Pod Insights Real Survival Stories Burning Alive: Escape from the Wreckage About this episode Tom Wilson is on a routine work trip to visit a construction project at Toba Inlet - a wild, remote fjord on the coast of British Columbia. But when his small, chartered plane meets a violent and horrifying end, Tom will be thrust into hell on earth. After somehow surviving the initial impact, he must find a way to overcome his panic and escape the burning remains of the aircraft. And even then, he’ll soon discover his ordeal has only just begun…
A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins.
Written by Heléna Lewis | Produced by Ed Baranski | Assistant Producer: Luke Lonergan | Exec produced by Joel Duddell | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Matt Peaty | Assembly edit by Rob Plummer | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Ralph Tittley.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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0:18 John Hopkins? It's mid-morning, Sunday, November 16, 2008.
0:23 John Hopkins? A heavy blanket of fog hangs low over south Thormanby Island, a wild, rugged stretch of land off the coast of Vancouver, Canada.
0:33 John Hopkins? Savage winds whip through the closely crowded trees. Cold drizzle falls relentlessly from the desolate gray sky.
0:43 John Hopkins? On the forested slopes of a small, rocky mountain, thick, black smoke rises, its acrid plumes mingling with the fog before dispersing into the dank, frigid air.
0:55 John Hopkins? On the rough terrain below, fierce pockets of fire burn amongst the mangled remains of scorched, splintered trees and twisted metal.
1:05 John Hopkins? The trail of destruction culminates in the crumpled carcass of an eight-seater plane that lies smashed on the rocky ground.
1:13 John Hopkins? It's burning.
1:17 John Hopkins? Amidst the wreckage, unconscious but still strapped in his seat, is a 35-year-old man, Tom Wilson.
1:25 John Hopkins? His eyes snap open, and he is consumed by blinding pain. His body is engulfed by flames.
1:35 Speaker 02 I can't describe what it feels like to be on fire, but what I can tell you, it's the closest thing to insanity that I've ever experienced.
1:46 John Hopkins? Drenched in aviation fuel, Tom desperately needs to get away from the inferno that surrounds him. He tries to reach down and unfasten his seatbelt, but he's in such agony that his hands refuse to follow the commands of his own panicking brain. With every passing moment, the fire becomes more ferocious, devouring his clothes and attacking his skin. He claws at the belt like a cornered animal, trying frantically to pull away from the fire, but it's no use. He's trapped.
2:16 John Hopkins? And if he can't get himself out of his seat soon, he'll be burned alive.
2:22 Speaker 02 You don't think that you could possibly live another second before your mind shuts off because the pain's too much, or your heart explodes. And the next second, it gets worse, it gets worse. And it takes you on this journey of insanity where there's, there's nothing. The only thing that, that exists in that moment is the pain, is the panic.
2:51 John Hopkins? Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice?
2:59 John Hopkins? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.
3:12 John Hopkins? In this episode, we meet Tom Wilson. In November 2008, the 35-year-old area manager is on a routine work trip to visit a construction project at Toba Inlet, a wild, remote fjord on the coast of British Columbia. But when his small, chartered plane meets a violent and horrifying end, Tom will be thrust into hell on earth. After somehow surviving the initial impact, he must find a way to overcome his panic and escape the burning wreckage of his aircraft. And even then, he'll soon discover his ordeal has only just begun.
3:45 Speaker 02 I'm on the side of this mountain. I have no idea where I am. I have no skill. I'm in so much pain. And I'm surrounded by death.
3:52 John Hopkins? I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Podcast Network, this is Real Survival Stories.
4:18 John Hopkins? It's noon on Saturday, November the 15th, 2008. The sun is shining, and Tom Wilson is driving from his home in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, to the airport at Edmonton.
4:32 John Hopkins? As area manager for Peter Kiwitt's sons, a global construction company, Tom travels frequently. His job involves reporting on the financial performance of various construction projects.
4:44 John Hopkins? This morning, he's flying to Vancouver on the first leg of a trip that will take him to a facility at Toba Inlet, an isolated fjord known for its stunning scenery and distinctive wildlife.
4:56 Speaker 02 Kiwitt often does these large, complex mega projects out in the middle of nowhere. And so Toba Inlet is secluded in the mountains north of Vancouver. And so because it's remote, it's very difficult to get to.
5:14 John Hopkins? From Vancouver, the bosses have arranged an amphibious plane to fly Tom and his colleagues to the largely inaccessible fjord. It's a trip he's made before, so he knows what to expect.
5:27 John Hopkins? But as he's driving along, listening to the radio, Tom is suddenly struck by something he can't explain.
5:36 Speaker 02 That was one of the strangest feelings, looking back. There was no logical reason, but I had this overwhelming feeling of that I shouldn't fly, that I shouldn't go on this trip, and I had no idea why.
5:50 John Hopkins? Tom is not the kind of man prone to superstitions or premonitions, so although he's unsettled by the strange feeling, he talks himself out of it. After all, what choice does he have? Everything is arranged, the tickets are paid for. If he calls his boss and backs out now, it won't just affect him, but all his colleagues too, plus the crew at the site who are waiting to be relieved.
6:15 John Hopkins? Besides, Tom is climbing the corporate ladder and forging a successful career. He has plans for the future, and it's taken him a long time to get here.
6:25 Speaker 02 Things were pretty normal for me as a kid. I was a bit spoiled, though, with being the youngest. I ended up getting in a lot of trouble. Moved out of my house at 15, I was just in trouble with the law. I ended up joining the military just because I was a bit of a disaster trying to figure out how to be an adult. Spent a few years in the military. I just continued to struggle to find my footing, my path.
6:49 John Hopkins? After getting kicked out of the military for poor behaviour, he eventually completed his education, gained a degree in accountancy, and fell into the construction sector. It gave him the building blocks he needed.
7:01 Speaker 02 That's where my career took off. I really started to do well in life. I got promoted quickly through Keywit. Keywit was the biggest company in my career. They taught me everything I knew. And so I grew with them.
7:14 John Hopkins? He's not about to jeopardise everything he's achieved for the sake of some inexplicable feeling. He steadies himself and drives on.
7:28 John Hopkins? After arriving safely at Edmonton Airport, Tom checks in, passes through security, and boards the plane to Vancouver.
7:36 John Hopkins? The flight passes without a hitch. It helps assuage his uneasiness.
7:43 Speaker 02 I kind of brushed it off, and I'm like, huh. Well, that was a dumb feeling, right? Like, that didn't make any sense at all. There was no issues. We're fine.
7:52 John Hopkins? That evening, Tom and one of his colleagues, 29-year-old Kyle Adams, go out for dinner in Vancouver and discuss the upcoming trip. In the past year, the two men have been working closely together. They've developed a friendship, and Tom has taken Kyle under his wing.
8:09 Speaker 02 Because I was an area manager, I had the ability to promote. And so I waited at Kyle's office two months earlier and told them that I was promoting him and training him and teaching him, and that we were going to Toba Inlet. So this is the trip. And so I brought Kyle with me because I was going to elevate his career. Kyle was so excited because he'd never been to Toba Inlet. He'd never been to a mega project. He'd never flown on a float plane. There were so many firsts for Kyle.
8:39 John Hopkins? The two men get an early night. Their flight is booked for 10 a.m. the next day, and they want to be fresh.
8:48 John Hopkins? But when morning arrives, it quickly becomes clear there's a problem.
8:53 John Hopkins? As they greet each other in the hotel lobby around 8 a.m., the scene outside is bleak and forbidding.
8:59 Speaker 02 The cloud ceiling is low, the visibility is almost zero, it's foggy, it's raining. And I look at Kyle, and I'm like, well, there's no way we're flying today.
9:09 John Hopkins? Although it's not looking promising, they decide to head to the airport anyway and to check out the situation. They catch a cab. By the time they get there, the conditions haven't improved. And inside the airport, it's chaos.
9:22 Speaker 02 Every single flight from the Vancouver International Airport that morning was either canceled or delayed because of the weather. No one was taking off, they shut down the runways.
9:34 John Hopkins? It seems certain now that the trip will be postponed. Tom and Kyle weave their way through the crowds of stressed and stranded passengers in the main body of the airport. When they reach the smaller float plane terminal, sure enough, they're told their flight is delayed due to the weather. While they wait for further information, Tom and Kyle decide to get some breakfast. They encounter another of their coworkers, A.J., and invite him to join them.
10:01 John Hopkins? When they're finished, they catch sight of their other four colleagues and go to greet them.
10:06 John Hopkins? Soon afterwards, to their surprise, the seven men are told they can, in fact, board their plane after all.
10:13 Speaker 02 We're all looking at each other because this doesn't make any sense. We were pretty sure we were flying, and now they're instructing us to go get on the airplane. And it was really awkward. None of us felt comfortable. We were all confused by the messaging, it didn't align with what we were seeing around us. But none of us really knew what to do. They're instructing us to board the aircraft. So, we did.
10:47 John Hopkins? Despite the tense atmosphere, the seven colleagues keep sturm and head toward their plane. After all, the airport officials have cleared them for takeoff, so everything must be okay, surely.
11:01 John Hopkins? They step out onto the tarmac and make their way to the small, eight-seater Grumman Goose aircraft. The float plane's wings are set above the cabin, with powerful engines that protrude either side of the cockpit. With its snub nose and bulky floats, it's an odd-looking beast, but it's perfect for the task at hand.
11:22 John Hopkins? Still, the weather conditions aren't boosting anyone's confidence.
11:27 Speaker 02 It doesn't make sense to me, because I can't see a hundred yards down the runway, but we're gonna fly into the mountains to try and land in this little tiny inlet, and it just, it's not making sense to me.
11:41 John Hopkins? Their pilot is waiting to greet them and load their luggage onboard. He's an experienced pilot, and Tom's flown with him before.
11:51 John Hopkins? After handing over their bags, both AJ and Tom approach the plane's door at the same moment. Each immediately steps back and insists the other boards first. They briefly banter back and forth, but Tom wins the plateness battle, and AJ enters the plane ahead of him.
12:09 John Hopkins? On flights like these, passengers are allowed to sit in the unoccupied co-pilot seat. It's a coveted position, offering significantly more legroom, as well as fantastic views when the weather is clear. AJ heads straight towards it.
12:26 John Hopkins? Having missed out on the best spot, Tom takes a seat two rows behind the pilot, directly under the left wing.
12:34 John Hopkins? The vibe onboard feels strained.
12:38 John Hopkins? The pilot is the last to board. He gets into position and pauses.
12:45 Speaker 02 He looks back at us in the passenger cabin, and he says, "Hey, guys, we're gonna have to do some low-level flying because of the weather conditions outside. If anyone's got a problem with that, let me know now, and I'll let you off."
13:01 Speaker 02 And that silence was echoing. Because I'm telling you, we understood that we were in danger.
13:10 John Hopkins? But in a strange moment, despite the obvious mood of anxiety, nobody objects.
13:16 Speaker 02 The pilot kind of let that awkward silence percolate for about five seconds, maybe less. And then he looks back a second time. And he says, hey, guys, it's my job to make sure that this flight doesn't get too exciting. If it does get too exciting, we'll come back, we'll turn around, and we'll have coffee. And so everyone kind of gave the silent shrug of approval. Still, there was no affirmation, but no one said anything. No one prevents me.
13:45 Speaker 02 That one second. Why? What is it that prevents us from speaking up? I've spent more time on thinking about and soul-searching my behaviors in that one second. Than I have anything else in my life.
14:06 John Hopkins? When nobody speaks up, the pilot prepares for takeoff. The course is set.
14:14 John Hopkins? The passengers fasten their seatbelts and put in mandatory earplugs to muffle the deafening noise of the engines. The plane rolls down the runway towards the water.
14:24 John Hopkins? They hit the sea and pick up speed, the power of the propellers reverberating through the small cabin. The aircraft lurches as it attempts to take flight, bouncing off the waves while water smashes against its body.
14:38 John Hopkins? As they become airborne, Tom tries to settle in for the rest of the flight. And in an aircraft like this, that's no easy task.
14:48 John Hopkins? He twists his six-foot frame into a modified fetal position, jamming his knees into the seat in front. He pulls his hoodie up and leans his head against the window, the fabric cushioning his face on the glass. He closes his eyes.
15:06 Speaker 02 I was just trying to be in a face of calm. You know, I was trying to breathe, get through the flight.
15:12 John Hopkins? Tom drifts in and out of sleep as the plane begins its journey through the fog. Occasionally, he opens his eyes and sees the ocean, only a few hundred feet below his window. It's unnerving to be flying so low. But it's not exactly unexpected.
15:31 John Hopkins? As their journey progresses without incident, everything seems calm. The other passengers are quiet. All Tom can hear is the muffled sound of the aircraft.
15:42 John Hopkins? But twenty-two minutes into the flight, everything changes.
15:47 Speaker 02 Without any warning, like no warning at all, there was this massive grinding sound. You'd think it would be the impact of a plane crash that can get someone's attention, but it wasn't. It was this noise. And so, I hear this massive sound and it's like this metal just being sheared.
16:09 John Hopkins? Instantly, Tom's eyes snap open. And with his head still resting against the window, he sees something terrifying.
16:17 Speaker 02 As soon as my eyes shoot open, I see trees. But the trees are off in the distance. The trees are literally outside of the glass of my window. It's the trees ripping the aircraft apart.
16:35 John Hopkins? There's no time to process what he's seeing. The plane shakes and screeches, screams fill the cabin. Almost instantly, Tom is thrown so hard against the seat in front of him that he loses consciousness. Everything goes dark.
16:52 Speaker 02 It was over in the briefest of seconds with no one saying anything. It happened so fast.
17:07 John Hopkins? It's just after ten thirty a.m. on Sunday, November the sixteenth, two thousand and eight.
17:13 John Hopkins? On a rocky mountain slope, the wreckage of a small plane smoulders, smoke spilling out into the forested wilderness. The aircraft has been pulverized. It's now a flaming ruin of mangled metal, following a devastating collision with the mountainside. It seems impossible that anyone on board could have survived the high-speed impact. And yet, incredibly, one passenger is still breathing.
17:42 John Hopkins? Tom Wilson's eyes suddenly snap open, and agony instantly racks his body.
17:48 John Hopkins? Flames from the burning wreckage of the plane engulf him, searing his flesh.
17:53 Speaker 02 It's not this groggy slumber back into reality or consciousness. It's, I'm on fire. I'm covered head to toe in plane fuel, and I'm burning alive. And I wake up, and I'm screaming. I can't describe what it feels like to be on fire. But what I can tell you, it's the closest thing to insanity that I've ever experienced.
18:22 John Hopkins? Somehow, Tom's seat remains intact, bolted to the wreckage. It's about the only thing left of the little eight-passenger aircraft. He lurches, desperate to get away from the flames, only to find that he is still strapped in place by his seatbelt.
18:38 John Hopkins? Screaming and flailing, he scrabbles to undo the clip and escape.
18:43 Speaker 02 I had my wits enough to know that I couldn't get up because of my seatbelt. It's this old aircraft with these big metal clips are the easiest thing in the world. Alls you have to do is reach down, pull on the metal clip, and release the seatbelt. But I was in so much pain, I was in such a panic, such an override. My body was literally just pulling away from the fires, as hard as it could to get away like any animal would. And I was trying to get my seatbelt off, but my hands wouldn't follow the directions of my mind.
19:17 John Hopkins? Tom has just minutes, if not seconds, to escape the burning wreckage before it's too late.
19:23 John Hopkins? Somehow, he finds the mental fortitude he needs to choke down the panic.
19:30 Speaker 02 I consciously sat up in my chair. I put my hands in the air and I let myself burn. And I let myself burn for just the briefest of seconds, just to try and get my stamina, my control, my sanity back enough to get my hands to listen to me. And so I reach into the fire and I get this clip undone.
19:52 John Hopkins? Tom fumbles and fights until, click, the belt comes loose.
20:00 John Hopkins? Instantly, he stands. He's acting on pure instinct as adrenaline pumps through his veins and he sprints blindly towards the trees. Nothing bars his way. The violence of the crash has shattered the plane upon impact, providing him with a clear escape route away from the wreckage.
20:19 John Hopkins? It's a small mercy in the circumstances.
20:21 Speaker 02 I could barely navigate undoing a seatbelt. If there was any other obstacles in my way, there's no way I had the sanity or the control to navigate through them and I would have died for sure.
20:33 John Hopkins? But running from the wreckage doesn't mean he's escaped the danger or the pain. He has been drenched by gallons of fuel, which is feeding the fire that covers his body. Plus, he still has his hoodie pulled over his head. As he runs, the movement causes the flames to shoot inwards, burning his face.
20:56 John Hopkins? Tom yanks off his hoodie, followed by his shirt. He slaps at the fire that's still devouring his skin and manages to put out the flames that are climbing up his jeans.
21:07 John Hopkins? It's only after he's extinguished everything that he can that the full extent of his appalling injuries comes to light.
21:18 Speaker 02 I am no longer on fire, but I have no skin on my face, I have no skin on my hands. My back is burnt, my stomach's burnt. I've got some major gashes, I'm bleeding everywhere. I could smell my own burnt flesh. And I stood there and I screamed.
21:40 Speaker 02 I screamed for longer and harder than I ever thought imaginable because there was no sanity. It was literally all just about the pain.
21:54 John Hopkins? He stands, wearing nothing but his jeans and work boots, in the frigid November air.
22:01 John Hopkins? Robbed of any reason or rationality, he continues to yell.
22:10 John Hopkins? He is about thirty meters away from the crash site and facing the forest, and there is a loud explosion behind him.
22:20 John Hopkins? Although he feels the heat and shockwaves against his naked back, it barely registers.
22:28 Speaker 02 The only thing that brought the sanity back was exhaustion from screaming. I started to think, "What the hell just happened? What about all my friends? What about my crew?"
22:39 Speaker 02 And so I staggered back to the wreckage.
22:43 John Hopkins? Eyes clouded, body still gripped by pain, Tom manages to stumble his way back to the smoldering remains of the aircraft.
22:52 John Hopkins? Back to a sight of pure tragedy.
22:56 Speaker 02 Over the course of years, I've become very good at sharing. The one thing that even to this day I've never shared with my psychiatrist, I've never shared with anyone, is what I found that day. When I went back to the plane crash. And I found my crew. And everyone was dead. And... It was just devastating. There was nothing left. It was just, it was so violent.
23:25 John Hopkins? Besides the ruins of the plane, he sobs uncontrollably, until his body is racked by exhaustion once more.
23:34 Speaker 02 This is where my military experience kicked in. And I started to try and figure out, "Okay, we're in a plane crash. Where am I?" I have no idea where I am.
23:52 John Hopkins? The plane has crashed into the side of a small mountain on south Thormandy Island. Though only a short distance from the Canadian mainland, it feels far more remote and is virtually uninhabited.
24:05 John Hopkins? But Tom doesn't know all this yet.
24:09 John Hopkins? He takes a steadying breath and assesses the situation.
24:15 John Hopkins? The thick fog surrounding him doesn't offer many clues as to his location, but he can at least make out the densely forested slopes of the mountain.
24:24 John Hopkins? He has two options: wait at the crash site for someone to come and find him, or climb down the mountain himself and look for help.
24:33 John Hopkins? Neither is appealing. Tom's burns and cuts are serious enough on their own, but there's no telling yet if he suffered any internal injuries in the crash, or how severe they might be.
24:44 John Hopkins? Whatever the case, he needs medical attention quickly, and it's impossible to know how long it will take for help to come. Added to this is the weather. With severely burnt hands, he can't build a shelter, and his jeans and boots will do little to protect him from the cold.
25:02 John Hopkins? But walking away from the crash site isn't attractive either. In his current condition, every movement is painful, and battling his way through dense trees when his body is covered in burns promises fresh agony.
25:16 John Hopkins? Besides, he has no clue where he is or how long it will take before he stumbles on civilization.
25:23 John Hopkins? In the end, one factor sways his decision.
25:27 Speaker 02 I decided to leave the wreckage. I had to try and leave the wreckage to go find help because I knew, with my military experience, that search or rescue wasn't coming. I knew that they would not risk the lives of their personnel to find the conditions that caused us to crash to come find us.
25:46 John Hopkins? Tom scans the smoke-filled clearing created by the crash, searching for the easiest route down the mountain.
25:54 John Hopkins? The site is ringed by near impenetrable forest. But the plane has carved a rough avenue through the trees on the eastern side.
26:04 John Hopkins? It looks like the path of least resistance. But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy.
26:09 Speaker 02 I've got no clothes on, I have no skin. So for me to try and climb down the side of a mountain through a forest was a sick, sick game of Twister. I couldn't touch anything, I couldn't use my hands, I couldn't do anything.
26:25 John Hopkins? Still, he has to try.
26:29 John Hopkins? Carefully, he begins to pick his way down the slope. As he moves, everything is muted, dulled, defined by an eerie silence. All he can hear is his own labored breathing.
26:43 John Hopkins? The foam earplugs he was wearing on the plane have been melted into his ear canals by his burning hoodie.
26:51 John Hopkins? And on top of everything else, he's also lost his glasses, so his vision is impaired.
26:56 John Hopkins? Not ideal for scrambling down the side of a rugged mountain.
27:02 John Hopkins? It doesn't take long before Tom's conviction in his plan is tested.
27:07 Speaker 02 You wouldn't even recognize how many tree branches brush against your arm and your hands on a normal hike. Unless you're in the condition that I was. I'm telling you, a tree branch touched my arm, I knew about it. I screamed about it. I couldn't physically use my hands to move trees out of the way. I'd look five feet ahead, and I would have to plan on how I'm going to twist and contort my body to get through that next five feet without actually touching a branch.
27:42 John Hopkins? What would ordinarily have been a fairly easy hike has become a twisted game of three-dimensional chess.
27:50 John Hopkins? He makes some progress before encountering a ledge with a small, steep drop.
27:57 John Hopkins? Normally, he wouldn't give it a second thought. It's something even the most inexperienced hiker could overcome.
28:04 John Hopkins? But in his current state, it's a major obstacle.
28:08 John Hopkins? Tom manages to squat and sit on his backside. He then wiggles forward to the ledge and starts to shuffle down it.
28:17 John Hopkins? What he hasn't yet realized is that his back is also badly burnt.
28:26 Speaker 02 As soon as I started to wiggle over it, the rocks touched all the burns on my back. And so that shot me forward. And as soon as he shot me forward, I missed the landing. I landed on my hands and it took me back to this place of insanity. Just the sheer pain, just the constant pain, the struggle.
28:45 John Hopkins? White-hot bolts thunder through him.
28:53 John Hopkins? Eventually, he swallows the pain, struggles to his feet, and continues his battle.
29:02 John Hopkins? As time goes on, the gradient of the slope becomes easier.
29:07 John Hopkins? Tom hits a shallow creek and decides to follow it, hoping it might lead to some sort of sign of life. Somewhere, anywhere, he can find help.
29:19 John Hopkins? Spirit's buoyed somewhat by the prospect. He breaks into a light jog, gritting his teeth against the agony that sparks along his synapses with every movement.
29:30 John Hopkins? Soon, the creek drains into an inlet.
29:35 Speaker 02 Finally, I made it to a shoreline. I still had no idea where I was. I was looking for a culvert. I was looking for a golf course. I was looking for a, you know, a utility shed, anything. I was just looking for help. And so I get to the rocks of the shore, and I realize that I'm on an island.
29:57 John Hopkins? While getting off the mountain has been an enormous achievement, it's instantly undermined by what Tom now sees.
30:05 John Hopkins? Drained, he stands on the shoreline and scans the horizon.
30:10 John Hopkins? There are no boats, no signs of civilization at all, just an empty, endless stretch of sea and sky.
30:20 John Hopkins? To his left is a steep wall of rock topped by forest. To his right, a shallow cliff leading to a peninsula of large boulders.
30:31 John Hopkins? It's one hell of a setback, but he can't stand still.
30:35 John Hopkins? If he can get to the tip of the peninsula, he'll increase his chances of being spotted. All he needs is one person to see him.
30:45 John Hopkins? Gingerly, Tom begins picking his way across the slippery rocks. He moves slowly, cautiously, aware of the danger.
30:54 John Hopkins? It's tough going, and soon he is forced to leap between the wet boulders. On his third jump, he loses his footing and falls, scraping his blistered skin against the jagged rocks.
31:08 John Hopkins? His raw hands slap the hard, rough surface, and again, he writhes in agony.
31:16 John Hopkins? By the time he reaches the far tip of the peninsula, he's exhausted.
31:22 John Hopkins? Then, as he squints out to sea, something catches his eye.
31:30 Speaker 02 The weather's still not improving, but I'm below the cloud ceiling because I'm at water level. And a couple miles across the bay, I can see houses, and I can see boats.
31:41 John Hopkins? Civilization is just there, just across the water. Boats bob and chug on the surface.
31:49 John Hopkins? It's been around two and a half hours since the crash, and now help is almost mockingly close.
31:56 Speaker 02 I start losing my mind. Like I'm here, and I'm flailing my arms. I'm just trying to get someone to see me, to come and rescue me. And it didn't take long to realize that none of the boats were turning towards me.
32:11 John Hopkins? As the boats continued to undulate serenely in the harbor, the hope of rescue ebbs away.
32:19 John Hopkins? Weakened and numb from the biting November wind and the sting of icy saltwater, Tom picks his way back across the boulders and returns to the shelter of the forest to recoup a little.
32:32 John Hopkins? He huddles in the lee of the trees, shivering, trying to prepare himself for another attempt.
32:39 John Hopkins? When he's regained some energy, he heads back out into the elements to try again.
32:46 Speaker 02 The only option I had was to get seen. And so I would go back out on the rocks. And I'd stand there as long as I could and scream and wave. With less enthusiasm every time, just because no one was coming.
33:03 John Hopkins? It's a grim routine. Over the course of the next two hours, he goes back and forth four times.
33:12 John Hopkins? With every failed attempt to be seen, his hope and his strength fade a little more.
33:18 Speaker 02 I'm dying. I know I'm dying. I know I don't have much time left. I'm freezing. You know, I'm mortally wounded. Every second seemed like a week.
33:40 John Hopkins? As the day crawls by, one of the most immediate dangers Tom faces is hypothermia.
33:46 John Hopkins? Having endured scorching heat mere hours earlier, it's now the cold that threatens to devour him. His body is shutting down, and it won't be long until sunset.
33:59 John Hopkins? After returning from his fourth expedition along the peninsula, he decides he has no choice but to head back up the mountain to the crash site. If he can at least huddle next to the smoldering wreckage, he might be able to stave off the cold for a little longer.
34:16 John Hopkins? It could buy him a few more precious hours. It's going to be a hard slog, and the prospect of trying to scramble back up that ledge is daunting. He forces one foot in front of the other and begins his long trek back into the trees.
34:32 John Hopkins? And then he hears something.
34:36 John Hopkins? Even with the melted earplugs impairing his hearing, it doesn't take long to identify the noise.
34:42 Speaker 02 I started walking back, and I'm about a hundred meters in, and I hear the distinct sound of a helicopter. And man, I was so angry. I've been out here for four and a half hours. The last two hours I've been on these rocks. And all's I want is visibility. I just want someone to see me. And now that I'm under the forested canopy, there's a helicopter? Like now, of all times.
35:13 John Hopkins? Tom sprints as fast as he can back to the shore.
35:17 John Hopkins? But even as he runs, the sound of the helicopter begins to fade.
35:23 John Hopkins? When he bursts back out of the trees, he urgently scans the sky and the horizon.
35:29 John Hopkins? Cruelly, almost like he's being teased. The lifeline has slipped away.
35:37 Speaker 02 And there's no noise. The sound of the helicopter is gone. At that moment in time, I had no fight left, none.
35:54 John Hopkins? It's about 3pm on the eastern shores of South Thormenby Island, off the coast of British Columbia. The day is drawing to a close. Within the next couple of hours, the light will fade, leaving Tom alone in the freezing, plying darkness.
36:11 John Hopkins? His one hope of rescue has just vanished out of sight.
36:17 Speaker 02 I just wanted to die. I couldn't. I couldn't deal with the pain anymore. I couldn't deal with the emotional trauma anymore. I had no fight left. I just wanted to die. I surrendered. I was so mad at God. I started yelling at him. "Why did you punish me? Why didn't you just take me with everyone else? Why did you have to punish me? Before you kill me on this island anyway?" I know what it's like to be lonely. I know what it's like to be overseas and miss your family, miss your friends, miss your home. Not like that kind of lonely. That's the loneliest moment I have ever experienced in my life.
36:57 Speaker 02 I would have given every physical thing I had or ever would have, just to say goodbye to my mom. Just to call my dad and tell him that we had a good run. I'm so lonely, and none of my friends got a chance to say goodbye to their family. And I was realizing that I wasn't gonna have that chance either.
37:21 Speaker 02 Everyone has a different fail button, fail point. Everyone has a certain amount of stress they can take before they break, before they stop. I experienced that point. It took four and a half hours, so I fought as hard as I could for as long as I could. But I literally had nothing left.
37:45 John Hopkins? He stands on the lonely shore and gazes up at the empty, monochrome sky.
37:52 John Hopkins? Then, another sound slices through the silence.
37:58 Speaker 02 Fate was just so twisted with me that day. I'm standing there, I want to die, I got no fight left. And of course, I hear another sound, and it's an injure, except this time it's a Zodiac.
38:10 John Hopkins? Hope surges in Tom as a small, red Zodiac boat rounds the headland to his left.
38:18 John Hopkins? He begins waving and screaming, frantic to catch the crew's attention, desperate not to let another chance of rescue slip away.
38:26 John Hopkins? The Zodiac heads straight towards him. In his excitement, Tom starts wading into the icy sea.
38:33 John Hopkins? But the salt water stings his burns so badly that he can't go deeper than his knees.
38:40 John Hopkins? As the boat approaches, he sees it's manned by a search and rescue team. They ask Tom if anyone else from the plane is alive. He tells them he is the only survivor. It's the first time he's had to say those words out loud.
38:56 John Hopkins? Delicately, the crew lift Tom on board, trying to avoid touching the worst of his injuries. They lay him down and cover him with fire blankets, then use their bodies to shield him from the biting wind. They gun the engines and head to the mainland.
39:14 John Hopkins? As the realization that he has been rescued begins to sink in, Tom is suddenly overwhelmed by a tidal wave of emotion.
39:23 John Hopkins? Strangely, relief isn't the overriding sensation. It's rage.
39:30 Speaker 02 The whole time, I was screaming at him. I was yelling at these people about where the hell have you been? And I've been out here for four hours. And the people that were saving my life, I screamed at the whole way across the bay.
39:46 John Hopkins? His rescuers are volunteer coastguards from the nearby town of Sea Shelt.
39:52 John Hopkins? Tom will later learn that two local hunters on the island heard first the plane crash and then the subsequent explosion.
40:00 John Hopkins? But through the dense wilderness, they couldn't pinpoint where the noises came from. They notified search and rescue. However, at the time, there were no active reports of missing aircraft.
40:11 Speaker 02 So what actually happened was the plane crashed. It was so violent that it destroyed the locator beacon or any emergency signaling systems in the plane. So therefore, Pacific Coastal at the Vancouver Airport didn't actually know the plane had crashed. So I was the speck on this island that no one was looking for.
40:39 John Hopkins? It was only when Tom's plane failed to show up at Toba Inlet that it became clear something was very wrong, and a rescue operation was launched.
40:48 John Hopkins? When the little Zodiac reaches the mainland, it's greeted by a throng of emergency vehicles, media reporters, and onlookers.
40:57 John Hopkins? Tom is loaded into an ambulance, which races him to the local hospital. As a paramedic starts to check his vital signs and cuts away his remaining clothes, Tom begs for oblivion.
41:10 Speaker 02 I need you to give me the drugs to just put me to sleep. My friends are dead. I've never experienced this kind of pain in my life. Just put me to sleep. Please, just put me to sleep.
41:22 Speaker 02 And he couldn't because he didn't have the license.
41:26 John Hopkins? The paramedic is not permitted to administer the painkillers Tom so desperately needs, and he is forced to endure his excruciating agony for even longer.
41:38 John Hopkins? Eventually, when more medics see to his wounds, he receives some brief relief.
41:45 John Hopkins? After that, everything becomes hazy. Tom is airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital, where he spends three days in intensive care.
41:55 John Hopkins? Then he is flown to a specialist burns unit in Edmonton to begin the long, painful process of recovery.
42:02 John Hopkins? Drugs can only do so much to help.
42:08 Speaker 02 The burn ward was relentless. When you have burns, there is no relief from the pain. There's no reprieve. It's constant, and it's for a long, long time. It's not for four and a half hours. It was for months.
42:22 John Hopkins? Incredibly, he suffered no internal injuries or broken bones during his ordeal. But his burns are another matter. They're so serious, his closest friend struggles to recognize him, as does his own father.
42:38 John Hopkins? Pumped full of morphine, entirely reliant on others, and forced to endure a grueling routine of treatment and physio, Tom has to adapt to a new way of life.
42:50 Speaker 02 I went from being this really important guy that had succession plans and budgets and flights and meetings and this major career to laying in this bed. I couldn't feed myself. I couldn't go to the bathroom myself. I couldn't change the channel. I couldn't do anything. I literally could not do anything for myself. Everyone was celebrating me. Everyone that saw me, the first thing they did, human nature. "Oh my god, you're so tough. You're so strong. You're so great." That's not where I was. The only thing stuck on repeat was all my dead friends.
43:30 John Hopkins? He struggles to come to terms with the cruelty, the senselessness of the disaster. He could so easily have been in the copilot seat, rather than the position he eventually took up for the flight.
43:42 John Hopkins? He also blames himself for not speaking up before takeoff.
43:48 John Hopkins? Then, one night, when he's recovering in the burn center, he has a transformative meeting with a priest.
43:56 Speaker 02 I'll never forget these words. This was the turning point of my life. These specific words. He said, "It is not your job to understand God's plan, but you've been given a gift. You've been given this gift, that you're still alive. And there's a reason for that. And if you can search for and find the reason that you've been given this gift, it'll make it easier." And then he left, and I never seen that priest again.
44:27 Speaker 02 All of a sudden, I had this mission in life to find this gift, because, if you think about it, it's perspective change. None of the facts changed. I was still in a hospital bed. I still had no skin. I was still in pain. I was still in trauma. But instead of being a victim, I was now thankful.
44:49 John Hopkins? Determined to extract something good from the tragedy, Tom focuses on recovering as he tries to figure out what to do with the gift that he's been given.
45:00 John Hopkins? But it's not easy.
45:02 John Hopkins? And after leaving hospital, he finds it desperately hard to resume his life.
45:07 Speaker 02 I ran away from myself, and this is where I became an addict. I couldn't function. I couldn't live with myself. And so, that was the next eight years of my life.
45:20 John Hopkins? It's a seesaw battle between overwhelming gratitude and overwhelming guilt.
45:29 John Hopkins? Then, one day, his psychiatrist suggests he tries writing. Tom is initially skeptical, but he's willing to try anything that might help. Going over the memories is traumatic, but cathartic.
45:43 John Hopkins? In time, his reflections become a book, detailing his experience and attempting to unpick the reasons why nobody on board that plane spoke up when they felt unsafe.
45:56 John Hopkins? Slowly, he starts to piece his life back together.
46:01 Speaker 02 I'll never forgive myself. I still carry guilt. But at least now I can live with myself because I understand my behaviors and I've changed them.
46:13 John Hopkins? These days, Tom is a public speaker who shares his experience with audiences around the world in the hope that it might encourage others to speak up should they ever find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation.
46:26 John Hopkins? He says he puts his survival down to his military experience, his determination to fight, and his ability to stay calm under pressure.
46:34 Speaker 02 I think that's something my father instilled in me and the military instilled in me is to get rid of that panic. Panic is your enemy. As soon as you're starting to panic, you need to stop panicking because it affects your decisions. I'm at the gift part of my journey. All these struggles, all this stuff that I went through, it changed me. And now I get to share that with others so they can share a little bit of my perspective without going through the journey that I did to get there.
47:07 John Hopkins? In 2014, on the sixth anniversary of the accident, Tom returns to South Thormanby Island to meet his rescuers and place a cross at the crash site in memory of the seven who lost their lives.
47:21 John Hopkins? The crash was attributed to the pilot taking off in low visibility. It's believed he strayed off course in the fog and lost control of the aircraft upon hitting the treetops.
47:33 John Hopkins? For Tom, it's been a long, torturous road, but he is finally in a good place.
47:40 John Hopkins? Now married with two daughters, his priorities have shifted. And he says he has arrived at a place of greater understanding about what it really means to live.
47:50 Speaker 02 My focus was very inward. It was all about me. It was about my career. It was about my, you know, the money I had until the crash, and then everything changed for me. It really changed what's important in life when you see everyone else lose it. I think the biggest thing is I don't take things for granted anymore. I really don't. I put a lot of effort and energy to not taking things for granted and being grateful for what I do have.
48:23 John Hopkins? Next time, on Real Survival Stories. An extreme expedition, an unexpected storm, and an unlikely bolt from the blue, all combined to create the most horrifying of situations.
48:36 John Hopkins? In July of 2003, Rod Liberal is part of a group of rock climbers who set out to summit Grand Teton, the largest mountain in the Teton Range of Wyoming. But during the final ascent, something shocking happens, which changes everything in a flash.
48:53 John Hopkins? Suddenly, Rod finds himself perilously suspended, with a deadly drop below.
49:00 John Hopkins? How did he end up here? Why can he barely move? And is there any hope at all?
49:07 John Hopkins? That's next time, on Real Survival Stories. Listen right now, without adverts, by joining Noiser Plus.
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