Unwanted Free Fall From the Sky in Florida
One of the most horrific ways to die, in my mind at least, involves falling from high up with plenty of time to realize you are about to die.
In fact, it’s so terrible that I can hardly imagine what it would be like. I’ve heard that once a human body reaches ‘terminal velocity’ that death actually occurs faster than the pain signals can travel across the nerves and that makes it a nearly instantaneous, pain free death… but you won’t find me rushing to put that theory to the test. Besides, it’s not so much the idea of the pain upon impact that unnerves me, but the mental turmoil and sheer terror that must be experienced by the victim.
One totally unforgettable case we were recently contacted to cleanup didn’t involve a home or other structure… it involved a road.
We got the call from the city of Spring Hill, Florida which was not altogether unusual… often we are contacted by first responders who work for the city as they recommend our services to families needing our help to restore their home or office after a tragedy… but this time was different.
After getting some brief information on the location and what the job would require in terms of cleanup, we headed out to a the quiet suburban street, surrounded by tall scrub pines, in a pleasant middle class neighborhood of Spring Hill, Florida near Orlando.
Pulling into the road we were inundated by swarms of news crews who jumped out from their large satellite vans, plastered with whatever number their news station correlated to on television. A line of police cars and ambulances sat to one side of the street, and we got there in time to watch the coroner’s vehicle pull away from the scene.
Stepping out of our own cleanup-mobile, we were met by a small group of investigators who filled us in on what to expect. Apparently, a man had fallen out of his plane to his death and the remains of his body needed to be scraped off the pavement.
The Surprise Must Have Shown on My Face
I mean how does one just ‘fall out’ of a plane they are flying, because one of the detectives took a few moments to clarify: the night before, witnesses at a local bar had reported hearing a plane sputtering as it flew above and then watched as it went down, barrel rolling and missing a wing, into a line of trees that bordered the street we now stood on. It seemed that the plane must have experienced a fatal malfunction and began to come apart mid-air. When rescuers got to the scene, they discovered the body of the pilot, who had chosen to bail purposely from the floundering aircraft, in the road… dead.. and the smoldering plane wrecked in a stand of trees a short distance away.
Standing in the road, looking down at the blood and other bodily fluids smeared into the asphalt, I turned to the detective and asked how they knew the pilot had bailed out intentionally. I’ll never forget his response: he landed feet first.
As cleanups go, this was perhaps one of the easiest yet hardest jobs I have performed to date… the evidence of the tragedy, left behind after his body was removed, was quickly erased from the street and the destroyed aircraft hauled away for further investigation. But the mental image left in my head, a seasoned bio-hazard remediation specialist, as well the minds of all the residents in that neighborhood, could not be wiped clean as easily.
You don’t want to try and attempt to clean up a crime scene or accident scene. Blood and other bodily fluids can contain dangerous pathogens which pose a significant risk to human health. Our scene clean up technicians will decontaminate and remove any blood, tissue or bodily fluids a crime and trauma scene has left behind. Advanced Bio Treatment is a professional scene cleaning company.
If you need trauma or accidental death clean-up guidance, have questions about your payment options or current insurance policy covers don’t hesitate to give Advanced Bio Treatment a call at: 800-295-1684
