Aircraft! What Aircraft?

 "Well theres no one here" said the police officer, as he was exiting the drive of the Assembly Hall in Walthamstow. I turned to my mate and said "I knew it was a hoax". We had been dispatched to a call involving a crashed aircraft seen to go down behind the Walthamstow Assembly Halls in Forest Road, Walthamstow, London E.17.

When this happened, Paramedics were not recognised in the UK, we were all ambulancemen or women. Some of us though had advanced skills.

Anyway the police officer said that something had been reported happening in a road not more than 400 yards away. A road that was subject to frequent hoax calls. I was now more sceptical than ever.

 So off we went looking for an aircraft. As we entered the road which was bordered on each side by small residential houses there was nothing to see. No carnage, no arm waving, no smoking buildings, no wailing or knashing of teeth, no wreckage, just an elderly man quietly standing on the pavement about a hundred yards in the distance looking in our direction. We made our way towards him in the hope that he might have seen something that could help us.

As we pulled up alongside this chap he nonchantly pointed towards his house and said "Its over there!" "What's over there?" I said impatiently. He looked at me blankly and walked off towards his front door reaching into his pocket for his keys. I looked at my mate, he looked at me, we shrugged our shoulders and decided to follow him.  To this day I am still amused by his apparent lack of emotion. He had even taken the time to lock his door before coming out to the street.

He unlocked the door of his small terraced house and we dutifully followed him through to the back door. He then opened the door and there it was. I was lost for words!
Propped up against a factory wall that bordered the end of his narrow garden was a Cessna. A small light aircraft! It was standing at approximately 45 degrees on what was left of its tail section. The tail had snapped, as had both wings and its propellor was lying to one side approx 20 feet away.

There was no smoke or fire but the two things that immediately grabbed my attention was the strong smell of  fuel and the sight of a female hanging head downwards from the cockpit, with a large pool of blood gathering on the floor beneath her. We could also see another female sitting inside of the cockpit, but our view was impeded by the perspex housing. When we had recovered from our shock and surprise, we decided to ignore the smell of fuel and ventured forward.

Unfortunatley it did not take long to establish that the poor lady hanging from her side of the cockpit was dead. We draped a blanket over her in an attempt to shield her from the eyes that were now peering at this sight from the many adjacent windows. We then clambered onto the wings of the aircraft to examine the second occupant. Amazingly she had survived the impact and was displaying signs of life. Our access was impeded by the damaged cockpit housing, however, with a little gentle persuasion and a couple of size nines we managed to dislodge it.

On closer examination we found that our patient was trapped by a large engine that was sitting in her lap. This prevented us from examining her lower half. She was breathing, had a pulse and was drifting in and out of consciousness. Apart from what seemed to be a relatively minor injury to her head, her abdomen and chest appeared intact. Although her conscious level was impaired there were no signs of clinical shock which was fortunate, as it was not going to be easy extricating her from the wreckage. Due to the angle of the plane and the displacement of her seat she was almost upside down.

We had of course called for help as soon as we were aware of the severity of the incident and continued to treat our patient with oxygen and monitor her condition.  It was not long before the cavalry arrived. We were soon inundated with police, firefighters, onlookers, media, uncle Tom Cobley and all.

I estimate that it took about one hour to successfully extricate our patient from the wreckage of her plane. She was then conveyed to the local A/E where it was found that she had a fractured orbit (eye cavity) which had allowed air into her cranial cavity.  She also suffered fractures to her lower limbs. I believe she recovered sufficiently to discharge herself into private care following her initial NHS treatment.

The rescue was a collaboration between all emergency services, including our local BASIC's doctor. I offer particular thanks to the Fire Service. With great innovation and skill they erected an "A" frame on the flat roof of the factory building and with block and tackle and rescue equipment, managed to hoist the engine from our patients lap. It was then possible with sheer volume of numbers to remove the patient and  pass her carefully onto a waiting stretcher.

I'm a great believer in fate. Our patient had survived in part due to her seat mountings shearing when the engine of the plane was shunted towards her. Her friend was not so lucky, her seat held fast and she was crushed!

Oh! I nearly forgot to mention. How did this happen?

It would seem that the two women were flying to an airstrip somewhere in Hertfordshire. When approaching our area the plane developed an electrical fault which caused the wiring in the cockpit to ignite. This began to fill the plane with smoke. The pilot was compelled to cut all power, which meant turning the engine off. She attempted to land her plane in a playing field behind the Assembly Hall, (hence the location we were originally given) but because of her now limited control, was unable to prevent the plane from bouncing. It continued to glide towards the houses where it was eventually found.

By some miracle the plane had not collided with the house in who's garden it landed. The only damage to the house appeared to be a couple of broken roof tiles.