HighlanderTCBO1

It's not just the watching, it's also the sounds (screams are almost not human sounding). Also, the smell (yeah, it was that close), and the reaction of some. For example, there was this one guy, closer to the flames than I was, who was also trapped by debris. I was cheering him on to try and free himself, yelling at him in Hindi and English. About 15 seconds before the fire reached him, he just sort of "gave up". Maybe he was making peace with whatever God he worshipped. For me, that was the catalyst to ignore the pain and get the fuck off that wreckage. Fire is no way to depart this earth.

Had no clue we were crashing till I slammed into the seat in front of me, and then hit the right bulkhead. I had undid my seat belt about 30 seconds before the crash, which in my opinion saved my life (kept me from getting chewed up in the wreckage).

Hmm, I'm going to guess it took about 20-30 seconds to come to a stop. Pilots lived (they brought the nose up at the last second). Almost all of the survivors were up front. I was the only one in the rear. Most died in the crash 4-7 at least in the ensuing fire. Watched two burn to death. Broken pelvis and right arm at my end. Barely kept myself from getting BBQ'd. Had 1st and 2nd degree burns. It was a game of keeping from going into shock, while trying to free one leg from the twisted metal. I really was down to my last breath (half the hair facing the fire was singed off), before I was able to free myself and roll down the wreckage. Nope, never have talked to any of the other survivors. The kid became an Air Traffic Controller years later. He lost his mother and two sisters in the crash.

Sorry, a "Lt. Dan" injury? Loss of limbs? No, dumb as doctors left a sponge in me for 30 days. I was dying of infection in the hospital, and no one knew why. They were pumping me full of antibiotics every day. On day 30 my Orthopedic Surgeon was doing the daily dressing change on my "exploratory incision" (puss leakage), when he asked me to lie back. He then sniped the sutures and reached in with forceps, and pulled out a 12" sponge that they had left in me during surgery the night of the crash. Mind you this was done without any kind of anesthesia.

I love flying. Got my Private Pilots License when I was 21 years old. Just for shits and grins.