What are the odds?

Some times there actually are feel good stories, and one was a recent happy happenstance that occurred in late September in Wisconsin.

A small plane with four folks on it went down in a cornfield. 

Now, there's no such thing as a good plane crash, but this one wasn't devastating. It wasn't Patsy Cline's plane slamming into the side of a mountain. Or JFK, Jr. nose-diving into the drink. Or Knute Rockne, dead from a plane crash in a Kansas wheatfield. 

But it wasn't easy peasy either. Not a we just decided to land in a cornfield kind of a deal.Three of those on the plane were taken to the hospital, one with a fairly serious injury. But all four survived. 

As it happened, the crash was witnessed by a group of veteran skydivers. They 911'd the crash - or whatever you do for this sort of accident - and sprung into action. 

[John] Bechtel, who has more than 30 years of skydiving experience, said he and two colleagues decided to jump straight to the site of the crash after calling in what they saw to authorities on the ground. (Source: The Guardian)

There are plenty of things that aren't on my bucket list. And skydiving is one of them. 

I have zero fear of flying, but an off-the-chart fear of heights. The thought of jumping out of a plane, free-plummeting for a bit while hoping that my parachute would open - make that praying, as I don't imagine there are a lot of atheists jumping out of planes - and then landing with what in my case would no doubt be a leg-breaking thud...Well, the acronym that comes to mind is NFW. 

I can't even get to the edge of a canyon to peer down, and the thought of walking out on one of those glass walkways where you look down on what might as well be infinity gives me the total willies. 

So skydiving? Errrrr, no. I suspect my heart would give out the minute I left the comfort and relatively safe haven of the plane.

Fortuitous enough that there was a plane full of skydivers who witnessed the crash. As it turned out:

One of the jumpers, who like Bechtel is also a former paramedic, helped a woman with a serious head injury until an EMT crew arrived by ambulance.

What are the odds that some of the skydrivers were also paramedics? 

Kevin Flynn, another of the skydivers, told Milwaukee news outlet WDJT that he and Bechtel started calling out as soon as they hit the ground because they couldn’t see the plane through the tall corn.

“I got in there and started doing the Marco Polo game to get a response,” he said. “People started yelling at me so I could dial in where I was going.

“It could’ve been a lot worse for those poor people in that crash, no fatalities. I know it’s a terrible thing to happen, but I think it’s a wonderful outcome.”

I'd say. (And love the Marco Polo navigation!)

While I'll never be a skydriver, I have been on small planes a few times, including a four-seater that took me from Rossaveel, Connemara, Ireland, to Inishmore, one of the Aran Islands. And back. 

We were in the air for about 10 minutes without incident. And if we'd gone down, it would more than likely have been into Galway Bay. Or, I guess if we'd made it to landfall, into a peat bog.

But if I ever am going to be in a survivable plane crash, I sure hope that the odds are defied and the witnesses include a clutch of skydrivers who just happen to be EMTs. And are ready, willing, and able to jump in!

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