Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

[AEROBAT]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

You are not alone here. I was there ( 150 feet away in the stands) and I keep seeing visions of what happened. I still hear the roar of the engine and see the plane coming directly at me, even with my eyes open and wide awake. Today on my way to work I looked over at the airport and started to cry. Not a good thing to happen at freeway speed in heavy morning traffic. I regained composure but cant seem to shake the feeling. It's hard to believe it has been two weeks , but the tears still come and sometimes at the worst possible moments. I have flight time this weekend weather permitting and I would like to believe Jimmy will be in the back seat watching over me. (Stead airport is my home field and I am a 50 year old student pilot trying to get finished up on my private) I know a part of Jimmy will always be on that airport. I will always think of him as a friend with a great love and respect for his fellow avaitors , friends ,family ,and his fans.

[Jason S.]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

After YEARS of "Lurking" on this board - reading the posts (usually right before the Air Races, to get all the latest scoop) This has finally prompted me to register and post. Maybe some good can come of this.....

I was there. RIGHT There. Our group, Cascade Warbirds, has had Boxes A-41 and B-40 at the Races for about 10 years. A-41 was Bill & Moya Lear's box until she died. On Friday, I was standing with many friends in the aisle between A-41 and B-40, thrilled at what a great race we were seeing. The Ghost hit right in that aisle, between A-41 and B-40 about 6 feet from me.

I don't have to go over what happened - that's been pretty well covered. I do remember looking up at the reflection in GG's polished spinner (a pretty surreal sight!), and thinking "You're kidding, right??" Then trying to figure out which way to jump. I felt the plane as it brushed past and impacted the ground. There was a huge pressure wave, and something hit me hard in the back. At least I managed to get the right part of my anatomy pointed at the event!

My Girlfriend who was right next to me got a broken foot. I got cuts and bruises, a few stitches and some shrapnel. We had just been talking to our good friends George & Wendy Hewitt, and making plans with them for the evening as the racers came down the chute. (We were going to go race Go-Karts) We've flown many places with them, and done many formation flights together. We turned to watch the race, and never saw George & Wendy again. GG came down right on top of them. Our Friend Larry who has the box just East of ours lost his right hand and had a bad head wound. When I got up off the ground and saw Larry, I thought he was dead. Another of his friends in his box was.

The great thing was the response afterward - both immediately and in the following days. I didn't see anyone lose their cool. Everybody just picked themselves up (if they could), started looking for what needed to be done, and DID it. Within 2 or 3 minutes, I'll bet we had 800 1st responders and helpers in the immediate area. One of our Cascade Warbird Members, Anne - who is an ER Nurse - also saw Larry, and decided "Not on MY Watch!!". She gathered up curtain material from the boxes, and started applying tourniquets and providing immediate care to Larry and several others. Larry not only survived, but we were in his ICU room 72 hours later, telling Fish Stories and jokes. We were checked on by at least one of the Race Pilots, who was playing Surgical Nurse to a former Vietnam Corpsman rendering aid. You may have heard of the Crew of the Vietnam era Huey that was on display in the Rolls Royce Heritage area - they pulled it out, fired it up, and were Medevacing people in it in minutes. I remember looking over and thinking "Where the *#&$% did the HUEY come from??" Now I know.

I was completely AWED by the response. They wanted to put my Girlfriend and I on a helicopter, I said "you will NOT - you use them for somebody who's HURT!" (Thinking of Larry, and some others in equally bad shape I'd seen) When we did get to the Hospital, I figured I'd be waiting for DAYS. in very little time, I had 3 people working on me, cleaning and stitching up wounds. I asked "Isn't there somebody really hurt that needs you more?", they said "No, we're here for YOU". The next day when George & Wendy's Family started arriving in Reno, our Hotel (Circus Circus) insisted on Comp-ing their rooms. We were met by Managers, asking if there was anything they could do to help. The FBO where I had parked my plane (Million Air @ RNO) retrieved it from it's remote parking spot, and put it right in front of their doors. They had 2 BIG Lineboys at our beck and call to help get my Girlfriend into it. It was 5 days later when things were finally arranged for George & Wendy, and we finally DID leave - and it and the plane and the lineboys were still there. (It's a Navion, so a fair bit of climbing was involved - with her broken foot). Then Million Air waived the parking fees, and arranged to return our rental car for us, even though we had Not rented it through them.

The entire community - at the Races, and in town, was 150% supportive. It was great to see people all pulling together to take care of one another, and to get done what needed to be done.

Even now, our Cascade Warbird members are continuing to check on one another, and offers of assistance are still coming in at 10 times the rate we could possibly use. It was terrible to lose our friends that way, but it happened. We can't change it. Feeling bad won't help. What we can do now is to go forward, and make some good out of it. We need to continue to look out for each other, and do some good. I think we need to insure that we save the Air Races. Larry and I already have a pact to be standing in the Same Spot Next Year, drinkin' Margaritas, Smokin' Cee-gars, and watching the Races.

I know that several of you are in the Pacific NW - Wayne, we've met once, and Space-Grrrl, I think you're up here, too? The Cascade Warbirds will be having our regular meeting Sat. Oct. 8th at the Museum of Flight (Boeing Field, downtown Seattle). Many of us who were there will be at the Meeting, and will continue to talk about this together. You guys and any others in the area are welcome to join us. The meeting starts at 10 AM.

Also - we will be having a Celebration of George & Wendy's lives at the Heritage Flight Museum at the Bellingham Airport on Sat., Oct. 22, starting at 2 PM. Cascade Warbirds will be performing a flyover and Missing Man (Wx permitting!), most likely with Navions that Flew with George regularly, and one that he used to fly. You are welcome to come join us there, as well.

Don't look back (TOO much), look forward, and let's see what we can do together.

Dave Desmon
XO, Cascade Warbirds
www.CascadeWarbirds.org

Hi Dave,
Speaking of Larry, were they able to keep his other hand? I was talking with Al Loving just before he and Dave Fagoaga were going to see him (Sunday after the accident) and the last word was that he may lose that that one as well.
I hope all is well and take care.
Jason

[Dave D]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Hi Jason -

I just came back from visiting Larry in Harborview Hospital. He is back in Seattle now, and it looks like he WILL keep his Left Hand, although he does NOT expect to have full use of it. Lots of nerves were cut. He was showing us the stump of his right hand, and saying how he needed a Captain Hook fitting for it, and one for holding Cigars.... - He's in good spirits, and anxious to get on with things - The Dude is a ROCK!.

He did ask me for one thing - He's seen the photo of the Ghost up against the clouds that Victor Archer did as a tribute to Jimmy Leeward. Jimmy was a friend of Larry's, and Larry would love to have a poster of that shot. Does anybody know how to get ahold of Victor?

[sandramore]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

He did ask me for one thing - He's seen the photo of the Ghost up against the clouds that Victor Archer did as a tribute to Jimmy Leeward. Jimmy was a friend of Larry's, and Larry would love to have a poster of that shot. Does anybody know how to get ahold of Victor?

Dave, probably the quickest way is to send him a PM. If there's a Costco near you, Victor can send it to them to print, so you can pick it up. That's how we got the poster to Reno for the memorial.

[Dave D]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Hi Sandra -

I'm afraid I'm not too savvy on the ways of Message Boards and such.... I Lurked for a lot of years. Don't I Need an E-Mail address or something to send Victor a PM?? That's what I was looking for - an address. Do you have one?

Thanks! - Dave

[sandramore]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Dave,

If you look up at the upper right corner, you should see your user name and the last time you visited. Directly below that it says "Private Messages." Click that.

That will take you to the Private Messages pages. Down the left hand side, you'll see the control panel. You'll see a box that says "Private Messages" and in that you'll see a link that says "Send New Message."

When it brings up the new message window, type in Victor and wait for a second. There will be a drop down that says "Victor Archer".

Click on that. Then, type up your message and click "Submit Message."

Hope all that helps!

Or, just talk to Wayne. lol

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Dave.... check PM's...

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Updated.. stupid me.. I didn't really read Dave's message closely enough.. So I emailed him...

Dave, check your @yahoo mail.

[Dave D]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Thanks, Wayne & Sandra!

Sorry to be such a Neanderthal!! Just think, not THAT many years ago, I was a real Techie - but that was the days of FORTRAN and Windows 3.1 - what the heck happened??

I got it now, and I'll get hold of Victor Tomorrow - thanks for the help!

- Dave

[Jason S.]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Hi Dave,
Thanks for the reply and I'm glad Larry's doing better and that he's going to keep his hand.
Take care,
Jason

[AAFO_WSagar]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Thanks, Wayne & Sandra!

Sorry to be such a Neanderthal!! Just think, not THAT many years ago, I was a real Techie - but that was the days of FORTRAN and Windows 3.1 - what the heck happened??

I got it now, and I'll get hold of Victor Tomorrow - thanks for the help!

Dave... I said this in the email but I really mean it. You have come here and put such a personal touch to this event. I'm not sure how to relate to the feelings of those, like yourself, who saw this tragedy close up! If you were detached from the area but still saw it, from far away, like many of us.... there's something wrong.. how can I put a finger on it.. I guess, I still can't really believe it happened.

This making sense to anyone else?

I know there were a ton of folks in the pits who had their back turned.. in the outhouse.. whatever.. they didn't see it.. therefore, it didn't happen.

Somebody kick me in the head!

Anyway.. I just wanted to thank you for putting such a personal, well thought out and written, touch to things!

[bajadreamers]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Mr Archer is on one of my other forums I sent IM this morning With part of this forum thread.

[Acorn]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Maybe he could set something up in the Trading Post section - I'm sure a lot of people would be willing to reimburse him for a copy. It really came out nice.

[fyrfightr]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

Hello everyone... I'm new to this whole forum idea, and just happened to stumble across this one while looking at a friend's facebook and I'm very glad I did.

I have been attending the Reno Air Races since I was a little girl. It was always a week with just me and my dad. The races are what brought the two of us together no matter what was happening in our lives. Over the years my dad and I went from being just spectators to actually working at the races. My dad works at the fire control tower doing numerous things, depending on the day. I work on a fire engine that is stationed at one of the pylons or at the tanker base or at the west end of the runway.

This year was the first year I didn't have to work on an engine at the races. I figured it would be a great two days (Thursday/Friday) of hanging out with my dad and getting my "fix" of racing and planes. On Friday just before the Unlimited Gold race, my dad had to go up into the tower to help out with spotting planes. I was bummed I wouldn't get to watch the Unlimited race with him but knew it would be one heck of a race based on last year (even tho there was no race on Sunday). I found a spot in the stands just in front of the fire tower with my step-mom and 2 step-brothers . We all couldn't stop arguing about who was going to take the Gold this year. Planes took off and all talking between us stopped. That is until we saw GG go vertical, roll then nose dive down. At one point I swear he was headed straight for us. I remember being frozen to that seat for what seemed like an eternity. As soon as GG went down reality set in, my experience/training as a fire fighter kicked in. I knew my family was ok, now it was time to help others.

The 4 of us raced back to the tower once we saw my dad and his fire pickup on the runway. Instantly I was handed a radio, and asked to help with any medical needs that may show up at the tower. I was ok with that because I knew that those people that showed up and were in need of medical attention was a chaos that I knew how to control. After about 10-15 minutes no one came so I was then tasked with finding flagging of any kind to help set up a perimeter on the runway. I knew then that it meant i had to go out there... I spent about 20 minutes on that runway setting up cones and flagging with the sheriffs office and the military. It was by far the worst 20 minutes of my life. I looked towards centerfield and just broke down.. I felt so hopeless because I felt like I wasn't there to help those that needed it.

I went back to work at my fire station the next day thinking that being with "the guys" would keep my mind occupied.. Boy was I wrong! Even being busy at work, I still heard that sound of GG crashing into the runway, smelled the smells of the crash, and saw it every time I blinked my eyes. Almost 3 weeks later and I still cry when I drive past the airport on my way into Reno. I still duck when I have aircraft fly overhead. And I still see it, hear it and smell it. When will it go away??!!

My thoughts and prayers are with all those who lost a friend or family member. And also with all of the Crash Fire Rescue individuals and medics and military men and women who helped that day. It's a day none of us will ever forget!

[a4gturn]

Re: Therapy? Where were you, what did you feel

...so many of you have been lurking here...it took such a tragedy for you to share your thoughts and feelings with us...continuing conversation helps to get us all through this...we all lost a little of ourselves that day...thank you for keeping this thread alive..