Crash survivors get to meet the paramedics who rescued them

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

Joel Fallon and Josh Rosa, of Palm Coast, planned a simple flight to DeLand for lunch last Nov. 9, but it turned into a life-altering adventure after their plane crashed because of a mechanical failure in thick woods in western Flagler County.

The two survivors got to meet and thank the four paramedics with Flagler County Fire Rescue on June 6 who rescued them from the airplane.

“Who does that?” asked Fallon at the Flagler County Rotary Luncheon where the meeting took place. “Who climbs up on an airplane for someone they don’t even know, knowing it could explode any minute?”

The airplane’s 75 gallons of fuel had spilled, much of it on Fallon, who was hanging upside down from the plane. He legs were caught in the twisted dash and he couldn’t move an arm. Rosa was thrown out of the plane and was sitting unconscious in his seat, several feet away from the plane, with his belt intact.

When paramedics arrived, Fallon said, “Don’t leave me.”

As he hung there, he kept having positive thoughts: “It’s gonna be good; I’m going to be all right.”

Now he said he realizes it was the words of Aaron Price, one of the paramedics, who kept patting him on the back and reassuring him as the paramedics worked.

Tears appear whenever Fallon talks about it.

“He stayed next to me the entire time,” he said.

Fallon said they had climbed to 2,000 feet when the 1969 Beechcraft Bonanza 36 started banking and went into a spin. The cable that goes from the steering mechanism back to rudders had broken. He said this has happened in other planes of the same type.

Then they saw nothing but trees, and Fallon remembers thinking, “This is going to hurt.”

'THESE THINGS ARE SO PRECIOUS'

At the luncheon, Fallon told the paramedics that he wanted to thank them, not just for his rescue, but for what they do every day.

“I’ll be able to walk my daughter down the aisle. I get to see my grandchild,” he said. “These things are so precious. I’m just thankful.”

He also had some questions for the paramedics, such as how they got him out of the plane, because his legs were trapped.

Price explained that while the other paramedics lowered him, he guided his legs out of the twisted metal.

Fallon also said he was in a lot of pain at first, and the paramedics explained that they had given him an IV. They also mentioned they put his elbow back in place.

Fallon remembers when they did that and told them the arm felt much better after they did it.

CUTTING THROUGH A JUNGLE

The firefighters had to cut their way through the underbrush with machetes to get the men, said Fire Chief Don Petito, and then had to carry them out on backboards. There were about 15 paramedics at the scene.

“The operation was very complex,” Petito said. “We’re proud of all the guys.”

“I’ll be able to walk my daughter down the aisle.”

JOEL FALLON, plane crash survivor

Fallon had 17 breaks in his legs. Surgeons used muscles and blood vessels from his legs to restore one of his feet. He is going through therapy and can stand briefly. He said he can also walk about 100 paces with a walker.

“After that, he’s done for the day,” said his wife, Lynn.

When Rosa was thrown from the plane, flesh was cut off from one of his legs to the bone. Surgeons repaired it by using flesh from his back. He can now walk, but will always have a limp, he said.

Fallon went back to running his business, Granny Nannies Senior Home Care, four months after the crash.

“He has to be around people,” his wife said.

Rosa has an airplane business, Flagler Air Exchange.

Fallon credits Rosa, the more experienced pilot, with taking the right steps before the crash. For example, he cut off the engine so it wouldn’t be hot and start the grass on fire at the crash site.

Luckily, after the crash, Fallon was awake enough in the plane to call 911. The operator pinged his phone to help the helicopters find him and they were transported by Air One to Halifax Health in Daytona Beach.