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What was
left of
the
plane lay
upside
down. Upon impact it had flipped over, and the wings had struck the
ground flat. Each wing contained
a
gas tank.
Incredibly,
they had not
ruptured. Sparks
were
everywhere; wires entangled
the
aircraft
like a black
widow's web.
Several lines
had set the
grass on
fire.
Grabbing a fire extinguisher, Page rushed to put out
the
fire before it reached the plane.
Then he cut off the
master
switch and
ignition switch to prevent any electrical current from starting
another blaze or creating an explosion.
"Help me
ease
him through the
windshield!" Page yelled I
to Ray.
Together
they pulled
me from the
wreckage, laying
me on
the ground.
Page ran to call the rescue
squad
and
a
local doctor. Ray immediately began mouth-to-mouth
resuscitation.
I was
dead
upon impact, and he was
trying
to
breathe
new
life
into my limp body. It took
a nerve-racking five to
seven minutes
before
my body
responded to his efforts. Just
as
Page
hung
up the phone, it rang.
"What time will Morris be home
for
dinner?" my wife, Sandy, wanted to know. Page, a usually calm,
unflappable
guy, was frantic.
From page 18
I knew
that it would take
time,
determination, and courage
to
overcome the odds of survival. It
would have been
easy to buy a ticket for the
first flight out—death. The price would
have
been cheap. But I'm
not a
buyer; I'm a seller. I kept selling
myself
on the fact that anybody could take
that journey of
escape. To hang in there,
though, and
make a battle of it
would be
a
tremendous
challenge. If the angel of death was coming for me, he'd better be
prepared for the fight of his career.
From page 19
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