I Am Flying Again: Phuket Plane Crash Survivor

[alanmorison]

A Superman suit and a decompression chamber help a Phuket plane crash victim to recover. But Robert Borland still wants the answer to one important question: why?

Borland survived last year's plane crash on Phuket and, almost as remarkably, he survived the 99 days in hospital that followed.

The hefty company CEO was dragged onto a wing and into the arms of rescuers by a humble Thai hero who turned back into the burning plane to carry out the rescue.

Borland's long battle with serious gasoline burns to 30 percent of his body followed.

And then there were the demons he had to confront before flying again.

''I've learned that life could finish pretty quickly at any time, so my philosophy has changed a bit,'' he said over a coffee in Patong, the resort town where he lives.

Borland, a 10-year Phuket resident who was born in Britain before migrating to Australia, is one of 40 people who survived the crash of One-Two-Go flight 269 at Phuket International Airport on September 16 last year.

Ninety passengers and crew perished in the smouldering fuselage or succumbed later to wounds.

Here's what the survivor had to say about his first flight months after the crash, a short hop to Bangkok, with his burns still healing: ''The landing was the traumatic part. I did my best not to look out the window, to concentrate on a point on the bulkhead in front of me.

''But you're aware of all the 'clunks' as the wheels start going down. You hear 'clunk' as they put the airbrakes on and you hear another 'clunk' as something else happens.

''You tend to tense up, no matter how much you try to say to yourself: 'You're ok, they're a very good airline, excellent aircraft, you're in a nice safe seat, the staff are looking after you, the captain has been properly trained, don't worry about these things.

'''But you are still thinking 'I know things can go wrong.' You say, 'OK, five minutes, four minutes, three minutes . . . You feel the wheels touch the ground and you think, 'Yup, I'm OK.' Then you get the hel_l off the plane.''

- read the full report at www.phuketwan.com

[donna]

brave man is all i have to say.

[Who, me ?]

very brave indeed ! It takes guts to do it.....

[Thaddeus]

Agree, if I had been in his shoes, I'd probably be sticking to boats and buses now.

[breezein]

should the airport have been closed prior to landing, due to unsafe landing conditions? I think so