Cargo Plane Brings 600-Lb. Man To Seattle For Treatment Of Leg

An Alaska man weighing more than 600 pounds had to be airlifted in a large Coast Guard cargo plane to Seattle for medical attention because he is too heavy to travel on a commercial aircraft.

The only way of getting Sean Crites, 21, from Juneau to Seattle for treatment of his injured leg was a Coast Guard C-130, a four-engine turbo-prop plane usually used for cargo, personnel and surveillance flights, said William Boatman, a spokesman for the 17th Coast Guard District in Juneau.

"It was not feasible to get him on anything else," Boatman said.

Crites, a computer technician from Juneau, was flown to Seattle yesterday and underwent surgery at Harborview Medical Center where he was reported in satisfactory condition today.

Boatman estimated the cost of flight at $27,000. The flight was authorized by Capt. Brian Sonner, the district's chief of staff, because Crites could not get adequate treatment locally and it was deemed a "medical necessity," Boatman said.

Crites injured his leg about three years ago in an accidental shotgun blast, and when he reinjured it recently, local hospital staff did not have the expertise to work on his leg, which already had a pin in it, Boatman said.

The C-130 flew from its Kodiak station to Juneau, where Crites was loaded through the rear cargo ramp, then flown to Seattle. Crites' flight was unusual, but rescue flights and medical emergencies are a routine part of the Coast Guard's mission, Boatman said.