Tell Me About a Time (TMAT): Helicopter Interview Questions — Part 9
TMAT Question: Tell me about a time when you identified and acted on a safety hazard.
Situation
While flying MEDEVAC missions in Southeast Alaska, my crews routinely faced route-selection decisions, involving either shorter paths through terrain or longer routes over open water. Each option carried different risks related to weather, visibility, terrain clearance, crew workload, and patient transport time.
Over time, I noticed that crews were often making these decisions based largely on experience and intuition. They lacked a simple way to quickly compare the time savings versus the risk tradeoffs of both routes—particularly the risk of committing to a shortcut only to be forced to turn around, ultimately increasing total transport time and exposure.
Task
My responsibility was to identify whether this decision-making gap represented a hazard and, if so, develop a practical tool that would help crews make more deliberate, risk-informed route decisions—especially during time-sensitive MEDEVACs.
Action
After recognizing this pattern, I began analyzing common routes and outcomes. I identified that one of the most significant risks wasn’t choosing a longer route—it was taking a shortcut, encountering deteriorating conditions, and then having to reverse course, increasing exposure, workload, and patient transport time.
To address this, I created a simple route-comparison chart, which displayed route distances and allowed crews to input the airspeed they realistically expected to maintain based on weather and terrain. This tool enabled crews to quickly compare total transit times for different routes as well as factor in the risk of having to turn around versus committing to the longer route from the outset.
I introduced the chart during crew briefs and training discussions, emphasizing that it was not meant to replace judgment, but to support clearer, more deliberate decision-making under pressure.
Result
By providing crews with a shared, objective reference when discussing route selection, the chart improved preflight and en route decision-making, reduced indecision, and helped crews better justify conservative choices—especially when the time difference between routes was minimal.
Most importantly, it reduced the likelihood of crews committing to higher-risk shortcuts without fully appreciating the downstream consequences, which improved consistency, supported effective mission planning, and helped balance efficiency with patient and crew safety.
I learned that identifying hazards isn’t always about responding to incidents—it’s often about recognizing patterns and providing crews with simple, effective tools that make the safest decision the easiest one to choose.
The Real Deal – Additional discretionary information
I had the opportunity to fly throughout the United States, serving in the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, Gulf Coast, and Alaska. Each tour added to my airmanship through the corporate knowledge of those units, and I tried to carry forward the best practices from one assignment to the next.
That said, what worked well in one environment did not always translate to another. Maintaining curiosity about what worked—and what didn’t—allowed me to adapt and continue growing in each new location.
MEDEVAC operations in Southeast Alaska provided significant growth. The following considerations applied consistently across operating environments—many of them unique to the Coast Guard’s MEDEVAC mission: