| Document
|
Author Wing Commander Ross Priday |
| Abstract Few Royal Air Force officers will have had to deal with the aftermath of two separate fatal air accidents, the second happening right in front of personnel under his command. This is the leadership challenge that Wing Commander Ross Priday faced as the chief engineer of the Red Arrows in November 2011. With the future of the world famous aerobatic team in doubt, the cause of the accident needed to be quickly and positively determined so that measures could be put in place to restore confidence in the aircraft and equipment. Trust between the aircrew and groundcrew became strained and pilots were understandably nervous about returning to flight without a clear root-cause being determined. Ultimately, the accident highlighted that no matter how unlikely a scenario might be, the holes in the Swiss cheese model could still line up and cause a fatality. The subsequent Military Air Accident Investigation Branch (MilAAIB) findings had far-reaching implications for military aircraft operations in the RAF, challenging cultures and procedures that had been in place for many years. With a focus on learning from experience, Priday openly talks through the most difficult, but also the most rewarding 2 years of his life. |
