Most felt relief at first, thinking, Here we go at last, leaving the tension and the failure behind, finally taking off. Then a shower of sparks came tumbling aft into the body of the plane from the pilot's compartment. That is how Arthur T. Hadley, in his book The Straw Giant , described the beginning of the mishap that killed eight members of the failed Iranian rescue mission team. Investigating these aircraft mishaps is extremely difficult, time-consuming and stressful. Nevertheless, a thorough investigation is absolutely necessary if we are to discover what went wrong and devise ways to prevent it from happening again.
Aviation is dangerous.
The Navy spends considerable time, effort and money to minimize risks and to stop the needless loss of lives and material. Yet with each passing year, many of our aviation colleagues are injured and killed and millions of dollars are lost through damaged and destroyed aircraft. Thus, the program directly impacts all aspects of naval aviation, particularly operational readiness. The program seeks to eliminate the causes of damage and injury, that is, hazards. The aircraft mishap investigation seeks to uncover the hazards that caused the mishap and to make recommedations to prevent a recurrence.