Major overcomes adversity to fly again

  • Published
  • By Capt. Michael G. Johnson
  • 386th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

Maj. Alan Brown grew up the way many boys in the West grow up, with hard work and a love for the outdoors.

In 1994, he became a C-130 Hercules pilot with the Wyoming Air National Guard and was living the dream of many, flying whenever he could and spending the rest of his time hunting, fishing and helping out on his father’s farm.

But that dream came to a screeching halt one cold night in southern Wyoming: Jan. 21, 1999. Earlier that day, Major Brown had flown a training mission with the 153rd Airlift Wing where he was an aircraft commander. He brought his good friend and flying partner, Steve Friedman, home for dinner and then the two set out to hunt coyotes just across the border in northern Colorado.

They were driving along a desolate road when they spotted a coyote. The major reached for his gun as Mr. Friedman pulled the pickup over to the side of the road.

“When I went to pull it out, I was focusing on the coyote. I can’t remember how it got off safety, I think I was acting very quickly to get it off safety and get the shot,” the major said.

As he was pulling the gun from its case, it hung up. Maintaining focus on the coyote, he jiggled the gun to shake it loose, and that’s when it fired.

“It shot right through the lower femur above the knee and we found out later that much of my femur was gone,” he said.

The accident occurred “in the middle of nowhere.” If it hadn’t been for Mr. Friedman’s quick and decisive actions, the major might not be here today.

“Make no mistake, the only reason I’m here is because of Steve. We go way back; he’s just an exceptional guy,” the major said.

Before either knew how serious the injury was, Mr. Friedman was in the truck and heading for Greeley, Colo., the nearest town with a hospital.

“He gave me a piece of cloth. I don’t know where he got it, but I put it above the wound on my leg and cranked it down,” he said.

Mr. Friedman’s cell phone didn’t work in the remote area. As he drove as fast as he could toward Greeley, he spotted several buses at an intersection.

“(Steve) pulled in front of the buses and stopped to ask for help. One of the guys happened to be an EMT, which was nice,” Major Brown said.

Snow had started falling hard enough to prevent a rescue helicopter from flying. The EMT had a working cell phone and made arrangements with an ambulance to meet the men halfway.

“(We met the ambulance) and they transferred me and then took me to the hospital. With only a few exceptions, that’s about all I remember until five weeks later when I woke up in the hospital,” he said.

Major Brown was placed in a drug-induced coma, and the first three weeks following the accident were dedicated to saving his leg. Following numerous vein grafts, surgeries and a transfer to Denver to see one of the best trauma surgeons in the country, a decision had to be made.

The major was going downhill fast. He was on a ventilator and a dialysis machine. The decision was made to remove the leg.

“They told my parents and girlfriend at the time, Gina -- she’s my wife now -- ‘We have to remove the leg or he’s going to die,’” he said.

After the surgery there was an immediate turnaround in the major’s condition. In just a short time he was discharged from the intensive care unit to a rehabilitation floor.

He was in the hospital for two months. He spent five weeks of that time in a coma. When he regained consciousness, his leg was gone.

“People ask if I was freaked out [when I woke up]. No, I knew I was in the hospital. I knew I had an accident. So when I woke up and saw my leg wasn’t there, it made sense to me,” he said.

“It all made sense,” he said. “I knew I had a pretty bad accident.”

As he regained consciousness and awareness, he asked his mom, dad and best friend two questions.

“I asked, ‘Is Phinney around?' -- Phinney is my wife’s nickname -- and they said, ‘Yes she’ll be here in about 20 minutes.’ I was relieved and thought OK, that’s great. The second thing I asked is, ‘Can I fly again?’ All of them said yes,” he said.

While Major Brown was in a coma, his family, friends and squadron co-workers laid the groundwork for the major to fly again. They had a list of names of pilots who were flying with an above-the-knee prosthesis.

About three weeks after his release from the hospital, the major received his first prosthesis from a man in Cheyenne, Wyo. He taught himself to walk again and began going to the gym.

“For the next several months I was just trying to get back, trying to get my strength back more or less and just resuming everything that I could,” he said.

Throughout his rehabilitation he focused on regaining his life and getting it back to normal.

Gradually, one sit-up at a time, he began regaining his strength and life began falling into place.

About six months after the accident, the major was introduced to Raymond Francis, a prosthetics expert from Ohio with a soft spot in his heart for military people.

“He’s just been excellent for getting myself and many other military guys back on their feet, literally, and many of them back to doing what they were doing,” he said. “I got hooked up with him and this higher-tech, more high-activity leg, and then shortly after that I made two trips to the (flight) simulator.”

He was still trying to walk well at the time, but was eager to see if he could fly again.

“I had to work at it, but I never crashed,” he said about first flight in the simulator.

A civilian pilot he met taught Major Brown techniques which he practiced over and over. In June 2000, about 15 months after the accident, the FAA gave him a check ride and reinstated his medical clearance. One week later he received an interview with a civilian airline company.

“That was totally coincidental. I had my application in with them for a couple years. They had no idea I had even lost my leg. I ended up getting a job with them,” he said.

He flew with the airline for three-and-a-half years before being furloughed in March 2003. Afterward, he spent more time trying to regain his flying status with the Guard.

In November 2004, Gen. John Handy, then commander of Air Mobility Command, visited the major’s wing, but Major Brown wasn’t there that day. During his visit he talked about all the great things the Air Force was accomplishing, including allowing the first above-the-knee amputee to fly again at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

When the general opened the floor to questions, one of Major Brown’s friends told the general about him and asked why he couldn’t fly.

“And the general looked at him and said, ‘Let’s talk about this after this briefing,’” the major said. The general met with Major Brown’s friend and the wing commander to discuss the major’s situation.

“He told my wing commander he wants me to resubmit my package to fly again and that he wanted to be kept posted the entire time about what’s going on,” he said. “That was in November of last year. I found out at the beginning of October this year that they were going to give me a waiver to fly again.”

Major Brown is scheduled to attend pilot re-qualification training at Little Rock AFB, Ark., in August -- seven years and five months after he lost his leg.

“We accomplished more in that half hour of (General Handy) being at our unit then I had been able to the whole time before,” he said. “I can look at you and tell you if you found yourself in the situation that I did, I just think it’s natural for people to get back and do what they were doing and that’s all. I wasn’t trying to be inspirational, and I wasn’t trying to be spectacular.

“All I was trying to do is resume my life the way I had it,” the major said.

Today he’s finishing a 60-day deployment here where he is a crew scheduler for C-130 crews flying troops and cargo in and out of Iraq with the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing. The major knows he is lucky and is grateful to his wife, family, friends and co-workers. He knows he couldn’t have done it without all the constant support.

“I’ve never considered myself lucky to be an amputee,” Major Brown said. “But we’re lucky to be amputees when there’s so much technology to make our lives good, make our lives more normal. I’ve had backing at my unit. Our wing commander has never done anything but offer support and that’s been awesome.”

The major hopes people can learn from his accident.

“If people can learn something from it, it’s first of all your life is not over,” the major said. “Second, as far as the accident goes, just count to three before you act.

“There’s nothing that important that you have to act hastily and have an accident like this,” he said. “I would feel really bad if I had a friend who did a stupid thing like me and didn’t learn from my mistakes.”