Aviator's extraordinary actions earn Broken Wing

FORT RUCKER, AL, UNITED STATES

12.29.2017

Courtesy Story

U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center

FORT RUCKER, Ala. (Jan. 17, 2017) - Many aviators have said that the U.S. Army Broken Wing Award is not a highly-coveted accolade that most seek.

Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brandon M. Cumens, an AH-64D Longbow Apache instructor pilot assigned to D Company, 1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment, is no exception. However, for his actions during a single engine failure, while conducting live fire operations with a student pilot, Cumens received the Broken Wing award here, Jan. 5.

During the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center's quarterly town hall, Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Farnsworth, Headquarters Department of the Army, Director of Army Safety and USACRC commanding general, and Command Sgt. Maj. Terry D. Burton presented Cumens with the award.

"The whole incident only lasted a few seconds," Cumens said. "In a training environment, at an OGE (Out of Ground Effect) hover, it's something that we practice quite often. My actions were instinctive."

Col. Kelly E. Hines, 110th Aviation Brigade commander, touted Cumens' actions as those of a senior, seasoned aviator.

"It's great to see a pilot's training come out … he didn't have to think about it because he didn't have time to be scared," Hines said. "He reacted to the emergency and put the aircraft safely on the ground. There are senior W5's (Chief Warrant Officer 5) that couldn't have done it any better."

During the presentation, Rae McInnis, director of Accident Investigations, Reporting and Tracking, USACRC, explained the criteria for earning a Broken Wing Award.

"This award is presented to an aviator that has demonstrated a high-degree of professional skill while recovering from in inflight failure or malfunction and preventing or minimizing damage or injury," McInnis said. "What's unique about this situation is that Mr. Cumens is a former OH-58D pilot and he only had about 100 hours in the AH-64D at the time of the accident. He is highly deserving of this award."

Lt. Col. Jeffrey S. Dahlgren, 1st Battalion, 14th Aviation Regiment commander, called Cumens a great American and attributes his battalion's success with meeting standards while balancing workload and unit OPTEMPO to safety.

"Our safety officers are able to get out and see what's going on at the mission level," he said. "As they observe, they provide feedback and are able to identify trends and correct them at that level. We're able to keep standardization across the board."

"Something that safety does is allow everyone to learn from someone else's either achievements or mistakes," Cumens said. "I think that's the best thing about safety."

"Kudos to Mr. Cumens," Hines said, "because he had about another second and if he hadn't reacted, things would've turned out much worse."

• Date Taken: 12.29.2017
• Date Posted: 12.29.2017 14:06
• Story ID: 260781
• Location: FORT RUCKER, AL, US