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Howard Cook - Update
Written by Dave O'Malley and taken with permission from the Vintage Wings of Canada website
Page last updated on Saturday, 03-Oct-2009
Howard was involved in an accident recently while practicing for his display of the Tiger Moth at the Classic Air Rallye.
He sustained very serious but not life-threatening injuries.
He was rushed to Gatineau Hospital, then transferred to the Ottawa Civic Hospital to undergo surgery.
After assessment, Howard's injuries were listed as: a broken back, broken right ankle, broken wrist, two broken ribs, facial lacerations, damage to his left heel, and a bruised lung.
Needless to say, he was in considerable pain. He was stabilized and then prepared for surgery the following day.
After a 10 hour surgery to repair first his back and then his ankle, he was taken to the Intensive Care Unit where he remains well taken care of and has just this afternoon been taken off a ventilator.
Happily, they were able to save his trademark mustache.
Throughout the whole ordeal, Howard has remained talkative, aware and with his sense of humour intact.
Typical of a man whose passion in life is aviation, he can't stop thinking about his various ongoing projects with Vintage Wings.
Still in emergency and still in extreme discomfort, he was visited by Rob Erdos, who came out shaking his head - among other matters Howard had insisted on talking about valves for the Bristol Pegasus engine on our Swordfish!
Howard's wife Peta is cut from the same cloth - steady, strong and cheerful in light of the injuries to her beloved husband.
She is staying with VWC family and is close to the hospital where Howard will recover.
Her spirits are high considering the traumatic events and she is settling down to help Howard through his recovery. We are all in awe of her strength.
Overall, the prognosis is one of full but lengthy recovery for Howard and Peta.
This is good news to all of us here at Vintage Wings.
Howard and Peta are vital and much-loved members of our family and we have all come together to help in any way we can to get him up on his feet and back home to his other families at the Historical Aircraft Collection in Duxford and Cambridge Flying Group.
Howard and Peta will be our first priority throughout all of these trying days.
The condition and the restoration of the damaged Tiger Moth will be looked at in the days to come.
The cause of the accident will not be speculated on in any way by Vintage Wings of Canada. We are cooperating fully with the Transportation Safety Board of Canada and have the wreckage secured in the hangar ready for their investigation.
We will let them do their job.
It is our goal to restore both the Tiger Moth and Howard Cook to full flying condition and get them back in the air - together.
There is plenty of work ahead for Peta and Howard and your good thoughts and support will go a long way to speeding this up.
The Tiger Moth will be assessed once the investigation is completed and we will let all of our readers and fans know how they can contribute to getting this priceless part of our heritage back into Canadian skies.
In the meantime we will keep you in the loop about Howard's recovery.
Best not inundate him with visits at this point.
Should you wish to send him greetings and support in the form of words, feel free to e-mail him at vintagewings@aerographics.on.ca
