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ROCK FALLS – For nearly as long as he can remember, Gary C. Orlando, of Rock Falls, has loved airplanes, specifically the Fairchild Hiller 227.
His interest grew over the years as he gathered information and photographs. He collected manuals and obtained recordings of the aircraft's sounds. In 2002, he created his own website, which made his enthusiasm continue to soar.
Andy Streitfeld, executive producer of AMS Pictures, said he found Orlando through that website.
Commissioned by The History Channel, AMS Pictures was making a documentary about the 1972 crash in the Andes Mountains of a Uruguayan Air Force plane. The crash killed 29 people, many of them rugby team members. The movie "Alive" portrayed how 16 of the 29 people not initially killed in the crash survived for 72 days.
The plane used in that fateful flight was an FH-227.
The story is told through the eyes of Nando Parrado, who lost his mother and sister in the crash. He also was instrumental in the rescue effort.
"It's a story everybody knows, mostly because of the cannibalism," Streitfield said. "But there was so much more to it than that. It was about survival. There are so many parallels with the Chilean mine story, which is kind of scary."
Orlando's knowledge as an aviation enthusiast exceeded Streitfeld's expectations.
"When making a documentary, you have to look for experts in many fields to make the film as realistic as possible," he said. "We used climbing and survival experts who were able to help us understand the experience. But to find an expert in such a very obscure thing, well, we were lucky to find Gary."
The company that made the FH-227 has long been defunct, and only 78 of the planes were made during the 1960s and '70s.
Orlando said AMS flew him to Dallas, then interviewed him and looked at the materials he brought.
"I spent the whole day observing the filming of the crash scenes," Orlando said. "It was really strange, eerie in a way because it made me look at my favorite type of aircraft in a different way. It made it seem that much more real to me."
Orlando, who has worked with Travel Consultants in Dixon for 21 years, said he feels it was that model's body style that saved the men.
"It is my opinion that a lower-winged aircraft would have killed them all instantly because it would have ripped apart the entire cabin. The wreckage acted as their shelter for those 72 days in the Andes," Orlando said.
The 2-hour special premieres at 8 p.m. Wednesday on The History Channel.
To watch
The documentary "I Am Alive: Surviving the Andes Plane Crash" airs at 8 p.m. Wednesday on The History Channel.
For more information about the Fairchild Hiller 227 or Gary C. Orlando, visit his website at www.fh227.rwy34.com.