Where were you on Holy Thursday of 2025? Most of you can probably recall - but for those of us in the news business - the day April 17th, 2025 is etched permanently in our memories. That was the day of the hijacking - when an unprecedented event occurred on what should have been a slow news day. It was anything but - and the man at the center of it was Howell Grange. We visited him this morning exactly one year later to catch up with a man whose life did a 180 degree turn on that day:
One year ago - this was Howell Grange, being rushed across the tarmac, bleeding out from 10 stab wounds inflicted by a deranged hijacker - who almost killed him.
And this is him today - at home, doing much better, mostly healed. He says on the anniversary of that traumatic event he told us how he's feeling:
Howell Grange, Pilot
"I'm pretty good, a little bit nostalgic but I mean far better than this time last year for sure."
Jules Vasquez
"At exactly this hour."
Howell Grange, Pilot
"Yes I was in the ER, emergency, right now it's after 11."
Jules Vasquez
"Minutes to 11."
Howell Grange, Pilot
"Yes I was in the ER."
Jules Vasquez
"You said you feel wah lee bit nostalgic."
Howell Grange, Pilot
"This morning I got up from about 3:30, just the date bothers me, all the remembrance of what happened last year, the feeling you get that you were supposed to pass away that day but it didn't happen, that's what I'm glad for. I got a second chance in life."
And that second chance has taught him a lot about the value of staying in one place:
Howell Grange, Pilot
"Yes, yes, spend time with the family, I tell that to everybody, spend the time now. I know the feeling to almost not make it home, that I know."
Jules Vasquez
"In that year have you felt any bitterness or anger at like man, why did this have to happen?"
Howell Grange, Pilot
"Really, no. I won't lie, I don't think about it that way. We spend so much time trying to chase this dollar to live a nice comfortable life and then you get to realize it's not only that. You have family, friends, the little things you miss in life, you get it back. This year that I spent home, I would want the rest of years to go like that. [laughs]."
And for him that has been family:
Jules Vasquez
"How has it been for your family?"
Howell Grange, Pilot
"Hard. Especially for my wife and daughter. They saw really low day but we already passed that stage, we're okay, we already came to terms, we accepted what happened and we just have to move on with life. I can't sit down and let everybody feel sorry for me, I have to do something for myself, you know."
Jules Vasquez
"What is the thing that you enjoy most about this new kind of life?"
Howell Grange, Pilot
"I'm at home, full time house husband."
Jules Vasquez
"I hope you've learned to cook."
Howell Grange, Pilot
"I already knew how to cook, it's washing the dishes I haven't learned yet."
And while the laughter is always easy and plentiful with Howell Grange, - he's still haunted by the events of that day one year ago:
Jules Vasquez
"Are you to some extent still haunted by the events of that day like are you traumatized? PTSD is very common in these events."
Howell Grange, Pilot
"Yes, I won't lie, when I get left alone, most of the time I find something to do so my brain doesn't wander or my mind doesn't wander but sometimes I do still wander off, the what ifs was a major problem. Not the actual event but what if I died, that kind of way."
Jules Vasquez
"You know as men we are told not to externalized, we are trained from boys not to externalize."
Howell Grange, Pilot
"Tough it out."
Jules Vasquez
"We tough it out. Have you had to learn that to allow yourself to be vulnerable to say I don't feel okay?"
Howell Grange, Pilot
"In a way, publicly you show that toughness, but when you're alone it's not easy, trust me, it's not easy."
Neither on the physical or mental. Grange still goes to therapy for both and today as he did one year ago, Grange went to church - he says to give thanks:
Howell Grange, Pilot
"Da JUST fi give thanks for the next opportunity in life, not a lot of people get that chance and it really humbles me, it slows me down in a way that you're not chasing that almighty dollar, you see life in a different way. Yes, money is good and helps a lot but there's a lot more to life than just money."
Sobering lessons in life, but Belize also owes him a debt, not just for outsmarting a hijacker - but that terrifying incident did give Belize a chance to get it right with domestic airport security. Today, thanks also to an expose from this media house, security screening at our airports meets international standards:
Jules Vasquez
"At the end of the day - do you believe that it served a public good?"
Howell Grange, Pilot
"What happened, yes. I guess it was a learning experience for everybody. I mean form the top to the bottom it was a learning experience, for everyone. Both airlines. Civil Aviation. Police Department, all the security departments."
And a learning experience also for this pilot:
Howell Grange, Pilot
"I won't lie, I miss the lee flying some days because I am a man who didn't used to like sit down all day, I used to like being all about the place. I think the flying was perfect for that but now I see it different, I see life differently now for sure. I guess sometimes the good lord has a plan for you and tells you, I need to slow you down a little bit and he tapped that brakes good on me for sure."
Jules Vasquez
"Do you ever think that you'll be able to fly again?"
Howell Grange, Pilot
"In the near future, not really. I would want to do it probably part time, sometime in the next few years. but it will take a while to get back the medical license, since I got diagnosed with PTSD, it's a whole lot of procedures you have to go through."
And he says, someday in the future...:
Howell Grange, Pilot
"I mean it happens someday - it will happen someday that I will be normal again, you know? But da wah long process."
Later on we'll have more from Grange as he goes back over what happened in the cabin of the Topic Air flight that day - and tells us who his hero is.
