The Mighty Mishap

Well, it all started a week ago on February 1st. Sunday morning turned out to be one of those wonderful, cold, crisp, clear winter days; perfect for flying. So, despite the -12º Ctemperature, I decided to commit aviation. Glenn Bishell decided to join me with his BushCaddy 164 and even cleared the runway for us. We decided that Red Deer Lake, near Bashaw would be the destination to have a look at my cabin.

It was a beautiful morning, and we quickly climbed to 5500’. We formed up with Glenn staying about 300 meters or so apart from me, as we had done for years. The flight was uneventful with a temperature inversion giving us a comfortable -3ºC at altitude. Glen and I chatted a bit on the radio and even discussed my plans to fly the Christava to the COPA convention in Winnipeg, then on to Halifax in late June and early July.

As we approached the lake, I descended out of 5500′. At around 11:33 AM, according to the SPOT tracker, I had just levelled out at 4500′ (1800′ AGL), about 4 miles southwest of the lake when there was a tremendous bang and the plane started flipping in an extremely tight, outside loop. I was pushed up to the roof of the cabin with my face planted into the skylight and my arms were stuck to the windshield. It became very loud and bright; the result of the sunglasses and headset being ripped off.

I continued like that for what seemed like an hour but was more likely just a few seconds. I fought to gain the controls, but that wasn’t happening. Finally, the plane stabilized out, inverted, and I finally got my hands on the controls… not that it did any good. The plane impacted the ground a few seconds later, still inverted, with nearly no horizontal speed. I was told that the snow directly behind the plane was undisturbed. It simply pancaked in.

To my surprise, I was alive, and conscious. I popped the harness, which was still intact, and fell out of the plane onto the wing. I reached in and turned off the fuel (whatever good that did with the plane upside down and fuel streaming out the vents), turned off the master (one of only 3 switches left in the panel of 15 or so), turned off the mags (the prop was no longer attached to the plane) and for some strange reason, pocketed the keys!

I pulled my legs from the plane and noticed that the left one was at a very odd angle… at about 30 degrees inboard of straight. There was no pain, but I knew that would come. I pulled the phone from my pocket to find it dead. The iPad was, surprisingly, still mounted on the panel and still running ForeFlight! I grabbed it thinking I could get out a text for help. That’s when I saw Glenn fly low overhead and continue around for a landing. About the same time, the Hodderites, whose property I had landed on, showed up. I asked Glenn what happened, and he said he had flown into my tail! Well, at least I didn’t screw up the building of the plane :-).

Our off-duty, RCMP neighbor from the lake showed up next and started in with first aid. I found out later that she called for STARS (Alberta’s Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service) and insisted they come. Fire, rescue and ambulances responded from Bashaw and showed up in quick succession. I was never so happy to hear a helicopter engine as I was that day.

It was about 40 minutes between the time I crashed and when I was finally loaded on board the helicopter. All that time, I was lying on the snow-covered wing in -20º C temps. I was shivering pretty badly when they lifted me up, and I finally saw the plane. It was missing the tail and pretty much everything behind the cabin! I later found out that the tail remained with the plane but was nearly severed off. The angle I was at kept me from seeing it. They put me into the wonderfully warm helicopter, and I was flying again! The pilot promised that his landing would be smoother than mine, although the EMTs weren’t so confident . It wasn’t much more than 20 minutes before we landed on the roof of the University Hospital in Edmonton.

I was scanned, X-rayed, MRI’d, poked and prodded for about seven hours, while immobilized on a backboard with a neck brace the whole time. I think I now glow in the dark… just a little. By 9 PM I was finally moved to the trauma ward. The staff there was incredible and I was tended on like royalty. I was a bit of a celebrity around there. Everyone wanted to rub my head for luck! Whenever a staff member asked what happened and I tell, it was usually met with a “Oh, you’re the guy… did you buy a lotto ticket?”

Tuesday night I was transported by ambulance to the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary. This was good as I was essentially naked in Edmonton without any glasses! All my clothes, except my boots and socks were cut off in the field… Did I mention it was -20º C? Now there’s an image! After meeting with the surgeon, they decided to send me home to await knee surgery.

It’s been quite a week, but I’m doing quite well. Two broken ribs on the right side give occasional back spasms, but they are less and less an issue. Lots of cuts to the scalp left a horrible mess in the plane. It’s amazing how those little scalp wounds can bleed! The left leg was dislocated at the knee and tore a bunch of ligaments. This is what gave the initial impression of a bad leg break. Although a broken femur or tibia may have been more immediately life threatening, the torn ligaments are going to be far trickier to mend. It’s stabilized in a splint now and I have been walking on it with the aid of crutches.

I tore three of the four knee ligaments; one of which, the PCL, is unrepairable. It’s going to be a long recovery time and I’ll likely not get full use of the knee again. I’m currently home as the surgeon wants the knee to heal somewhat before he digs in.

I am so grateful to all the first responders and medical staff who worked together to help me in this trying time. Everyone has been just wonderful! I was also overwhelmed by the outpouring of support and well-wishing I’ve received since the accident. Thanks everyone.

As for the plane, she’ll never fly again. I fully believe that she gave her life to save mine. Why the plane stopped tumbling and stabilized before hitting the ground is a mystery. By all accounts, I shouldn’t be writing this today! I started building her in 1989 and first flew her in 2004. It’s been a part of my life for 26 years! Fortunately, it’s fully insured but I haven’t yet decided my next steps. The only thing I have decided is that this is the parting of the ways for Chrissy and I. There is not much left of her that’s still intact, ant any possible chance of reconstruction went away when the salvage crew cut the wing spars for removal. Either way, the spars were broken further outboard due to the impact.