Airlift Northwest | 3
Late last year, Author Richard Bach (whose
literary works include such best sellers as Il-
lusions and the internationally acclaimed
Jonathon Livingston Seagull) took off from
his home in Washington’s San Juan Islands
to visit a friend on the mainland. On this oc-
casion, like many times before, Bach piloted
an amphibious, single-engine Easton Gilbert
Searey. An accomplished pilot who has spent
years flying as his readers well-know, on this
day, Bach inadvertently clipped power lines
as he prepared to land at Friday Harbor Air-
port. In the crash that followed, he endured
severe injuries to his head, chest and spine.
The prognosis for Bach, as well as his family,
not to mention countless fans, seemed par-
ticularly grim. As any physician will affirm,
there is a “golden hour” which refers to a
timeframe following the instance of trauma.
An outcome of life or death is quite often
determined by a patient’s ability to rapidly
receive treatment. In Bach’s case, in only a
matter of minutes, help arrived in the form
of RNs affiliated with Airlift Northwest.
