The writings and portfolio of Jason Vance

Continued from here…

As we walked to the intersection of the runways I finally noticed an airport personnel vehicle was slowly driving toward the burning wreckage. We were north of the wreckage. The Airport vehicle drove right past us to the south side of the burning wreckage. He attempted to drive the truck into the crushed gravel between the intersecting runways.

My wife, wanting to get my daughter to a hospital ASAP. She started to scream at the airport personnel. Her antics didn’t do anything to get his attention. He was too fascinated by the fire that had totally engulfed the aircraft.

As we started to walk toward the Airport Authority’s truck, he finally noticed us and realized that there were survivors. He started to drive towards us, trying to pass the wreckage on the East side of the field. It seemed as though he was stuck in the crushed gravel. He finally put the truck into reverse and started to get back on the runway coming toward us.

Luckily, a second truck from the Airport Authority was racing towards us from the local FBO. Behind them, an Airport Fire truck was screaming towards the Cessna wreckage.

As the second truck pulled up to us, the driver asked me what he could do. I screamed at him to help me get my daughter to a hospital. Utterly confused, he didn’t know what to do. I opened the door to the crew cab of his truck and started to move the tools so that my crying daughter could lie-down someplace cool. As I got the tools out, the local ambulance arrived along with a local police officer arrived to evaluate the situation.

The first thing that the local officer did was to separate me from my family. He pulled out his “Paperwork” and asked me to start filling it out.  Being a typical Bureaucrat that is what he was trained to be do.

I sat there in shock utterly bewildered for a moment. Having no compassion for what had just happened, he ordered me to fill out an accident report. He wanted a witness statement. Stunned and willing to comply, I sat down in the front seat of the police cruiser and attempted to write my story to the cops. After writing just two or three sentences, the initial rush of adrenaline subsided and I started to shut down completely as I realized that I had just survived a plane crash.

I lost control of my body and started to slide out of the police cruiser. I slid to the sand and collapsed from an emotional overload that I have never before experienced.  A few seconds later, two EMT’s grabbed me and proceeded to put place me on a backboard and into a neck brace. I begged them to take a look at my daughter first, as she had been in the cockpit with the fire.

My main concern was the fact that she had been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) a few months earlier and I wanted to make sure that her lung functions were OK. I was also concerned about my wife having smoke damage as she was the last to leave the burning wreckage.

The nNot one of the EMTs was not interested in what I had to say. They were more concerned with me, and not what I was asking them to do. Completely exhausted from the ordeal, I complied and let the EMT’s do their job. They grabbed four people and promptly put me into an air-conditioned ambulance.

They began by strapping me down to a stretcher to make sure that I couldn’t move. Lying there uncomfortable and unable to move, the head EMT asked, “Have you taken any controlled substance?”

This took me back. They didn’t ask me if I was hurt, they didn’t ask if I needed anything, the EMT just wanted to know if I had done drugs. I sat there thinking, is this what the “War on Drugs” has come to?

I answered, “No, I haven’t taken any controlled substance.”

The EMT then continued to ask if I had been drinking, when was the last time I had a drink. What did I prefer to drink. Laying there I really wanted to get up look the guy right in the eye and say, “Yes, I opened a bottle of scotch this morning and decided to take my wife and daughter on a joyride while I was drunk.”

Of course I didn’t. I just said that I hadn’t been drinking.

The EMT finally said, “You know, if you are lying we will know.  We’re talking your blood right now. I just need you to sign this form to get your permission.”

Since I didn’t have anything to hide, I just reminded the EMT that if he wanted me to sign the form, he’s going to have to release the stretcher strap so I could sign it. He complied, and I signed the form.

A few seconds later, a pair of EMT’s brought my daughter on a stretcher inside the ambulance. The EMT that was helping me then turned her attention to focus on her.

The first question he asked her is if her mommy or daddy had been drinking. I just lied there thinking how draconian our government has become. They use private companies to compile evidence against their citizens. They were doing everything in their power to get someone to admit that they were on some sort of controlled or uncontrolled substance.

A few seconds later one of the EMT’s told my daughter that they wanted to insert an IV into her arm. She continued to flip out screaming that she didn’t want one. Breaking my heart she was screaming “Daddy, Don’t let them do that to me!”

She had been hospitalized a few months earlier and had an IV Inserted in her almost all the way to her heart. It was a scary experience for her and she was having flashbacks of the hospitalization.

I realized that my hand was free when the EMT had asked me to sign the permission form to take my blood for analysis. I jetted my hand out to grab her and told her that they only needed to do it once so won’t have to give her multiple shots. She slowly calmed down and allowed two EMT’s to place an IV drip in her arm.

The EMT’s started asking me and my daughter a series of questions and started to examine us to make sure that there was nothing wrong with us. My daughter had split her lip on the left side of her face, but other than that she seem fine.

I spoke with one of the EMT’s who cleaned the burn on my leg and cleaned out my elbows and knees where they split when I rolled out of the plane. The EMT couldn’t find anything else wrong with me.

The EMT’s left the ambulance for a while. They had given my daughter and I a sedative to help calm us down. My daughter was sobbing and I tried talking with her to soothe her feelings and help her relax.

My attention then turned to the police officer who wanted a few seconds with me. He told me that this was just routine questioning, but they needed a copy of my Pilot’s license along with my Medical and Insurance information. I told him that he could go through my wallet and take all of that information out.

Having this, he started to have me recant the accident to him as he wrote down what I said. When I was finished, he again asked me to over the accident again. I compiled and retold our experience from my eyes.

Just as he was starting to ask more questions, one of the EMT’s came into the Ambulance and informed my daughter and I that my wife was leaving on Life Flight right now. They were concerned that all of us had possible spinal compression fractures and wanted to get us to a hospital that could take some X-rays to make sure that we were OK.  You see, the idiot politicians in the town where we crashed have been more concerned with setting up new casinos and not investing in a good medical care facility. This is quite sad, considering that there are more than 7000 residents.  Apparently they are more concerned with the appearance of City Hall than making sure residents (and plane crash victims) have any sort of proper medical care.

The EMT informed me that my daughter and I were also going to be Life Flighted to Salt Lake City on a Pilatus aircraft which would arrive in about 20 minutes. I asked the EMT if my wife was in any danger. She told me that she didn’t know and rushed out of the Ambulance to attend to my wife.

I was a bit freaked out that they were sending my wife to Salt Lake City first. I was really concerned when the EMT didn’t answer my questions about her condition.

A few minutes later I heard the Life Flight helicopter landing near the ambulances. It was driving me nuts that I was partially strapped to the stretcher and couldn’t see what was happening outside the ambulance going on. My daughter started crying realizing what was going on and asked, “Is Mommy going to be OK?”

I honestly didn’t know. Being Dad, I assured her that her mommy would be Ok, and that they were sending her first because she was alone and didn’t have anyone with her in the ambulance like we had. She seemed to think that that was OK and let it alone.  On the other hand, I was terrified with worry about my wife. I was afraid that she might have some sort of lung damage due to the fire or smoke inhalation when she was trying to get my daughter out of the aircraft.

One of the EMT’s came into the ambulance and continued to take our vital signs. I asked him what was the condition of my wife? He didn’t know. After jotting something down on some paperwork he left the ambulance. I heard the thump-thump-thump of the helicopter taking off leaving me with a feeling of separation for my family.

Just then A moment or two later I could hear someone talking to the pilot of the Pilatus saying that he was 10 minutes out.  Two EMTs entered the ambulance and told my daughter and I that we were going to fly back to Salt Lake City and we would be taken to two different hospitals.  I asked where I was being taken and they informed me. As for my daughter, they thought that it would be best to take her to the local Children’s hospital for proper care since she already had a close relationship with them due to her CF.