ROBIN LANGSLOW: "I remember clipping the fence, but the impact is a bit hazy".
BRETT MEAD
Robin Langslow's bones crumbled like "cornflakes" when his topdressing plane dived into a bank.
As a topdressing pilot with more than 40 years experience, flying for Langslow, 61, is as natural as driving a car.
On February 4, Langslow was approaching the airstrip on his central Hawke's Bay farm, as he had done "thousands of times" before.
The Civil Aviation Authority is investigating what went wrong.
"I remember clipping the fence, but the impact is a bit hazy. I think I was partially stunned from the clip to my teeth."
The cockpit crashed into the bank at about 50 knots and his head was flung forward into the joystick, smashing his teeth, cheekbone and eye socket.
His arm on the power lever snapped and "blew" the bone through the skin.
His right leg shattered like "cornflakes" while a bone in his left leg also split the skin, and his ankle was left dislocated and dangling on an odd angle.
His passenger, a topdressing loader driver, suffered similar injuries.
Luckily, Langslow's son was home and called the emergency services.
Having bones protruding did not stop Langslow giving the firefighters advice on how to cut him and the passenger out of the cockpit.
"I remember telling them they were cutting all the wrong bits."
Then they shut him up with some pain relief.
The Lowe Corporation rescue helicopter flew both men to Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital in a critical condition.
The pair were lucky the crash killed the engine and prevented a fire starting.
"It was a bad accident - we were very lucky to get out of it. I don't take it lightly, that's for sure."
Nine weeks later, Langslow's son pushed him down the aisle so he could give his daughter away. He made sure his face and teeth were repaired for the big day.
Four operations and eight months later, Langslow's limbs have healed around pins and metal rods.
He hobbles around the house and garden but needs to take the car to his hangar, a couple of hundred metres away.
He is back flying in a private capacity only.
"I don't think it's fair on the rest of the family to put them through that anxiety."
- Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz
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