Forty Years on From an Event That Changed the Management of Trauma Around the World: What Actually Happened That...

The management of trauma has evolved significantly over the last 40 years. Seminal to this process was the development in Nebraska of a concept of trauma management that was promulgated as Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS). It has achieved global support and is considered by many to be the acme in trauma management. Every participant in an ATLS course remembers that an aviation accident in rural Nebraska was responsible for the nascence of the program but very few know the details of the crash. February 17, 2016, was the 40th anniversary of the accident. This article extracts the details of the flight, the crash, the search, the extrication, the reception at the nearby rural hospital, and the injuries from both the official report and the published, personal records of survivors of the crash. The effect of ATLS can be debated elsewhere and its future questioned. However, the article concludes by highlighting the fortitude and resilience of the human spirit that were demonstrated that night under incredible circumstances.