The White Falcon - 26.10.1990, Síða 6

Seat belts most likely made it possible for Tech Sgt. Charles Willis and Sgt. Russel McKinney to escape this accident scene alive. (Photo courtesy of
Keflavik Police Department)
Seat belts save lives of two Air Force personri
m
By JOC Terry Barnthouse
A Sunday site-seeing drive to Selfoss came
to a crashing end for Tech. Sgt. Charles Willis
and Sgt. Russell McKinney on Oct. 7. Both
men are attached to the 960th Airborne Warn-
ing and Control Squadron.
Willis was driving his 1984 Ford Escort on a
re-asphalted stretch of Highway 41 near Vogar.
When he dropped from the “new” section onto
the “old” graved road, the car hit a pool of
water and hydroplaned, made a 360 degree turn
and crashed into a large asphalt road roller.
Willis sustained serious injuries; tom dia-
phragm and spleen, collapsed lung, braised
heart, fractured clavicle, cracked ribs, broken
teeth, facial and head cuts and had to have his
large intestine rearranged. He was released
after being hospitalized for nine days in both
the Reykjavik and base hospitals.
McKinney suffered only a leg injury which
required stitches.
Both attribute their wearing of a seat belt as
a life saver. McKinney also attributes his mili-
tary first aid training for being able to quickly
respond in a life threatening situation.
Willis recalled, “It was raining that Sunday
morning. Even though I have driven that
stretch of the road before and knew it was being
resurfaced, there wasn ’ t any warning sign about
the resurfacing drop off. I was driving 45-50
mph.
“Water had filled the groves in the ‘old’ road
and when I drove on what seemed to be a pond
of water I lost it. I never really had control of
the car after that. I remember spinning and
knew that a machine was parked at the side of
the road. Then there was the impact I remem-
ber only bits and pieces of what happended
after that - trouble breathing - being afraid - the
ambulance siren - the hospital.”
Although McKinney was the passenger in
the car that day, he steered the post-accident re-
sponse for his friend until help arrived. In his
words, ‘The whole thing happened so fast. I
closed my eyes and put my head down before
we hit the roller. My body would have splat-
tered the windshield if I hadn’thad my seatbelt
on. After the impact there was just silence, like
a vacuum. I got out of the car and looked
around to see what had happened. When I
realized the wreck was real, I started to tend to
Chuck. At first I thought he was dead, his body
was twisted, there was blood and he wasn’t
moving. I started calling his name and he
finally responded.”
He continued, “At that point I just reacted to
what I was trained to do - keep him conscious,
keep him warm, stop the bleeding.”
It wasn’t long before McKinney flagged
down an Icelandic couple who stopped and
then drove on to report the accident The next
passersby were Chief Petty Officer Chuck
Jensen, attached to Fleet Air, Keflavik, and his
wife, Shawn.
Jensen stayed to help while his wife drove
back to the base to get help. Then an Icelandic
bus stopped, and by chance passengers in-
cluded a doctor and a nurse who offered medi-
cal assistance until the Keflavik ambulance,
police and others arrived.
Most adults know how to drive, under con-
trolled conditions, but Iceland’s changing en-
vironment sometimes takes the control away
from the driver. What would you do if your
vehicle started to hydroplane or skid? Take it
from Willis, who advises, “When it’s raining,
or when you are driving on road resurfacing,
SLOW DOWN, and, even though I «fejy
broke my collar bone because of the ^^Ht,
at least I’m alive.”
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The White Falcon