Medic is hero in jet plane drama
Published: November 6, 2006
PARAMEDIC Richard Miller has been hailed a hero after he treated a flight crew injured when their plane had to plummet to avoid a mid-air crash. [Unhappy Landings: Why Airplanes Crash]
Mr Miller, a paramedic with the Wiltshire Air Ambulance based in Devizes, was a passenger on board the BA flight and he and his partner Sarah Taylor were returning to Gatwick after spending a week’s holiday in Florida.
The plane, a Boeing 777, was just 15 minutes into the flight from Tampa and at 16,500 feet when the pilot was forced to descend suddenly.
The plane, carrying 175 passengers, three pilots and 11 crew, plunged 600 feet in a bid to avoid collision with another plane above it.
Four members of the crew were injured as they were thrown about, hitting their heads on the ceiling.
Mr Miller, 32, who lives in Devizes, was the only passenger who had medical experience and volunteered his services when the crew appealed for help.
He said: “There was a lot of distress and screaming going on in the aircraft when the plane descended. There was a huge drop and then a bang at the back of the aircraft where the trolleys had gone over.
“Members of staff rushed off down to the back of the aircraft with equipment and there were members of the crew injured.
“At first I thought it was turbulence but then I realised we were quite low and it was going on a lot longer than it should.
“People didn’t know what was going on and the problem was the uncertainty. You did wonder if it was terrorism. The pilot came on the tannoy 20 minutes later and said they had descended to avoid another aircraft.”
One male crew member had a cut head and a female stewardess suffered a back injury.
Mr Miller said: “The stewardess was quite agitated initially but I managed to calm her down,” he said.
Passengers remained scared during the ten hour flight. “There were people in tears when we got off the aircraft,” he said. [A Year to Live: How to Live This Year as If It Were Your Last]
He added: “The chief stewardess thanked me very much for my help. It was no problem. It’s what I am trained for.”
Mr Miller, who grew up in Hullavington and whose parents John and Carol still live there, said the experience had not put him off flying. He has been with the ambulance service for 15 years, five of them with the air ambulance.
A BA spokesman said the company was grateful to Mr Miller for his help.
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