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Back in the sky

Pilot recovers from crash to regain his wings

By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@TheCitizen.com

A little over a month ago Peachtree City resident Matt Warmerdam marked a rather auspicious anniversary.

On Aug. 21, 1995, ASA Flight 529 from Atlanta to Gulfport, Miss., crashed in a hay field in Carroll County. Warmerdam, the copilot of that flight, was one of 19 survivors. Though he was severely burned and had to have parts of his fingers amputated, Warmerdam was able to be a pilot again. His courageous attitude during his recovery is one of the reasons he was recently honored by the American Society of Plastic Surgeons at their meeting in Chicago with one of their “Patients of Courage: Triumph Over Adversity” awards.

The crash occurred because a propeller blade broke off the plane’s left engine. Warmerdam radioed in what had happened and the tower told the flight crew to turn around and try to make it back to the airport. The closest airport was West Georgia Regional Airport in Carrollton but the flight would fall a few miles short of that location.

The plane hit nearby trees at approximately 400 miles an hour and the fuselage shattered. A fire started on the plane and temperatures soared. It was five minutes before the first fire truck would arrive on the scene and Warmerdam was pinned in his seat. He began to use a small hatchet to try and bust a hole in the thick glass side panel, all the while burning in the fire. Eventually, a fire truck arrived, doused the cockpit with water and freed Warmerdam from certain death.

Warmerdam had burns varying from second through fourth degree on 55 percent of his body. He was transferred to Erlanger Medical Center in Tennessee and had 12 major reconstructive surgeries, including skin grafts and a tracheotomy, over the next 10 months.

Warmerdam’s goal was always to return to the cockpit. He had always wanted to be a pilot and was not about to give up on his dream. One year after the accident, Warmerdam, still wheelchair-bound and with hands covered in gauze, was able to go up in a plane in New Mexico. His family explained how important it was for him to fly that day and the pilot allowed him to try the controls during that flight.

“I knew then that this was what I wanted,” said Warmerdam, who continued to work toward that goal over the next six years.

In attempting to reach that goal, Warmerdam underwent an estimated 40-50 hand surgeries and participated in a lot of occupational hand therapy. He credits the excellent care of the surgeons for helping him return to flying and also praises his wife, Amy, for being with him every step of the way.

Warmerdam was nominated for the “Patients of Courage” award by Dr. Lewis Carter of the Erlanger medical center. Warmerdam stated that Carter saved his life in the early phases after the accident and Warmerdam continued to stay in touch with Carter after leaving the center.

“I was honored when he asked me if it would be OK to nominate me for the award,” said Warmerdam, who found out about his winning the award earlier this summer. Though he had no speech planned for the ceremony, Warmerdam wished to express that the most important tool that the plastic surgeons have is the ability to give their patients hope.

Warmerdam returned to flying for ASA in 2002 and now flies a variety of routes around North America. He only flies for ASA from November to May, which is the time he resides in the area. The summers are too hot for Warmerdam, due to the lack of sweat glands because of the skin grafts he received.

It would have been easy for Warmerdam to have given up when he was stuck in the burning plane, just as it would have been easy to give up his dreams of flying ever again. Warmerdam didn’t want to take the easy way out though, he worked hard for a number of years to make sure that he would be able to achieve his goal. He is most certainly a Patient of Courage.