One of my students hurt in hard landing

Back in late 2002 and early 2001 I had a commercial student who was an Army
Reserve helicopter pilot. He was called to active service for the invasion
of Iraq and had to leave, but he finished his training in Mississippi and
Texas before he went overseas. I had not heard from him since then and was
wondering what had happened to him.

He called a few weeks ago, having finally returned to the US after spending
several months in a hospital in Germany. Seems he had a hard landing in a
Chinook somewhere in Iraq. His head was turned funny and the landing popped
three vertebrae out of his neck. They had to remove two of the vertebrae and
fuse the rest back together. He can no longer turn his head. I don't have
any further details on the accident.

He seems in good spirits and I hope to get him out to the school so we can
talk things over. Right now he can't fly and he does not know whether he
will ever be able to again.

--
Christopher J. Campbell
World Famous Flight Instructor
Port Orchard, WA


If you go around beating the Bush, don't complain if you rile the animals.