From the Logbook...At War Again

Although I am the on call pilot this weekend, I thought things would be a little more relaxed this weekend. Around 5pm Friday night our secretary called and informed me that there were 3 severely injured people in Amoltepec. I have blogged before about the ongoing feuds and lack of forgiveness in this community. I quickly changed gears from winding down on a Friday night to spooling up to do a flight.

The surrounding weather was threatening with thunderstorms and by the time I took off at around 6pm things were looking dark. Thankfully the mountian passes and valleys were mostly open, and I made my way to AMO quickly with little in the way of diversions.

As I overflew the airfield for landing I could tell a mob of people awaited the airplane. Sure enough, as I turned the airplane around and shut the engine down, I opened the door to hysteria. There were 3 patients and at least double that in family members that wanted to go to the hospital. I only had 5 open seats and due to the tailwind I would have for takeoff from the already marginal airstrip I told them I could take 4 people...period. They all complained about how mean I was, but I told them I had a family that I wanted to see again as well. Finally, they renigged after I told them I was about ready to leave with or without my 4 people. That seemed to get there attention and soon we were boarding patients.

The first patient was a 14 year old girl with a severe gash below her left buttock. Blood everywhere! The second was a 20 something guy with a huge gash in his leg which left it inmobile...blood everywhere! The third was a 42 year old woman with a huge gash in her right ribcage, right below the armpit...blood everywhere!

I didn't ask about the details of who was mad at who, why it all happened, etc, etc. I know it would be the same old story, one that only the power of Christ can change.

When we arrived in OAX it was a little unnerving to imagine this tiny little Cessna parking on the ramp to the awaiting THREE ambulances...lights ablazing. Only two ended up being used as the blue one was for reserve and is meant for the airport. The ramp was just as crazy as the scene in Amoltepec. There were at least 5 policemen, a reporter, 6-7 medics, and our secretary. Everyone was asking names, what happened, how old they were etc... It was a proud feeling to be able to help these people late Friday evening, despite my disgust for why I was helping them. I guess that is part of the job.