Short Stories

Flight 118 (fiction)

• It was a bright sunny fall day in New England, the smell of falling leaves and musty

computer and now that it's done I'm on my way home. The installation and visit was

great. I always enjoy visiting a favorite aunt. Now I'm ready to head back to Florida and

all those projects impatiently awaiting my return. The airport is less than a fifteen minute

drive away so leaving an hour before the flight will give me plenty of time to get my seat.

• Since moving to Florida I have not encountered many fall days like this one and I

can't explain except to say that it smells like Halloween. I can almost taste the "trick or

treat" candy and smell the grease paint.

• The airport was busy, but not really crowded as I made my way to the ticket

The first will go from Westchester, N Y to Baltimore, Maryland. The second will take

me from Baltimore to Ft. Myers, Florida. These were not standard connections, but the

price was so low I couldn't refuse the routing. Flight 118 was called several minutes late

but got off the ground on time.

• Once in the air I got out my computer and began typing as I usually do to pass the

was doing. My seat was an aisle seat about 5 rows behind the wings and 15 rows behind

the First Class Cabin, on this flight there are so many empty seats I have the row to my-

self.

• I wonder if I could convince the stewardess to move me up to First Class? No!

There are so many empty seats I'm going to move to the middle seat, put down the arm

rests and spread out a little as I type.

• The flight was smooth until we reached the Pennsylvania border where turbulence

managed to get some much needed typing done. This air time allows me to catch up on

typing and computer house cleaning work, that I would not ordinarily have free time to

finish. This was a nice quiet flight with so many empty seats I could stretch out and sleep

if I wanted. As we approached the air space over Lancaster, PA (which is a short distance

by air from Baltimore) the turbulence picked up again. I decided to put the computer

away, since we were so close to the end of this flight, and it was getting bumpy.

• I hardly had time to close the computer case and slide it under the seat in front of

able on the stomach. It seemed as though we were trying to avoid something aimed at us,

• like in the old cowboy movies where the good guys dodged and weaved the bad guys
• taunting gun fire. I could feel my stomach revolting and briefly thought I might need the          _
• air sickness bag.
• Shit! Are we going to crash? I hope not! Never believing we might crash for a
• second. After several severe turns the stewardess came over the public address system to         -
• tell us to fasten our seat belts and "be calm!"
• What is she crazy, "be calm. " The way this plane is bouncing everyone on board
• will be sick, including the crew, who the hell can be calm                            
• "We are going through some turbulent air " she said! Hell any idiot could see
• that!                                                                                            -
• As the stewardess was talking the oxygen masks dropped down from their over-
• head compartments, dangling in front of our faces nervously. Someone was shouting to
• put our heads between our legs and hold onto our ankles. Finally there was a horrifically        ~
• loud bang and tearing sound, as the plane made a severe left turn and began to plummet
• toward earth. The passengers were praying and swearing, some at the same time. For           _
• several seconds we seemed to fall uncontrollably, then we abruptly leveled off. Suddenly,
• everything was calm, no violent movements or noises. For a moment we all optimisti-
• cally settled down to wait with an almost universal sigh of relief. I was sure the worst           -
• was over. That wishful thinking didn't last long and we plunged uncontrollably down-
• ward.
• That sound of a "screaming airplane dive " you hear in movies is really true! I
• wonder what death is really like? I guess I'm going to find out real soon.
• At what seemed like the last possible second the pilot managed to pull the nose up
• and the plane felt like it was climbing again, then it shuddered out of control. A second
• later I could feel the tail of the plane rip across something solid as parts of the plane tore
• away and the entire plane bumped up and down. We careened across the tree tops on our        —
• drop to the ground, leaving a blazing marker of broken trees and airplane parts trailing
• behind.                                                                                  _
• The peaceful night air was shattered by the screaming sound of jet engines close
• by, and the unthinkable sound of three hundred year old trees being snapped like twigs.          —
• Suddenly, a loud crash ended the screaming, as something shook the earth and scraped
• along bowling over everything in its path. There were no lights to indicate what had
• happened. This dark night would keep its secret. Only God and a few good people, now
• dead, would ever really know what caused this crash. A lot of hissing and snarling of
• tortured metal greeted the silent forest. In minutes the sounds of a startled community            _
• rang out in the stillness following the chaos. An assortment of curious and helpful people
• began converging on the site
• When, the noise of the crash finally subsided, the moans and groans of the passen-         ~
• gers could be heard inside over the hissing and growling of the wounded 727.
• I became aware that I had been unconscious for a while because the plane was        

• now down and totally stopped. I don't remember the actual impact and slide, although I
• sensed the contact and final abrupt stop. It was pitch black inside except for some hazy
• illumination on the floor. The seats are different, they're slightly moved around. After
• what seemed like a long time I realized people were moaning and attempting to move. I

• Those headed for the rear exits got a terrible surprise when the back of the plane ex-
• ploded into flames.
• When we boarded the plane there were about 25 people, but I now hear a few, 5 at
• most, moving. Now the entire inside of the cabin was saturated by black foul smelling

• twisting floor to avoid the smoke. Aluminum conducts heat so fast that it seems to melt
• like wax in a fire, first spreading the heat away from the source very quickly and then

• seemed to be disintegrating right before my eyes. Those of us left alive began to drag our

• all at once. The panic was at a fever pitch. There was no way out. We were trapped.
• The heat inside the cabin was super hot and the smoke was thicker than anything I

• This must be what it's like.
• The smell of diesel fuel was overpowering and I wasn't sure it was safe to head for

• lieved that I could have panicked even under such circumstances but, now I realize, not

• Indecision will kill me here, I must move now! But, where? Toward the rear is
• certain death, the front crashed into something so it must be blocked, where the hell do I

• I was amazed that the crew were nowhere in sight, until I moved forward two rows
• and another passenger coming back toward me kept repeating over and over "...they're
• dead! All DEAD!!! He then tried to crawl past me on the floor. "I told him the back was
• an inferno and there was no way out in that direction. "

• middle of the plane, five rows ahead of where I was sitting. At impact Paul left his seat
• and crawled forward toward first Class. He found two of the stewardesses lying on the

• tered another dead crew member and decided that they were all dead and forward was

• We sat on the floor trying to figure some way out. It was impossible, the doors
• were either in the back with a roaring fire between us and them, or in front buried with

• began. For the moment the fire was moving toward the rear much more rapidly than
• toward us, so we could think but it was still an immediate problem. Seconds were pass-
• 29 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

• ing very slowly here, what seemed like several minutes could not have been more than a
• few seconds. The roar of the flames grew louder and louder as we sat and contemplated          _
• death. We could not go back and could not go forward. The side windows were solid and
• that seemed to be that. As we sat we could hear someone approach from the front and a
• second later a young female passenger arrived.                                               —
• She had been seated immediately behind the First Class section of the plane. Her
• name was Tracy Travis and she reached us out of breath and full of questions. We didn't
• have any answers, just more questions.
• As soon as the plane stopped moving, at the time of impact, Tracy got out of her
• seat and crawled forward. Her seat was just forward of where the two stewardesses had
• fallen. Tracy said they were caught completely off guard by the crash and just seemed to
• get bounced around as the plane went down. She didn't see them at impact and only saw          ~
• them again as she crawled back from the front where she could find no exit. While she
• was up front she had crawled over the same other crew member Paul had encountered.           _
• Now, with us, she seemed a little calmer having found others alive, Paul and me.
• I suggested we could break some of the seats off, since they were loosen
• during the crash, and put them between us and the fire, possibly giving us some fire             —
• slowing protection. The seats seemed impossible to move at first. As we maneuvered
• around to get more leverage, the first seat broke free and gave us more leverage to re-
• move the next several seats. While, Paul and I worked on the seats Tracy went forward
• again. This time she reached the main cabin door and attempted to open it. It unlatched
• but would not budge. After several futile minutes of gut wrenching pushing and shoving,        -
• she gave up and returned to help us as the seat barrier grew. As we fought and cursed
• them into place between us and the rear cabin area, the roaring flames and smoke seemed
• to dimmish some what because of the barrier.                                               —
• We kept breaking more chairs off and when we got to the row of seats behind
• first class, the set of three came up together with a large chunk of the cabin floor still             _
• attached. This left a gaping hole in the floor. I hadn't noticed the hole until I moved
• around to get better pushing leverage. This hole was large and although I couldn't see
• into it I assumed correctly it went into the baggage section. I told Paul and Tracy that we          —
• might be able to get more distance from the fire by slipping into the baggage compart-
• ment and they both jumped at the plan. By simply stamping down on the top part of the
• luggage compartment ceiling we were able to break through. Paul volunteered to be first
• into the hole and Tracy followed him. Taking up the rear, I was last.
• Once I got into the baggage compartment it at first seemed worse because it was          —
• hot and very cramped with all the luggage and webbed holding compartments but, as Paul
• moved toward the nose of the aircraft it was clear and easier for us to move about. We
• were very lucky that this flight was almost empty, otherwise we would not have been able       —
• to move in this compartment. With what luggage there was, between us and the fire, we
• had a good fire stop for a while. At this point the fire had been raging for actually only           _
• 30 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

• several minutes, but it seemed like an eternity to us trying to keep ahead of it. As we
• moved forward we cut and scraped any exposed skin on the hard decking and unforgiving
• metal comers in the dark. We finally found a large cargo door that seemed intact and
• moved.

• We began feverishly working at unlatching it, then pushing for all we were worth.
• At first it didn't move, then it reluctantly gave about 3 inches and we all thought, with
• relief that we were saved, but, immediately it caught fast and refused to open any more.
• Apparently something outside was up against the door and kept it from opening any

• more minutes at it we realized the cabin temperature was skyrocketing. Now, totally
• panicked we gave up and moved on. The flames had moved into the luggage and were
• now feeding on the bags, like a hungry tiger moving toward his dessert. The thought of
• our being more fuel for this fire was terrifying. The three of us began to scramble in-

• that since the upper part of the plane had stopped, imbedded into something that probably
• was earth, that something must be blocking the front also. Nothing was open or available
• to us and the temperature was now so high in the cabin any exposed skin was beginning
• to blister.
• The local disaster crews sprang into action assembling and gathering gear and
• personnel to rush through the night, hopes high, but, ready for anything. As the first

• them. A fire had begun and the emergency crews knew they had precious little time to
• get any survivors out. If saving anyone was going to be possible at all before the entire

• only 2 or 3 minutes after the fire started. They moved toward the plane with all the speed
• they could muster through the uneven, heavily wooded ground. The plane had crashed
• only 100 yards from a service road to the Woodland Country Club just outside of
• Lancaster, PA. This made a motorized approach easier. The service road was on the left

• When the crash occurred the front end of the plane slammed into a small hill and
• imbedded itself Just before the crash, the pilot had been able to raise the nose high

• had been hanging down as it slowed and slued parallel to the ground. It was the rear of
• the plane that hit the trees on the way in and as it settled down and actually crashed it hit
• trees relatively slowly causing the plane to pivot forward and nose in. The wings came
• off at the last second leaving the fuselage mostly intact, but wingless and imbedded, tail

• lage precisely at the tail of the plane. All that fuel in the tanks was now only a few feet
• from the engines, which were situated in the tail of the plane and hanging above the
• 31 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

• ground and the torn off wings. The nose was buried.
• Inside the plane time was compressed, those passengers still alive were uncon-           _
• scious immediately after impact. It took several minutes for any of the survivors to begin
• stirring. The rescuers could not find a way into the plane. The rear doors were totally
• engulfed in flames and the front doors were buried under tons of mountain. The wing            —
• doors were closed and looked inaccessible. When the first rescuers got to the plane there
• was no sound, save the greasy roar of the diesel flames. The paramedic/rescuers started
• moving toward the wing doors with the jaws of life, but, with the wings torn off as they           ~
• were, it was very difficult to get close enough to the doors to force them open. The wiring
• and struts hanging free were more of an obstruction than a help at this point. With the            _
• wings intact they would have had something to stand on, but severed as they were, they
• left a ragged stubble behind. The stubble gave no foothold and actually held the ladder a
• distance away from the side of the plane. The men maneuvered a combination ladder/           ~
• dolly they had been dragging, toward the left side of the fuselage. They worked their
• way into position to rip open the doors, all the time, trying to avoid the flames around the         _
• tail section. At this point the tail of the plane was sticking up in the air and burning
• furiously.
• The black smoke was unbearable. The three of us were choking to death. The
• cabin would be our coffin if we didn 't get out immediately. The more we attempted to
• break through somewhere the fewer our options became. The three of us were now
• huddled together in the forward passageway in the luggage compartment, under the flight
• deck. I went up the ladder to the flight deck and opened the hatch to the cockpit. I could         -
• see several bodies in the light of the flames. A huge piece of rock protruded into the
• cockpit area from the windows, and the heat was unbearable. The smoke got me cough-
• ing, and choking and the heat singed my skin. Everything was super hot and smoking,          ~
• with no way out.
• John Crater, the senior fireman on duty and first to get to the plane, was now on
• the top of the ladder. He and Eddy Fergason (his partner) maneuvered around to open the
• wing doors. They kept trying to look inside, hoping to see some movement. Their biggest
• fear was that they would beat the flames and not find anyone alive. The door finally came
• loose and swung inward. Immediately smoke and flames came racing out to push both
• men off the top of the ladder. The flames were now engulfing the entire rear section from
• the missing wings back. Both firemen knew it was useless to attempt this any further. The
• flames escaping from the plane meant no survivors. In fact they had to scramble out of         —
• the way themselves because the heat coming from the cabin was so intense it actually
• melted the end of the ladder. From these doors forward there was no other way out
• except smashing windows and these windows are designed to withstand the super internal
• air pressures of high altitude flight. As John backed hurriedly away he thought, "No
• way anyone's alive in there. " John and Eddy moved back about a hundred feet from the        _
• 32 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

• plane where they could finally breathe and not be burned. They just stood there swearing

• and then back. There was no way in, and not to many minutes more would have the
• entire plane consumed in this inferno.
• The three of us decided that we were dead, but, none of us were ready to give up. I
• asked the others to help take turns shouting, "..maybe someone will hear us? " I started,
• but it was almost impossible to shout because the smoke was so dense that it seared my
• lungs as soon as I opened my mouth. One shout, then cough, and it was Tracy 's turn,

• a shout and a cough. At the same time we all banged on the floor with anything we could
• find, just to make as loud a noise as possible.
• Marty Shore, a local real estate agent and member of the country club, was the first
• of the country club members to reach the plane. The country club is on the West side of
• the plane and away from the road. Marty did not see the fireman, on the other side of the
• plane, so he was not sure what he might be able to do himself, he realized he needed

• of would-be rescuers who had been at a wedding. Now curiosity and willingness to help
• drew them to the burning plane. Upon seeing the enormous flames they held back,

• forth from the nose to the missing wing section. No doors were open and all the windows

• As Marty watched, the windows behind the wing doors exploded open showering
• burning bits of seats and molten aluminum everywhere. The only available door was the

• with no one near it inside). As he looked closer at the plane he noticed the nose of the
• plane, although badly crushed against the rock outcropping was actually open underneath.
• The rock cliff they slammed into had a heavy overhang and there actually was a pocket of
• open space under this side of the plane at the very front. Running toward this opening

• and a roaring wind sound, but as he listened he could hear someone shouting. He thought
• it was someone outside and to the rear and moved that way, but it became softer. As he

• he moved toward the sound.
• What a lousy way to die! I had planned to make up with my wife! My kids never
• knew what a great guy their father is!. Only yesterday I was thinking how boring my life

• get. The bad habits of my youth had leveled off by the time I turned forty, and the days of
• my life droned on. Now, when my death is imminent there is so much I want to do. How
• 33 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

• foolish we humans are! Life seems so boring that we complain endlessly, until the end
• looms, then we find so much we need to do! That book I never wrote, or that prize win-         _
• ning picture that never got taken. Where did all the dreams go, only this morning I was
• thinking a stubbed toe would be something. What is it they say?? "Be careful what you
• wish for, you might get it! How impossible this all seems, we only crashed 15 or 20              —
• minutes ago and yet it feels like my entire life has been spent trying to figure a way out of
• this.
• If there are rescuers out there, they won't be able to get near this plane now. I can
• hear the plastic in the seats from the passenger cabin popping and burning. It is getting
• closer and the smoke is getting worse. The three of us are huddled together only inches          _
• above this hard aluminum floor hopping from right foot to left foot while the heat burns
• everything that touches the floor. Farther down the baggage compartment I see luggage
• burning fiercely and belching more deadly smoke. Tracy is crying, thinking about her           ~
• two daughters and her husband waiting for her. They might have to wait forever.
• This trip for Tracy was a visit to her parents in Boston. Now, on her way back
• home to Baltimore, she might never be able to apologize to her husband for running off.
• She told her husband Frank that her parents needed her. She was ready to scream, with
• everything crushing in on her around the house. The girls, Bonnie and Marline, are great!        -
• But, at 5 and 6 years old respectively, they are a handful. Tracy never knew whether she
• was coming or going. Her friends in Maryland really didn't know her and it was great to
• get to Boston for a change of scenery. Funny, she still thought of Boston as home after all
• this time. Seven years in Baltimore didn't change her attitude at all. Boston was still her
• favorite place on earth. Frank got transferred right after their marriage and they've been         __
• living in Maryland ever since. Now she's thinking what a hell of a way to die. She loved
• flying.
• It was her favorite thing to do. Whenever she could, on weekends or days off, she        ~
• would head for the airport and get in a two "seater" and fly away. She loved the single
• engine planes, the feeling of control especially bucking the air currents, flying into the           _
• clouds and playing catch with the wind. Frank had never understood this passion. His
• accountant mentality saw it as, "too expensive a hobby." Boy, money lost its control at a
• time like this. All the money in the world won't save her now. She's thinking how              —
• miserable crouching on this roasting floor is, as she looks over at Paul. Paul is very quiet
• and Tracy wonders why he is the only one not shouting.
• Marty Shore could definitely hear something now. Someone inside the plane was
• shouting and pounding on metal. Marty frantically searched for a rock or stick to signal         —
• back to them. Picking up the first rock he came across he began banging on the fuselage
• to let them know someone had heard their shouting. He was banging and shouting when
• another person from the country club came up beside him. It was Kevin Avery, the club
• Pro
• "Hey Kevin ", Frantically Marty yelled, "/ hear someone shouting inside. See if          __
• 34 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

• you can get help? " There are people alive in there.
• Kevin said, "OK Marty"
• Kevin, then ran off heading toward the rear of the plane. The flames were now
• lighting up the entire sky for miles around and it wouldn't be long before nothing could

• away from the intense heat, which was now igniting the trees around the plane and any-
• thing else unlucky enough to come within its area of influence. Aluminum melts at over
• 1000 degrees Fahrenheit Now melted aluminum is raining all around the back of the
• plane.
• Restless and panicky John moved toward the rear of the plane where all the flames
• were at their worst. As he came even with the tail he saw someone running in the light of
• the flames, but on the other side of the plane. Immediately he shouted to Eddy, to come
• and bring the power tools.
• "I see a survivor. " John shouted.
• This was the only other live person, except Eddy, John has seen. John and Kevin
• ran toward each other as John was shouting.

• As John said this he could now see Kevin more clearly and realized that he was
• much too clean to have been in the plane and must be another rescuer, correctly guessing

• to burn all around them and made a mental note to hurry.

• "Someone is alive in the plane "
• The fireman was still to far away to hear the shouting. Kevin kept repeating his

• Marty, could hear shouting from inside the front of the plane. At this, John began to
• speak into his radio, calling for more power tools to break through the planes skin if
• necessary. At the same time he was running back with Kevin to the nose of the plane and
• the sound of voices. They had to make a huge circle around the burning wings and fuse-

• While the men were running around the outside of the plane trying to find a way

• furiously, consuming everything in its path. The seats were burning like firewood, flam-

• ture, raining down melted metal droplets of shining liquid death. The wail of fire and
• other emergency vehicles in the background completed this scene of total chaos.
• Eddy arrived at the cockpit on the right side of the plane with the jaws of life and a
• portable metal cutting saw made to cut directly into metal or other surfaces. Marty held
• 3 5 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

• a flashlight Eddy had given him so that the two firemen could see what they were doing.
• Eddy and John immediately began to force the tools into the skin of the plane. They
• began to make shallow cuts until they could cut out a square without sawing any survi-
• vors in the process. They were working frantically, but so close to the flames that their
• clothes were beginning to smell like they were burned on an ironing board. Finally, the          -
• last cut removed a section of the planes skin and a good sized hole opened up. From
• this hole a human leg fell dangling in front of them. The surprise made them both jump
• back. The leg was not severed or dead, it was still attached to someone and moving.              ~
• This person was alive. John and Eddy leaped forward and jammed the tools into the
• plane to make the hole bigger. They finally had found someone alive. As John worked          __
• frantically with the "Jaws of life" to widen the hole, Eddy made parallel cuts to enlarge
• the hole they had originally made. Now they were joined by more firemen and golfers,
• all anxious to help. The adrenaline was singing through their veins now,                         ~
• people are alive in there and they were getting them out.
• The Jaws ripped deeper and now both legs came out, followed by a torso and the
• head of a badly coughing and burned man. The first survivor of this holocaust was out
• and breathing. The three men worked frantically. As Paul dropped out of the plane he
• was gasping.                                                                           ~
• "There ... more... people ... alive"
• As Paul gasped out his message, Kevin dragged him away from the inferno.
• By now the flames were so bad that Marty was actually slapping out the flaming
• clothes on John and Eddy as the two firemen worked feverishly to free the                      —
• remaining victims. Suddenly, a spray of water hit the three of them. A newly arrived
• fireman with a small extinguisher was spraying them with water to stop their skin and
• clothes from burning. More streams of water hit them as more and more firemen arrived          ~
• simultaneously spraying the entire area. Next Tracy dropped through the hole almost on
• top of Marty and he managed to drag her away from the jaws of Hell.                          _
• Suddenly, a blast of cool air came from the floor and I got a whiff of sweat and
• diesel smoke. Paul is talking but I can't see him or make out what he is saying. My              —
• clothes have burned off. A few seconds ago my hair began to disintegrate. My skin is
• blistered and burned over the upper left side of my body and I can't wait for death. I
• remember a snake that we caught as kids, we thought it was poisonous and we killed it.
• We then put it in the fireplace out in the yard. I always felt guilty about that snake. I
• watched as the skin peeled back from the heat and flames and wondered what the snake         —
• must have felt if anything. Well, now I know, as I feel my own skin peeling away with the
• flames. I can't even hear anything else just the roar of the flames and the sear of the heat
• on my body. I couldn 't have done anything so bad in my life to have earned this death. It       ~
• feels like the layers of my skin are bubbling and my blood is boiling. I can't even turn
• away I think my skin is stuck to the aluminum. The heat seems to be coming from all            _
• 36 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

• around me now. Where the hell is that freezing air coming from? I feel a cold blast of
• air, it must be an hallucination. So this is what the end is like, we start to hallucinate and
• then die. It really doesn 't matter now I don't want to live with the burns my body must
• have.
• As Tracy is being carried away from the plane she is saying, "there is one more
• person left and he's right above you. " The rescuers are cooler now since the hoses
• began drenching them from all angles even the fuselage isn't burning as ferociously any
• more. The firemen are managing to get some of that water inside the hole as the men

• The fire chief, Earl MacVany jumped down from the lead engine and got his men

• gration in front of them. The chiefs radio told him that there are survivors inside and he
• and his men are doing everything they can to save them. This wreck has been burning
• now for 15 minutes and there isn't much time left. Because of the way the plane hit, the
• rear end was high enough to draw the early flames away from the cockpit and it took

• farthest point forward below the flight deck area. Earl found it hard to believe that any-
• one could have survived this crash, but, his men tell him two got out already and there is
• one more left.

• that power saw in there and we can cut it away!" Eddy shouts as he reaches for the
• power saw.

• ened as more and more hoses play on the back and sides of the men under the plane. The
• men here are under a steady stream of water as the hoses keep them wet and cool. Sud-
• denly a body falls out of the plane along with the reluctant strut. They all shout and grab
• the body, running to safety, dragging the last passenger with them. As the rescuer's

• passenger got out 90 seconds before the final conflagration. God must have been watch-
• ing very closely tonight for these three people to have survived.
• Not a single person there came away without some injury. Paul and Tracy both
• had second degree burns over 70 of their bodies and spent several months in the hospi-
• tal recovering. We were all treated at the Shriners Hospital's burns center in Boston,
• where they have perfected a way to grow our own skin from a small tissue sample.
• The two original firemen had third degree burns over 20 of their bodies from
• sitting under the cockpit cutting that plane up. The golfer, Marty lost all his hair and

• some pretty gruesome scars while keeping the firemen from burning up. Even Kevin got
• burned, his face was blistered and his hair got badly singed. As the last passenger out, it
• was touch and go for a while whether I would be a survivor or the last fatality. I spent the
• next six months in the Shriners Hospital's Burns Institute getting skin-grafts. I can't
• sweat through my new skin, but I am alive with thanks to the wonderful effort of "Good         -
• Samaritans" and the great work of the local Lancaster, PA Emergency crews and the
• Shriners Hospital's Burns Center in Boston.
• The new techniques developed by the Shriners are a godsend to burn victims like
• us. They can grow sections of our own skin in test tubes, from a cutting, to be grafted            _
• onto our bodies (as they did with all of us).
• The worst effect of a burn on humans is the loss of skin and its attendant bodily
• functions (protecting us from airborne germs, and other outside world dangers to human           -
• organs). So, this process of growing skin in sheets and grafting it to our bodies is the
• most significant breakthrough in treating burns in human history.
• They can even coax our own existing, (unburned) skin to grow larger by controlled
• stages. Now by stretching and cutting, they have developed a method to eliminate badly
• burned and scarred skin sections and remove these large and highly visible scarred areas         -
• to help our minds heal as well as our bodies.
• But, only our own belief in God and a lot of soul searching can get us through the
• dark days ahead of us, as victims of a totally random air disaster. Most of the passengers         ~
• and the entire crew died on that flight 118 out ofWestchester. The few of us that sur-
• vived will never forget, or ever be far from, total remembrance. Once your body and
• mind have been devastated by an experience like this, death can sometimes appear more
• comforting than looking in the mirror everyday and seeing the reflection of that appalling
• experience.               
•                                                             ~
• 3 8 Copyright Jim Ciano 1994

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