The Army has an award for pilots who do a really good job crashing

Since 1968, hundreds of aircrew members and pilots have received the Army's Broken Wing award for avoiding crashes or minimizing damage from them.

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The military has a lot of official and unofficial awards for when tragedy strikes.

Soldiers saved by their helmets often receive sections of the helmet after it is studied. Troops hit by enemy weapons get Purple Hearts. And aviators flying for the Army are awarded “Broken Wings” when they manage to avoid a crash or crash safely when tragedy strikes in mid-flight.

The Broken Wing Award dates back to March 1968, and it has been awarded to hundreds of air crewmembers and pilots for avoiding crashes or minimizing the damage resulting from them.

Avoiding crashes may sound easy, but the award is given for serious crises like in 1987 when two OH-6 helicopters crashed in midair and Hugh D. Odum, a warrant officer, saved his bird alongside Warrant Officer Mark Desjardins.

In 2016, Navy aviator Ms. Barbara Gordon became the first sailor to earn the award when she took part in a training flight with an Army pilot. They were practicing an exercise on just one engine in a UH-60L Black Hawk when that engine failed, and the helicopter began to fall at almost 12,000 feet per minute. In that emergency, the two pilots had to take turns taking certain actions to save it, but they managed to do so in the only five seconds they had to avoid a deadly crash.

The award is typically given for in-flight emergencies caused by mechanical failure or environmental factors, though the guidelines for it do say that enemy action isn't a disqualifier. While receiving the award is considered an honor, it's not something anyone hopes for.

“I appreciate the award,” said Chief Warrant Officer 3 James Hagerty while receiving the award for saving his helicopter after a cardboard box went through the engine. “I don't think I want to earn another one though.”

The helicopter had suffered engine failure, and the pilots had to carefully tip the helicopter over a cliff and then use the speed and power from the fall to reach a safe landing spot and do a “roll-on landing” where they have no power left to flare and hover, so they touchdown and roll to a stop instead. So, a controlled crash off of a cliff. No one wants that.

And no pilot wants to face any of the situations that result in a Broken Wing Award nomination. Not the crash off the cliff, not the midair power failure that Gordon suffered, not the midair crash that Odum and Desjardins survived.

The Army gives out the award about 12 to 15 times per year. According to Army Safety, the criteria are:

“An aircrew member must, through outstanding airmanship, minimize or prevent aircraft damage or injury to personnel during an emergency situation. Aircrew member must have shown extraordinary skill while recovering an aircraft from an in-flight emergency situation. If more than one crewmember materially contributed to successful recovery from the emergency, each of those involved should be considered for nomination.”

Each in-flight save by Army aviators represents lives saved and airframes preserved. Obviously, the lives are more important than the helicopters, and occasional plane. (The Army has very few planes, so the award naturally goes predominantly to helicopter pilots.) But each helicopter saved does represent millions of dollars saved by the Army.

It's the award no one wants to earn, the Army doesn't want to have to give out, but each time an aviator gets their broken wings, lives are saved, and aircraft stay in the fleet.