“How do you say thank you for a second chance at life?” George Lamson Jr.
Hello Steemians!!
A couple days ago I was seeing some aerial accidents, that is something that many of the aviators have by habit or that in my opinion it should be for everyone a habit.
While I was hanging out, there was one of those stories that surprised me, it was the story of George Lamson Jr., the only survivor of Flight 203 of the airline Galaxy Airlines in 1985.
On Wednesday, January 21, 1985, the 4-engine Lockheed Electra turboprop crashed outside Reno-Cannon International Airport in Reno, Nevada. Leaving 70 people dead and a single survivor. A few minutes after the plane took off, the co-pilot contact to the Reno tower to request an immediate return to the airport, motivated to show strong vibrations, seconds later the plane suddenly fell to a speed of 225 km Per hour across the US Highway 395 and South Virginia Street, to later tear and burst into flames.
The United States National Transportation Safety Board after conducting the proper investigation of the accident, expressed the following:
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the captain’s failure to control and the copilot’s failure to monitor the flight path and airspeed of the aircraft. This breakdown in crew coordination followed the onset of unexpected vibration shortly after takeoff.
they also added the following factor:
Contributing to the accident was the failure of ground handlers to properly close an air start access door, which led to the vibration.
Here I leave a brief explanation in video, for those who do not like to read much!
Source: https://www.youtube.com/
The video was posted on the YouTube channel by “KSTP”
Testimony of George Lamson Jr. About how the accident happened: MMMM
< When my father and I located our seats, I settled into mine and tried to sleep. A little later, two men came and told us that those seats were theirs. It was not true, but my dad said "Okay," and we traded places with them. Our new seats were in the front row, right behind a screen. We did not understand these men because they left us in a better place, more spacious to be able to stretch our legs (within the limitations of being on a plane).
After take-off, everything was fine. Then the turbulence broke out and the plane began to lean to the right. It did not look anything serious, but from the window I saw that we were losing height quickly. Through the loudspeaker, the pilot announced that the ship was falling.
It must have been 10 seconds since we heard the announcement until we crashed to the ground. We bumped three times and the third the plane crashed over a lot of trailer sales and fell apart; Was about 225 kilometers per hour. I was fired more than 12 meters to a street near downtown Reno.
Flames sprouted everywhere. I looked through the wreck to see if anyone was alive. A memory that still persecutes me is to find the man who took my seat. He was lying on the ground, facing the fire, and I saw that his eyes were open. I approached him to try to help him, but then I realized he was dead. If we had not exchanged seats, the corpse lying there would have been mine.
I continued walking down the street and was surprised that there were no more people, thanks to that there were no injuries among the neighbors of Reno. Very few passengers had fired into my area, only four or five passengers, all of whom had fallen around their seat.
When I thought I was not going to find anyone alive I heard my father's cries, it was a relief to listen to him, but when I saw his bloody face I almost fainted, I did not dare turn him around to remove his seat belt Because I feared that by moving him I might Cause a greater injury.
I was paralyzed for an indeterminate moment, maybe two minutes, I remember that two gentlemen in their 35 or 40 years approached me and I was told to reassure me, that everything had already happened and an ambulance would arrive immediately. I was very nervous and I did not dare touch my head even though I had a hemorrhage, the gentlemen looked at me with concern and that made me more nervous, although they really wanted to convey serenity, the truth is that they did not succeed. Fortunately it was a few minutes, then the ambulances arrived, they took me to the hospital along with another person who I thought was my father but another survivor who had burned almost the entire body and had burned skin.
I said, "I can not believe I've finally found someone else, we're three survivors. Here we are, we're still alive and talking. " His answer was laconic and froze my skin: "There is nobody here". I did not think it was so bad, but as soon as the lifeguards began to heal, I heard him cry out in pain. I knew he died a few days later.
I asked for my father, once at the airport they told me that they had taken him to another ambulance and that he was recovering, but it was a lie, he was very ill and ended up dying the next day.
It was very difficult for me to explain to people how terribly sad everything was. When I first spoke to some people after the accident, they assumed that I was someone special.
They said to me: "You are incredible; You were able to survive that. " Unless you have been through such an experience, you can not really understand it. After seeing so many people lose their lives, one wonders: Why am I here? Why did all those people die and I did not?
When I was discharged I went back home. I finished high school and went to college. I had always imagined that I would get a degree and that maybe I would become a pilot and join the Air Force.
When the vacations first semester of college arrived, I realized that things would never be the same, because my father was gone. I spent the holidays as best I could and then went back to school.
But then the Challenger shuttle disaster occurred and I went into depression. I thought studying so much for another tragedy to put everything to hell was not worth it. I left college and then moved to Reno, to the city where I almost lost my life, but the truth is that there were families and I started to work.
I know that if my father had survived he would have done everything he could to keep me studying. But I do not regret leaving the race. Today I work as a croupier in a casino, I lead a quiet life without financial hardship and I am happy with my wife and children.
Thinking about the plans I had, it seems as if I had fallen short in life. I imagined that the relatives of the people who died in the accident said: "Look at this guy: he got a second chance in life. Why is he still alive? He is not doing anything extraordinary with his life.
I am sure that if my father, my mother or my brothers had survived, they would have done something exceptional. " I tried to suppress most of those feelings, but they came back again and again and caused me depression or filled me with anger. Until I went to live in Reno and paradoxically in the city of the accident I found calm.
It helped me a lot to surround myself with my family and good co-workers. There are many times, mainly on Saturdays and Sundays I pass through the streets of the city center, the same ones where we fell some of the passengers and embarrass me a deep feeling that has stopped being sad to be a memory of history. It's as if I were in the graveyard and on the sidewalk where my father fell was his tombstone. I'd rather leave a bouquet of flowers there or remind him in that place before I go to the cemetery.
In July 2010 I traveled to Minnesota to meet the relatives of three of the fateful passengers. I felt physically ill when I drove to the home of the first family. Sarah had lost her parents and grandparents on that flight. He was six when the accident happened. I thought about how traumatic it must have been for her.
When I got to the house, I hugged Sarah and we talked a little; Then we went to the kitchen and there he showed me a photo of his parents. At that moment everything changed. Oddly enough, I felt the presence of his parents in the room; I felt that they were next to Sarah, smiling, and that they pardoned me for not having done anything extraordinary with my life.
Sarah was happy to see me and I was happy to see her too. He showed me a photo of her when was six and then I looked at her in her late thirties and I started to cry. I felt like I was part of his family. It was an authentic and wonderful feeling of relief and love. I felt really good. >
“I don't want to be remembered as the boy who survived this accident. I want to be remembered as the man that lived.” George Lamson Jr.
Here I leave the trailer for a documentary about 14 people who have survived air crashes, including George Lamson Jr. I tried to find it to share it with you but I did not find it anywhere ... if you find it please let me know!
Source: https://www.youtube.com/
The video was posted on the YouTube channel by “Ky Dickens”
References:
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/08/opinion/sole-survivor-george-lamson/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Airlines_Flight_203
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/20/memories-still-raw-for-sole-survivor-of-85-plane-crash/22080969/
http://rayamar2013.blogspot.com/2015/08/george-lamson-unico-superviviente-del.html
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/01/08/sole-survivor-reno-air-crash-cnn-documentary/4372547/
Images Taken:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/01/20/memories-still-raw-for-sole-survivor-of-85-plane-crash/22080969/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_Airlines_Flight_203
http://www.teinteresa.es/mundo/documental-EEUU-historias-supervivientes-accidentes_0_755924877.html
https://terrific-top10.com/2012/03/31/top-10-sole-survivors-in-a-plane-crash/