Original Posted By: Frank Metcalfe
This is from Matt. Younkins facebook page. Some encouraging news.Franklin UpdateBy Younkin AirshowsAll, Please forward this letter on to who ever you see fit... Good morning all.Let me first express on behalf of Amanda, Kyle, Myself and both of our familiesso many thanks for all of your prayers and well wishes. We are all so fortunateto have such a wonderful support network in all of you. We are still waitingfor updates and it could be many hours, days, or weeks before we know exactlyhow the recovery process will play out between Amanda and Kyle. I can howeverreport that Kyle was not injured and or burned as badly as reported earlierby the media and is expected to make a full and rapid recovery. I can alsosay that the updates we are receiving on Amanda are increasingly optimistic andthough she has a long road of recovery ahead of her, the doctors are givingus the impression that things are not as bad as first reported and her chancesfor a full recovery are getting better not worse. The first 24 hours will setthe tone for the story ahead. I also have to extend a very sincere thanks tomy brother-in-law Kyle who I strongly credit for the fact that my little sisteris still with us. Having witnessed the accident and being on of the first onthe scene, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that he made no less than fivequick decisions in the air and on the ground that gave her a second chanceat life!! When the engine quit, Amanda was on the top wing in the rack. Kyle continuedto fly the airplane in a straight and level fashion as long as he couldto give Amanda every opportunity to unstrap and get into the front cockpitwhere she would have the best chance in the event of a hard landing. He also resistedthe tendency to turn for the pavement which typically induces a fatalstall/spin situation. He avoided a landing in the pyro field which could haveproven to be fatal, and faced with the only other option of land in mesquite woods,Kyle landed into the wind drastically reducing the forward speed at impact.Upon reaching the scene, I noticed that he set the airplane down in the onlyWaco si! zed piece of ground in that dense woods that didn't have tall trees in it. Kyle sustainedthe majority of his burns trying to pull his wife from the wreckage and whenhis efforts produced no results, he stayed in the cockpit and transmitted arepeating distress call about the post impact fire that had started. I honestlybelieve this motivated the rapid responders to press through the brush and dousethe airplane at a more rapid rate which meant the split second differencethat saved Amanda, who was still in the plane. The first responders on the scenedid an excellent job of responding to the situation in a rapid manner. Havinga professional air boss teamed up with professional CFR personnel made a worldof difference that could be the single most important factor that both Amandaand Kyle are still with us. Please continue to send your thoughts and prayersthis direction because we sincerely believe they are helping. I will passupdates along as I receive them. SincerelyMattRead this topic online here:
http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... ______Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 10:36:08 -0700 (PDT)
--------ScottyTamworth, AustraliaBuilding a Corvair Powered Pietenpol Air Camperwww.scottyspietenpol.comRead this topic online here:http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.p ... __________