Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
I have been to 5 out of 7 continents (except Antarctica and Africa, however I have been within 1 mile of the coast of Africa) since I started traveling in 1992. After I graduated boot camp in Chicago, Ill I moved to Millington, TN where I went to school for Air Traffic Control. I graduated #2 in my class out of 12 and I got my first chance to travel outside the United States.
I took a tour of duty in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where I lived for a year and a half. The weather was great most of the time, but the local wildlife took some getting used to. There was an abundant supply of land crabs, banana rats and iguanas. I will have photos to post at a later time about my life in Cuba.
I lived in Cuba for a year and a half while working as an Air Traffic Controller, the only way on and off the island for the active and reserve military personnel was via air. There was several flights a week transporting people and several flights a week for mail and fresh fruits and vegetables. I had the unfortunate opportunity to be an eye witness to an aircraft crash that happened in August 1993. Luckily the aircraft was carrying mail, fruit and vegetables and not people, but there was still three crew members on board the aircraft. Thankfully all the airmen on board the aircraft survived the crash. The plane was turning final onto the runway and the right wing impacted the ground and the fuselage hit the ground and the cockpit broke free and rolled far enough away from the explosion from the fuel tanks in the wings and the raging fire that very quickly engulfed the rest of the aircraft.
The SOP (standard operating procedure) when large aircraft were arriving was to has a single crash and rescue fire truck standing by at the base of the control tower with the crew on the fire truck in full fire fighting equipment. I was working as the ground controller in the control tower at the time of the accident and my first reaction was to flip the switch for the crash alarm that sounded through out the base and to pick up the "red" phone which was in direct contact with both hospitals, airport police, on duty personnel and the fire department.
When the first fire truck arrived on the scene the crew immediately went to the cockpit to check on the crew, at the same time this is happening, the "alert" rescue helicopter on the airport was already starting the engines to transport the crew to the hospital. At the time of the accident, we closed the airport so we could focus all our attention to try and save the life of the crew members on board the crashed aircraft. My job as the ground controller was to relay all the information that I received from the medics on the scene and in the helicopter to the hospital, granted the helicopter ride was only about a minute flight but that minute must of felt like eternity to the crash victims.
All three crew members, the pilot, first officer and the flight engineer made it to the hospital with minutes of the crash and two remained in the hospital to under go surgery and recovery before being transported to Miami and then on to their homes; but one was in such bad condition that an air ambulance had to be sent from Florida to pick up the crew member and rush him to surgery in Miami.
At the time of the accident there was three of us in the air traffic control tower; the Tower Supervisor, Local Controller (which is responsible for the airspace surrounding the airport and the active runway) and myself as the Ground Controller (responsible for all taxiways, ramp and ground vehicles). Its an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) procedure that following an aircraft accident all the Air Traffic Controllers on duty will be relieved of their positions as soon as practical to give and written statement to the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and submit nearly every drop of blood that flows through their veins to the Flight Surgeon for drug and alcohol testing. I had to donate about 10 huge vials of blood and then come to find out that I needed to give three more because they used an alcohol swab to clen my skin for the needle. So luckily me I had to give about 13 vials total and when it was all over I was so weak that I couldn't stand on my own and had to be helped to the waiting room. Several weeks or longer after the accident I received a letter with every drug that they tested for and it literary filled a full page, there was drugs on that paper that I had never even heard of before.
The conclusion is that they all survived and only the one returned to flying after their recovery. It was such a horrific sight to see that I had nightmares for several weeks after witnessing the accident and I cant imagine being inside the aircraft.
I have been to 5 out of 7 continents (except Antarctica and Africa, however I have been within 1 mile of the coast of Africa) since I started traveling in 1992. After I graduated boot camp in Chicago, Ill I moved to Millington, TN where I went to school for Air Traffic Control. I graduated #2 in my class out of 12 and I got my first chance to travel outside the United States.
I took a tour of duty in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where I lived for a year and a half. The weather was great most of the time, but the local wildlife took some getting used to. There was an abundant supply of land crabs, banana rats and iguanas. I will have photos to post at a later time about my life in Cuba.
I lived in Cuba for a year and a half while working as an Air Traffic Controller, the only way on and off the island for the active and reserve military personnel was via air. There was several flights a week transporting people and several flights a week for mail and fresh fruits and vegetables. I had the unfortunate opportunity to be an eye witness to an aircraft crash that happened in August 1993. Luckily the aircraft was carrying mail, fruit and vegetables and not people, but there was still three crew members on board the aircraft. Thankfully all the airmen on board the aircraft survived the crash. The plane was turning final onto the runway and the right wing impacted the ground and the fuselage hit the ground and the cockpit broke free and rolled far enough away from the explosion from the fuel tanks in the wings and the raging fire that very quickly engulfed the rest of the aircraft.
The SOP (standard operating procedure) when large aircraft were arriving was to has a single crash and rescue fire truck standing by at the base of the control tower with the crew on the fire truck in full fire fighting equipment. I was working as the ground controller in the control tower at the time of the accident and my first reaction was to flip the switch for the crash alarm that sounded through out the base and to pick up the "red" phone which was in direct contact with both hospitals, airport police, on duty personnel and the fire department.
When the first fire truck arrived on the scene the crew immediately went to the cockpit to check on the crew, at the same time this is happening, the "alert" rescue helicopter on the airport was already starting the engines to transport the crew to the hospital. At the time of the accident, we closed the airport so we could focus all our attention to try and save the life of the crew members on board the crashed aircraft. My job as the ground controller was to relay all the information that I received from the medics on the scene and in the helicopter to the hospital, granted the helicopter ride was only about a minute flight but that minute must of felt like eternity to the crash victims.
All three crew members, the pilot, first officer and the flight engineer made it to the hospital with minutes of the crash and two remained in the hospital to under go surgery and recovery before being transported to Miami and then on to their homes; but one was in such bad condition that an air ambulance had to be sent from Florida to pick up the crew member and rush him to surgery in Miami.
At the time of the accident there was three of us in the air traffic control tower; the Tower Supervisor, Local Controller (which is responsible for the airspace surrounding the airport and the active runway) and myself as the Ground Controller (responsible for all taxiways, ramp and ground vehicles). Its an FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) procedure that following an aircraft accident all the Air Traffic Controllers on duty will be relieved of their positions as soon as practical to give and written statement to the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) and submit nearly every drop of blood that flows through their veins to the Flight Surgeon for drug and alcohol testing. I had to donate about 10 huge vials of blood and then come to find out that I needed to give three more because they used an alcohol swab to clen my skin for the needle. So luckily me I had to give about 13 vials total and when it was all over I was so weak that I couldn't stand on my own and had to be helped to the waiting room. Several weeks or longer after the accident I received a letter with every drug that they tested for and it literary filled a full page, there was drugs on that paper that I had never even heard of before.
The conclusion is that they all survived and only the one returned to flying after their recovery. It was such a horrific sight to see that I had nightmares for several weeks after witnessing the accident and I cant imagine being inside the aircraft.
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