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Middle-of-Night Airliner Drama Brings Record Number of Patients to Physician at Remote Site

1993; American Medical Association; Volume: 269; Issue: 21 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1001/jama.1993.03500210015006

1538-3598

Phil Gunby,

Disaster Response and Management

IT IS the early hours of the morning April 6 at one of the Air Force's most remote US bases—Shemya in the Aleutian Islands, closer to Tokyo (2255 km [1400 miles] away in Japan) than to Anchorage (2900 km [1800 miles] away in the same state of Alaska). One physician—Laura E. Towne, MD—is assigned to the small clinic that cares for Shemya's 600 active-duty personnel, whose families are not allowed to accompany them on this tour of duty. Towne, an Air Force captain and flight surgeon, is awakened and advised that a China Eastern airliner, flying from the airline's Shanghai base to Los Angeles, Calif, at 10250m (33 000 feet) with 255 persons aboard, suddenly pitched violently, killing one passenger and injuring many others. Because the airliner, a relatively new McDonnell Douglas MD-11 trijet, is severely damaged and the crew is uncertain how long it can remain in the air,