Plane crash victim recalls struggle for survival

By Jennifer Sullivan
Seattle Times staff reporter

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES Flanked by his mother, Wendy Becker, and Dr. David Heimbach, Matthew Ramige talks yesterday at Harborview Medical Center about his injuries and painful recovery following a plane crash in Montana. He wears gloves to protect skin grafts on his hands.

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

On Sept. 20, Ramige, three other U.S. Forest Service employees and a pilot were in a Cessna 206 airplane when it crashed into a mountainous area just outside Glacier National Park in Montana.

The pilot and one of the Forest Service employees died. Ramige, co-worker Jodee Hogg and Ken Good, a radio specialist, survived. Good, 58, later died at the crash site.

Police called the crash "unsurvivable." The families were told their loved ones were dead. But two days after the crash, Ramige and Hogg stumbled out of the woods.

"I'm surprised we survived the crash," Ramige, 30, said yesterday, speaking for the first time publicly at a news conference at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. "I'm not surprised we made it out."

	AP Police said no one could have survived the Sept. 20 crash on a mountain south of Glacier National Park in Montana.

Recounting his ordeal, Ramige said that when the plane came to a stop, he was trapped in his seat. He said he yelled for Hogg, 23, to help him. He said he was "functional," but felt the sting of his burns and his back injury, he said.

It was only the second time Ramige had flown in a small plane in his job monitoring vegetation for the Forest Service.

They were headed for the Schafer Meadows Guard Station, a remote landing strip in the Bob Marshall Wilderness Complex in the Flathead National Forest.

Jim Long, 60, the pilot from Kalispell, Mont., and Davita Bryant, 32, a Forest Service employee from Whitefish, Mont., died in the crash. Good, from Kalispell, was fatally injured.

Ramige said Hogg, who had burns and a back sprain, built a shelter out of plane wreckage.

The trio spent the night huddling and talking about their families. After Good died, Ramige took his coat for warmth.

"Jodee and I had to take action rather than wait for uncertain rescue," he said. "Mainly, she helped me. You'd never know she was in a plane crash."

They spent the next day hiking through the rugged wilderness. They talked about where they were headed but little else. That night they pressed close to each other as protection from the wind and cold, Ramige said.

"I was just focused on making the right decisions on where we were going," said Ramige. "Just focused on the moment. It was a task that needed to be done."

	CHRIS JORDAN / AP Rescue workers unload Matthew Ramige from a helicopter Sept. 22 at a hospital in Kalispell, Mont. Ramige and Jodee Hogg survived and made their way out of the wilderness.

Two days after the crash, Ramige heard a train whistle and remembers being overcome with relief because he knew they were close to Highway 2.

When they made it to the highway, Ramige said he tried to flag down cars but some motorists passed without helping. When a car finally stopped, authorities were contacted and Ramige and Hogg were taken to a Kalispell hospital. Ramige was later flown to Harborview Medical Center. Hogg remained in Montana to recover.

Ramige said he hasn't spoken with Hogg since he was brought to Seattle because he has been so focused on his recovery.

Ramige, who was released from the hospital Friday, wears gloves to protect skin grafts on his severely burned hands. He plans to live in Albany, N.Y., with his mother.

"I think he's going to have perfectly normal hands," said Dr. David Heimbach. "If he was playing the piano before he got burned, there is no reason he won't play the piano again."

Ramige said the crash has made him realize how much he is loved by friends and family and how precious life is.

"It's like getting a new perspective on life," Ramige said. "I'm extremely lucky."

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

E-mail this article

Print this article

Search archive

More local news headlines...