era of the F4 the pilot uh the more G he pulled the more his vision would begin to Gray and then black out on him and he knew he would have to eat knes up on the stick at that point uh our newer aircraft have such high onset break capabilities uh that an individual can go from Total Consciousness total visual capability into a point of unconsciousness with no visual cue whatsoever no grayout no blackout occurs unconsciousness develops the very best way to combat g-induced loss of consciousness is with a perfected [ __ ] straining maneuver uh the way we've been able to perfect that is through a training program employing the human cuge uh in the human cuge the pilot can practice that [ __ ] strain maneuver and be coach to Perfection our success in the g-induced loss of consciousness mishap reduction uh has been the result of the air Crews themselves The Fighter jocks who have gone out there employed that information that we've provided to them and have uh flown their a aircraft in a more safe [Music] manner catastrophic events are one thing but even less severe mishaps diminish the combat Readiness of the entire Air Force the flying safety program is designed to effectively reduce all accidents regardless of their severity accidents of course have happened from the very beginning of Aviation they began with the right brothers and and we still having accidents but we must have safety programs like this in order to keep the rate down to keep it as minimal as possible by understanding what caused this accident and that accid that and again the whole reason is prevention if we know what caused it maybe we can keep it from happening again the flying safety program saves lives and avoids disasters like these safety will always be stressed throughout the Air Force because the alternative is unacceptable flying safety in the Air Force is a team effort that team effort has paid off in the last several years as the Air Force has achieved the safest flying years ever [Music] as far as the accident part of it goes we'll talk about other people's crashes we don't like to talk about ours and we don't like to really think about ourselves becoming involved in accidents although in the back of our mind we soon realize that regardless of whether we've had an accident or whether we think we might become involved in it we have to be prepared for it ahead of time in order to at least minimize the injury and the consequences of that accident I'm a pilot but I'm also a motorcycle safety instructor the Air Force teaches us a driving strategy that's different from automobile driving and we do this in a controlled riding environment outside we call a riding range my name is Dick Garrett welcome to March Air Force Base the riding range which is our outdoor training area is a large paved area the riding exercises are designed to reflect to some degree real world situations some exercises that we do like the figure8 teach the motorcyclist a sense of timing and interaction with other vehicles on the road when I took the course as a student the first time I had over 10 years of motor recycling experience behind me and yet I learned such a tremendous amount of new information and techniques during that one course I was impressed enough to come back as an [Music] instructor and when we get out there the instructor will show them specifically what the performance should be and then the Riders themselves take a shot at it when you're riding to a curve you have to to understand the technical aspects of motorcycling in order to negotiate a corner properly there's the right line through a curve and then there's everything [Music] else you know why you went wide on the corner that time uh it just went wide as you entered the curve your entry speed was a little bit hot and then once you got into the curve you realized it and you rolled off on the throttle just a hair my rolling off the throttle as the instructor pointed out to me this is what happens often to single vehicle motorcycle accidents the people get into a curve and rather than accelerating throughout the curve they roll off the throttle and it causes the bike to straighten up and run them into the guard rail [Music] motorcycling itself is inherently different from any other activity that most of us are involved in we all realize that there is more risk involved in riding a motorcycle than most other modes of transportation so it does require special skills in spite of our best efforts at times we still find ourselves involved in hazardous situations at one time or another every motorcyclist is going to be involved in a minor spill of some type whether it's just dropping the motorcycle in the parking lot or something a little more serious than that Those whom I have talked with about their accidents in retrospect without exception realize that there was something that they could have done beforehand to either have avoided the accident or avoided the the consequences of that particular incident everyone without exception regardless of their attitude when they first came into this course leave the course with a good feeling and they strongly recommend it to other Riders the motorcycle safety program in the Air Force works I know it works [Music] walked out to the c141 in Hanoi with my uh with my head held high and I felt about 10 ft tall so we brought our honor home with us a little scarred but we brought it home the morning of February 12th 197 73 the first of our 550 American prisoners of War were being released in North Vietnam the tension was high at galam airport Hanoi each man's excitement was shrouded by the question are we really going home at last [Music] the c141 was a symbol of America and a passage to [Music] Freedom destination Clark Airbase Philippines [Music] home home to the freest country in the world a simple homecoming which became one of the greatest moments in American history all the love a country could give was accepted by these great men who sacrificed so much for Freedom we are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our country under difficult circumstances we are profoundly grateful to our commander-in-chief and to our nation for this day God bless America God Bless [Applause] America but Clark Airbase was only the first stop on this flight to [Music] Freedom these men were soon reunited with their loved ones ending their journey [Music] home for some the Vietnam Legacy continues as over 58,000 Americans died in the Vietnam War and I just I wish that we could bring them all back but we can't and we never have from any engagement that we've had and those are those are the people that really caught the Brun of the war I think those are those are the people that we owe so much to [Music] la [Applause] [Applause] you [Music]