Air turbulence: When can it become dangerous?
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
I remember reporting on Rick Hansen’s Man in Motion Tour for CTV National News. It was 1986 and the wheelchair athlete-turned-advocate for those with physical disabilities impressed me with his drive and persistence.
Over 26 arduous months, he propelled his wheelchair across 34 countries raising not just awareness for spinal cord injuries, but more than $26 million to start a foundation to help fund research.
Rick Hansen lost the use of his legs in a truck accident on June 27, 1973 when he was just 15 years old; his spinal cord shattered beyond repair.
I’ve interviewed Rick several times over the years, but it wasn’t until we met up again in the spring of 2023 to record a segment for “Sandie Rinaldo’s 50/50”; fifty of my favourite interviews over the course of my 50 years at CTV, that Rick told me he was marking the 50th anniversary of the accident by visiting the place where his life had changed irrevocably.
He invited me to come along.
Rick has written about that day, but told me he had never stopped at the scene of the accident. It was just too painful. He wasn’t even exactly sure where it was. We actually pointed out the spot to him after a farmer down the road shared the information with CTV News.
There were witnesses all those years ago and the story has become the stuff of legends, passed from one local resident to another and another.
As we talked near the side of the road, cars and trucks whizzed by, some taking the corner at such a fast speed, I couldn’t help thinking how easy it would be for one of them to lose control and careen off the road, exactly as it happened to Rick
He had been on a fishing trip with two buddies. His mother had been emphatic. Do not hitchhike. On that fateful day, a father of a friend had promised to drive the teens back to their hometown of Williams Lake in the interior of BC. After getting up early Rick ignored his mom’s warning and hitched a ride on the back of a pickup truck with his friend Don.
Along the way, Don asked to switch seats so he could lie down and sleep. Rick was perched atop a large toolbox when suddenly and without warning, the driver lost control of the vehicle as it rounded a corner.
The next thing Rick remembered was flying off the back of the truck and landing hard.
He had come crashing down on the toolbox.
Rick told me the moment happened in slow motion. It didn’t seem real.
It was real. Everyone else was relatively unscathed, but Rick couldn’t move his legs. He told me …“ I was just struggling. It was so bizarre how deep down inside it was this sense of I'm in trouble.”
Rick Hansen and Sandie Rinaldo talk about how he felt in the days and weeks following the accident.
At first he panicked, couldn’t breathe; then he got angry, lashing out at Don and the driver.
Most of all, as he waited two hours for the ambulance to arrive, he was furious at himself for not listening to his mother.
All he could think was how disappointed his parents, especially his mom, would be.
Several days later, after being transported from the local hospital to a facility near Vancouver, Rick got the devastating news. He would never walk again.
“When you're in a situation like that, you're overwhelmed, you're in shock, you're in disbelief, and you have this big, dark canvas of despair, right? ”
On the morning of the anniversary, as I watched Rick manoeuvre his wheelchair into position across the road from where his body had smashed down on the toolbox, I found myself anxious and concerned over how it would be for him to be there reliving the moment.
I am supposed to be the dispassionate objective journalist, but I am also human and I knew this time of reflection would be extremely difficult for Rick. I gave him time to be alone with his thoughts, until he motioned, he was ready to talk.
Sandie Rinaldo interviewed Rick Hansen recently about marking the 50th anniversary of the accident.
The interview by the side of the road was powerful, emotional, and reflective.
It took time, patience and a great deal of soul searching for Rick to overcome the anger and selfpity he felt in the days and weeks following the accident. He made the decision to do something positive with his life. He put himself on a different path and hit the road.
Today, he says without regret, that his life has been enriched by the choices he made.
”How could I have ever imagined. Just one step at a time. One day at a time. Hope.”
You will learn a lot about the man in the one-hour documentary we are calling “Rick Hansen: Unbreakable. Fifty Years Later.” I hope you will be inspired, as I am, to see how the research he has helped fund has changed the lives of others.
You can watch the CTV News Special on Dec. 2 at 7 p.m. EDT.
Flight turbulence like that encountered by a Singapore Airlines flight on Tuesday is extremely common, but there's one aspect of severe turbulence an aviation expert says can lead to serious injury.
British Columbia serial killer Robert Pickton sustained life-threatening injuries in a Quebec prison Sunday in what officials described as a 'major assault.'
New inflation data is 'welcome news' for consumers and an economist says it could signal the possibility for a interest rate cut as several core measures also continue to ease.
Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives returned to the House of Commons on Tuesday with a renewed call for Speaker Greg Fergus to resign, this time over 'very partisan' and 'inflammatory' language used to promote an upcoming event.
In his latest column for CTVNews.ca, former NDP leader Tom Mulcair argues that if there's an unofficial frontrunner in the eventual race to replace Justin Trudeau as Liberal leader, it has to be former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney.
Donald Trump's reelection campaign called 'The Apprentice,' a film about the former U.S. president in the 1980s, 'pure fiction' and vowed legal action following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. But director Ali Abbasi is offering to privately screen the film for Trump.
Anything is possible this week, as far as Canada's weather is concerned, with forecasts ranging from scorching heat in some parts of the country to rain and snow in others.
Nestle NESN.S will market a new, US$5 line of frozen pizzas and protein-enriched pastas in the United States which it says it designed specifically for people taking drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss.
Canada's annual inflation rate slowed to a three-year low of 2.7 per cent in April, matching expectations, and core measures continued to ease, data showed on Tuesday, likely boosting chances of a June interest rate cut.
Public libraries in Atlantic Canada are now lending a broader range of items.
Flashes of purple darting across the sky mixed with the serenading sound of songs will be noticed more with spring in full force in Manitoba.
Catching 'em all with impressive speed, a 7-year-old boy from Windsor, Ont. who only started his competitive Pokémon journey seven months ago has already levelled up to compete at a world championship level.
A sanctuary dedicated to animals with disabilities is celebrating the third birthday of one of its most popular residents.
2b Theatre recently moved into the old Video Difference building, seeking to transform it into an artistic hub, meeting space, and temporary housing unit for visiting performers in Halifax.
A B.C. woman says her service dog pulled her from a lake moments before she had a seizure, saving her life.
A Starbucks fan — whose name is Winter — is visiting Canada on a purposeful journey that began with a random idea at one of the coffee chain's stores in Texas.
Members of Piapot First Nation, students from the University of Winnipeg and various other professionals are learning new techniques that will hopefully be used for ground searches of potential unmarked grave sites in the future.
ALS patient Mathew Brown said he’s hopeful for future ALS patients after news this week of research at Western University of a potential cure for ALS.