An unexplained cockpit fire leaves newly qualified pilot Jamie Hull with a terrible choice: stay in the burning plane or risk jumping without a parachute.
A man who found himself trapped hundreds of feet in a burning plane has shared how he made the terrifying decision to jump.
Jamie Hull is a man who always seeks new challenges and at 32 years old decided to become a private pilot. However, a horrific crash that left him with serious injuries left him lying yards from his burning plane, fully aware of his near death.
The former SAS soldier told the Sail Away podcast how he experienced a range of emotions while in this state. “I went through three stages of mental focus,” he said.
“The first reaction in my mind was anger. I was angry at what had happened and that I couldn't change it – the damage had already been done. But then there was an instant switch… it's impossible to be angry forever in that situation.”
Jamie says it takes “an enormous amount of energy” to remain angry, and he soon found himself spiraling into despair. “I was grieving for 10 people,” he recalls. “I was in a terrible place, and grief and sadness were just pouring out of me. I knew my life would never be the same again.”
Ultimately, Jamie says, he accepted that he was likely going to die at that Florida airfield. “The third step was acceptance,” he adds. “I decided, ‘There’s absolutely nothing I can do about this situation.’ I accepted that I was going to be discharged.”
In his shocked and confused state, Jamie took one last – and rather unusual – step. He continued: “I took off my shoes and socks. I carefully put everything on my right hand… I decided that this was the one trip for which I would definitely not need shoes and socks.”
Jamie still isn't sure what caused the fire on board that led to the crash. He says he was on a routine training flight when he suddenly noticed flames coming from the light plane's engine.
He immediately turned back to the airfield for an emergency landing, but the increased air pressure as he flew into the wind sent flames blazing inside the cabin. “My feet and ankles were on fire,” he recalled.
As the fire grew, Jamie began to realize that he would not be able to make it to the landing and began to consider the unthinkable: jumping out of the moving plane.
The light aircraft has no ejection seat and pilots rarely use parachutes. Jamie had to take his chances and hope for a soft landing.
As the plane approached the ground, at about 15 or 20 feet, Jamie jumped out of the cockpit “like a rabbit”. He says his SAS parachuting training was helpful, but it wasn't enough. He recalls: “I jumped carefully, with my feet and knees together, but there was a big impact when I landed.
“Although the ground was relatively soft and absorbed the impact, I was thrown forward by the secondary impact and hit the ground face first.”
As his consciousness faded, Jamie saw the wreckage of his plane burning about 60 feet away. He was then shocked by a powerful explosion as the plane's fuel tank caught fire.
Jamie realized he was on fire and rolled through the spiky Florida grass trying to put out the flames, adding several more serious cuts to his already horrific injuries.
He explained: “My lower extremities burned longer. My head, neck and everything burned less before I managed to get out, climb onto the wing and jump. But I had 63% of my entire body surface with third and fourth degree burns.
“Grade 4 means damage down to the bone,” Jamie said, “so the surgeons had a very difficult task trying to save my legs.”
After the accident in August 2007, Jamie spent six months in a medically induced coma and a further 18 months in hospital recovering: “He had 64 operations in seven years,” he said.
Jamie was temporarily sidelined, but he didn't give up. His determination helped him recover from life-changing injuries and compete in the first Invictus Games in 2014.
Jamie also participated in intensive training in winter sports, including
Sourse: www.mirror.co.uk
