35 Miles from Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980 [Paperback]

Emilio Corsetti III (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2008

On May 2, 1970, a DC-9 jet with 57 passengers and a crew of six departed from New York’s JFK International Airport en route to the tropical island of St. Maarten, but four hours and 34 minutes later the flight ended in the shark-infested waters of the Caribbean. It was, and remains, the only open-water ditching of a commercial jet. The subsequent rescue of survivors took nearly three hours and involved the coast guard, navy, and marines. This gripping account of that fateful day recounts what was happening inside the cabin, the cockpit, and the helicopters as the crews struggled against the weather and dwindling daylight to rescue the survivors, who had only their life vests and a lone escape chute to keep them afloat.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This well-researched, fast-paced study vividly re-creates the chain of errors that resulted in the catastrophe, the harrowing rescue missions, and the mixed effects of the tragedy on the subsequent lives of the crew, survivors, and rescuers."  —Library Journal

"A wonderful book. It's like reading a fine novel except it's all true. For aviation people it is also a valuable safety lesson." —Bob Buck, author, North Star Over My Shoulder

"The most astounding nonfiction book I have ever had the pleasure of reading. Extremely detailed, well researched and action packed, this book is a don't put down book until it's finished, Wow!!"  —frontstreet reviews.com

"This gripping account of a tragedy, with heroes galore, is mesmerizing reading."  —newbookreviews.org

About the Author

Emilio Corsetti III is a professional pilot and author whose work has appeared in publications such as the Chicago Tribune, Multimedia Producer, and Professional Pilot magazine. He lives in Lake St. Louis, Missouri.

Product Details

• Paperback: 321 pages
• Publisher: Odyssey Publishing (April 28, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977897109
• ISBN-13: 978-0977897100
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #687,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Emilio Corsetti III is a professional pilot and author. His work has appeared in both regional and national publications including the Chicago Tribune, Multimedia Producer, and Professional Pilot magazine. Emilio is a graduate of St. Louis University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An unfortunate confluence of circumstances would doom ALM 980 on that fateful afternoon., April 1, 2008

By 

Paul Tognetti "The real world is so much more... (Cranston, RI USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 35 Miles from Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980 (Paperback)

It has been more than 37 years since ALM flight 980 ran out of fuel and was forced to ditch in the shark-infested waters off the coast of St. Croix in the Carribean. When one stops to consider the thousands of commercial jet flights that take off and land each and every day all over the world it is all the more remarkable that what took place on May 2, 1970 remains to this day the one and only open-water ditching of a commercial jet in aviation history! Author Emilio Corsetti III is a both a professional pilot and a gifted writer. As such, he is a man uniquely qualified to scrutinize the facts surrounding this unfortunate incident that has long since faded from memory. "35 Miles From Shore" is the remarkable story of what went down on that stormy Saturday afternoon nearly four decades ago. Clearly this is an incident worth looking into and a story worth telling. "35 Miles From Shore" is a book that will grab your attention right away and hold your interest until the very end.

It is important to note that the service between JFK in New York and the island of St. Maarten had been inaugurated just a few months earlier in a joint agreement between the official airline of the Netherlands Antilles ALM and the U.S based carrier Overseas National Airways. Under this arrangement known as a "wet lease" ONA would provide the aircraft, pilot and flight crew and ALM would provide the flight attendants. Under the terms of the agreement hammered out by the CEO's of the two airlines installation of an extra fuel tank was deemed necessary and this tank was to be installed on the aircraft by no later than April 1st, 1970. Both ONA CEO Steedman Hinckley and ALM president Ciro Octavio Irausquin were keenly aware that the existing fuel tanks on the DC-9 were probably inadequate for a flight of this distance and left the pilot precious little margin for error. Failure to follow through on this committment would prove to be a major factor in the eventual ditching of this aircraft. Author Emilio Corsetti III does a workmanlike job of examining this tragedy from a number of different perspectives. Through a series of interviews with the pilot and crew, passengers, rescuers and investigators Corsetti has been able to cobble together a pretty comprehensive account of just went on that day. Pilot error was certainly a factor in this tragedy. In addition, torrential rains, gusty winds, extremely poor visibility and heavy seas would play a major role in the unfolding of this tragedy. All in all, a total of 20 people would lose their lives including stewardess Margareth Abraham. By all accounts Margareth and the rest of the crew and flight attendants performed heroically in preparing the passengers for what was about to take place. And it goes without saying that the lives of most who were lucky enough to survive would never be the same. This was especially true for Captain Balsey DeWitt who would never fly again.

I found "35 Miles From Shore" to be a well-written and meticulously researched book. I greatly appreciated the schematic of the aircraft that appears at the beginning of the book. I found myself referring to it again and again and this greatly enhanced my understanding of what was going on during the flight and in the moments immediately after the plane landed in the water. "35 Miles From Shore" also includes a 16 page photo gallery featuring 41 pictures which also help to bring these events to life. As another reviewer has indicated this is a book that reads like a novel but the events depicted here are real. A great book for general audiences and for those interested in aviation. Recommended.

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Masterful Account Of A Needless Tragedy, May 25, 2009

By 

Robert I. Hedges - See all my reviews
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This review is from: 35 Miles from Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980 (Paperback)

In "35 Miles From Shore" Emilio Corsetti III, himself a professional pilot, shows why professional accident investigators talk in terms of a "chain of events." This accident had numerous links in its chain, any of which could have been broken by different people at different times.

ALM Flight 980 (operated under contract by ONA) was a regularly scheduled DC-9 (N935F) from New York's JFK airport to the island of St. Maarten. This route was close to the edge of the DC-9's range without auxiliary fuel tanks, which weren't available when the service began. Some people make a great fuss over this, but in reality the flight was dispatched with greater fuel than was legally required when it left JFK. Since the flight flew over Bermuda on the way down, there was always an option of stopping for fuel, an option that was occasionally exercised. Certainly having a higher fuel capacity would have been nice, but was not required for safe operation of the flight. What was required was good decision making from the flight crew, a crew beset by problems.

Today airlines have "Crew Resource Management" (CRM) and other training designed to help pilots work well together. This accident and a host of others around the same time (with Eastern 401 being the most famous) developed at least in large part due to domineering Captains making bad decisions while trying to do everything themselves and stifling communication from subordinates. These Captains are now largely (and thankfully) retired, but flying with one of those self-absorbed sky kings who were frequently abusive to junior crewmembers made for a terrible trip. I know; I've been there. This particular combination was especially bad with Captain Balsey DeWitt in command. DeWitt was a check airman and was known for going out of his way to be difficult, arrogantly calling himself the "cherub-faced assassin," a nickname that caught on with other ONA pilots. The First Officer, Harry Evans, was very inexperienced and had previously had unsatisfactory simulator training with DeWitt.

Throughout the flight DeWitt did most everything himself, even flying the aircraft manually, talking on the radio, and coordinating a diversion simultaneously at one point, a method that left Evans out of the decision making loop altogether. DeWitt had made a series of decisions that had caused the flight to burn more fuel than was called for (notably cruising at lower altitudes and less efficient speeds,) and when he discovered the weather at St. Maarten was marginal continued on instead of diverting for fuel. I am actually somewhat sympathetic to the decision to continue; it's the kind of decision pilots make every day. What I am not sympathetic with is his multiple unstable approaches in terrible weather while extremely low on fuel before deciding to divert. His seemingly caviler disregard of fuel requirements was the proximal cause of this accident. After the ditching DeWitt acted very responsibly and greatly assisted in the rescue efforts, for which he should be commended. That he never flew again is also a good thing.

The book discusses the interpersonal conflicts on this flight, the various links in the accident chain, the actual ditching of the aircraft and recovery of the passengers (the DC-9 floated very well and allowed safe egress for most passengers,) and the aftermath of the accident including safety improvements made since the accident. Today N935F still lies 5,000 feet below bottom of the sea. Corsetti intuitively knows what parts of the story to emphasize and at what time. The closing of the book is a sort of "lessons learned," and while he discusses many technical details, he is able to effectively communicate them to people with any level of aeronautical knowledge. I think it was an inspired choice for him to cite the NTSB's report on the accident to reinforce one of his central themes (p.277): "The Board also finds that the probability of survival would have been increased substantially in this accident if there had been better crew coordination prior to and during the ditching." This is exactly the point, and is the primary reason that airlines have CRM, TEM, and other programs today.

As an airline pilot (with thousands of hours flying time in the DC-9) I am rarely overwhelmed by a book profiling an accident. This book is an exception: it is well written, accurate, comprehensive, comprehensible, well documented, and grippingly written. I recommend it for anyone interested in aviation, aviation accidents, human factors, or dramatic nonfiction.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is a great read, May 22, 2008

By 

reading mama "Lissa" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 35 Miles from Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980 (Paperback)

This true story about a jet ditching is a riveting read. Corsetti is able to tell the reader what happened in a clear, concise manner. Even with all the technical parts of flying an airplane, Corsetti made it easy to understand. I found his end notes and his bottom of the page notes very helpful in furthering my understanding as to what was happening.


The most intense part for me was the crash and the rescue. I saw and felt the chaos that had developed when the crew and passengers realized that they had to ditch the plane. The frustration of looking for the life vest under the seats and trying to get them to fit properly. The anxiety of trying to retrieve a life raft and it being accidentally inflated by a passenger inside the plane and then the stewards were unable to get it out of the plane.


After I finished reading the book I thought WOW!! I am so glad that I read this book. If you like true survival books or even if you don't; this book is worth the read. If you want to know more definitely read this book.