Fla. airport authority honors 3 CAP members for bravery

[James Shaw]

The City of Naples Airport Authority has recognized three members of the Civil Air Patrol for their bravery in responding to a January accident at Naples Municipal Airport. The driver of a tow truck on Airport Pulling Road experienced a medical emergency, drove through the airport's perimeter fence and crashed into a T-hangar building near the Civil Air Patrol hangar. Eduardo Moreno, Domingos DaSilva and Dennis Leiva ran to assist the driver. They broke the window of the vehicle, turned the engine off, removed the driver from the vehicle and had 91 called.

Moreno, DaSilva and Leiva were presented plaques and recognized during the airport authority's March meeting.

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

[Extremepredjudice]

Kudos to them! :clap: :clap:

[RiverAux]

Glad to hear that they responded well, though "bravery" seems a little excessive based just on the details given above.   

[DBlair]

 :clap:

[Pylon]

Plaques?  Too bad they didn't receive Certificates in Recognition of Lifesaving from CAP (assuming the situation warranted, but from the sounds of the summary above it very well may have).  Either way, bravo zulu to these fine upstanding CAP members.  It's always great to hear of CAP members doing great things above and beyond when the situation calls.   :clap: :clap:

[DBlair]

Plaques?  Too bad they didn't receive Certificates in Recognition of Lifesaving from CAP (assuming the situation warranted, but from the sounds of the summary above it very well may have).  Either way, bravo zulu to these fine upstanding CAP members.  It's always great to hear of CAP members doing great things above and beyond when the situation calls.   :clap: :clap:

Plaques were from the Airport Authority, and so I'm guessing they'll also be recognized by CAP.

[EMT-83]

I hate when passers-by remove victims from vehicles that aren't on fire. Obviously we don't have all the details here, but it's normally the wrong thing to do.

[Woodsy]

Having some knowledge of the situation, I must say that these 3 members put themselves into an extremely volatile and dangerous situation with total disregard for their own lives.  The victim would have certainly died without their assistance, and their actions were truly heroic.

Basically, what happened is that while preflighting the plane for a cadet o-ride, they witnessed the tow truck slam into the hanger.  The hanger was severely damaged and almost fell down.  They had to crawl into it under a gap of sheet metal that had been knocked aside by the impact. 

When the truck entered the hanger, it struck the wing of plane inside.  The fuel tank ruptured and began to spill avgas all over the floor.  Additionally, the plane twisted around, knocking over and rupturing another fuel storage container.  Several inches of fuel were on the floor.

On top of this, the tow truck, which was the very large, semi truck hauler type, was still running, in gear, with the engine revving.  The driver was not responsive (and in fact, the 3 members initially thought him dead) and the doors were locked.  One of the members was able to break and crawl through the rear window of the truck, and then turn the engine off and open the doors so the other 2 members could then extract the driver.  They did so, relocated him to a safe location, and then determined he was in fact alive, barely, and rendered aid until rescuers arrived.

The conscious decision to enter a structurally unsound hanger, filled with spilled fuel with a running and in gear tow truck, which could have easily sparked and ignited the fuel, was an extremely brave and heroic act.  These members selfless acts saved the life of the victim.

CAP awards are pending. 

[EMT-83]

Avgas with a potential ignition source is not cool. These guys definitely put themselves into harm's way.

[kyle413]

Whoa this is kind of weird, that is the squadron I'm considering joining!!

[ColonelJack]

CAP awards are pending.

Were I to be serving on an awards/decorations board, I'd be all over a Silver Medal of Valor for the three of them ...

Jack

[James Shaw]

Having some knowledge of the situation, I must say that these 3 members put themselves into an extremely volatile and dangerous situation with total disregard for their own lives.  The victim would have certainly died without their assistance, and their actions were truly heroic.

Basically, what happened is that while preflighting the plane for a cadet o-ride, they witnessed the tow truck slam into the hanger.  The hanger was severely damaged and almost fell down.  They had to crawl into it under a gap of sheet metal that had been knocked aside by the impact. 

When the truck entered the hanger, it struck the wing of plane inside.  The fuel tank ruptured and began to spill avgas all over the floor.  Additionally, the plane twisted around, knocking over and rupturing another fuel storage container.  Several inches of fuel were on the floor.

On top of this, the tow truck, which was the very large, semi truck hauler type, was still running, in gear, with the engine revving.  The driver was not responsive (and in fact, the 3 members initially thought him dead) and the doors were locked.  One of the members was able to break and crawl through the rear window of the truck, and then turn the engine off and open the doors so the other 2 members could then extract the driver.  They did so, relocated him to a safe location, and then determined he was in fact alive, barely, and rendered aid until rescuers arrived.

The conscious decision to enter a structurally unsound hanger, filled with spilled fuel with a running and in gear tow truck, which could have easily sparked and ignited the fuel, was an extremely brave and heroic act.  These members selfless acts saved the life of the victim.

CAP awards are pending.

Looks like the beginning of a detailed 120 to me.

[kyle413]

They got the life  saving award! http://news.sercap.us/view_ser.asp?ID=428

[ZigZag911]

Lifesaving Award? 

Sounds like a Bronze Medal of Valor to me, with the hangar collapsing and avgas spilling all around them.

[Woodsy]

They got the life  saving award! http://news.sercap.us/view_ser.asp?ID=428

I am glad to see that someone actually looks at the Online News site that I spend so much time posting too lol.


The presentation will be this week in Naples. 

[MSG Mac]

This deserves more than a Life Saving Award. There was considerable risk of personal injury or death. Silver Medal of Valor would be more appropriate.

[kyle413]

They got the life  saving award! http://news.sercap.us/view_ser.asp?ID=428

I am glad to see that someone actually looks at the Online News site that I spend so much time posting too lol.


The presentation will be this week in Naples.

lol yeah. Something exciting actually happened here for once. (I live in naples and probably going to join that squadron.)

[Extremepredjudice]

They got the life  saving award! http://news.sercap.us/view_ser.asp?ID=428

I am glad to see that someone actually looks at the Online News site that I spend so much time posting too lol.


The presentation will be this week in Naples.

I read it! No surprise there...

Btw sir, I'm waiting impatiently for the photos of saturday...

[Woodsy]

They got the life  saving award! http://news.sercap.us/view_ser.asp?ID=428

I am glad to see that someone actually looks at the Online News site that I spend so much time posting too lol.


The presentation will be this week in Naples.

I read it! No surprise there...

Btw sir, I'm waiting impatiently for the photos of saturday...

You mean the ones of you dumpster diving while looking for the ELT?  hahaha.  They're on the JAXCAP facebook page.  http://www.facebook.com/JAXCAP

[Extremepredjudice]

  haha, yeah.