and any belongings you could quickly throw together, and book you on the fi rst available fl ight anywhere out of the country before the police could catch up with you.”
After playing tennis, I was walking alone in the dark to the housing site when the full gravity of what had taken place suddenly hit me. Recalling the ordeal caused an overwhelming wave of emotion to wash over me. I’d saved many lives fl ying a helicopter over the years, but never in such a hands- on, personal way.
Becoming philosophical, I began to wonder what infl uence on people’s lives the boy might have when he became a man. Like the butterfl y eff ect, what if I had just saved the life of a future doctor who would save the lives of others? Or might he become a researcher who would discover a cure for cancer or some other disease plaguing
mankind? Perhaps he’d turn out to be a great composer, inventor, popular artist or writer. How many children would he have? How would his children impact the lives of others … their children’s children … and so on?
My emotions caused an unexpected release. Tears of indescribable joy and relief began streaming down my face while I experienced the most precious of emotions: The knowledge that by my own two hands I had saved the life of another human being. Could there be any greater gift? It was a gift I never would have received had I not become an air ambulance pilot in San Diego.
Randy Mains is an author, public speaker, and a CRM/AMRM consultant who works in the helicopter industry after a long career of aviation adventure. He currently serves as chief CRM/AMRM instructor for Oregon Aero.
He may be contacted at:
randym@oregonaero.com
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