Plane crash landing. Paul safe and debriefed.
April 9, 2008 by Megan · 3 Comments
Paul works away a lot. He rang last night and allowed me to rabbit on with my day’s news. Took me some time to work out that he was unusually quiet and that something was wrong.
“You know how I was supposed to fly this trip,” he began. “Megan, the plane crash landed.”
My heart fell out of my stomach. The little plane was full of Paul’s colleagues and a very good friend of ours. Despite that, I was eternally grateful that Paul had chosen to drive this trip rather than fly up with his colleagues.
“It is okay, everyone walked away from the crash without injury but it was a full on belly crash landing. I ran them out to the airport, headed back to town and got an urgent message to call them. Apparently, just after the plane took off, the cabin filled with smoke and the pilot turned around and safely crash landed on the runway and skidded off into the grass.”
After talking about trauma reactions and what to expect over the next few days I once again appreciated the importance of people sharing their skills and making sure that as many individuals as possible have knowledge of debriefing models. Trauma is all around us and any of us can help to debrief our friends, family or people we come into contact with. Here’s a model of debriefing that you can use with your friends and family at any time: How To Do A Mini Debrief With Traumatized Friends
And…the Carnival of Australia is up over at Lightening’s place. Check it out and remember to leave a comment of thanks to both Lightening and bloggers who have submitted posts. There’s nothing like a trauma or near miss to bring home the importance of positive and grateful communication. You never know if you will have another opportunity to talk to a blogging friend or to let them know you appreciate their efforts. Thank you for hosting Lightening, and, please stay safe.
Talk doctor Rebekah….thank you for debriefing me after I had debriefed Paul. It is so good to be able to ring up a friend and talk.
About Megan
Gosh Megan, how scary is that! My heart is still racing after just reading it.
Great mini debrief, it helps to have some knowledge in your tool kit when something traumatic happens.
I’m so glad to hear everyone is okay. It is a good reminder.
Thanks for the link to the article. I had to do this the other day with my 4 year old after he fell off the side of the trailer to our truck. He’s fine. Just a few scrapes (it isn’t overly high). I was asking him questions just to get him to talk about it and my MIL kept being “helpful” by giving him a list of suggested answers to my questions. She didn’t “get” that I was just getting him to talk about the experience. The actual answers didn’t really matter. *sigh* But I was too “polite” to say anything.
Wow I know I am late however I am so glad to hear he is ok. Things have been nuts here. Thanks for the links.