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

Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0977897109
Manufacturer: Odyssey Publishing
Average Customer Review: (From 4 total reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

Product Description:
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.

Customer Reviews

Good book, you just need to read it!! by Angel Eyes
It’s a good book. I’m not finished reading it but as far as I have read it’s meeting my expectations. I’ve heard of the ditching of this craft so many times since I’m from Curacao where the ALM airline was founded and heard like a year ago of this book coming out and back then I told myself, I had to buy it. I’ve bought it and I’m not regretting. The way the story is told, all the details and what I liked the most, all the pictures and explanatiosn for the aircraftworld abbreviations makes reading the book an easier task.

I just would like recommend those who haven’t bought this book yet to do it…great description of what happened in May 1970

35 Miles from Shore by John D. Barber
I thought this was an excellent book. It is obvious that Mr. Corsetti did a tremendous amount of research into this incident before publishing his book. It gives the reader an understanding of the decisions, technical issues and mistakes which led up to the ditching of ALM flight 980. To this date, the only open water ditching of a commercial airliner. More importantly, it gives insight into the personal lives and feelings of all the various groups of people involved. The airline executives, the pilots, the crew, the passengers and the rescue crews.

Personally, Mr. Corsetti’s book has enlightened me in so many ways as to the events that took place that day. I’ve wondered for 38 years what led up to my involvement in this story, and what the outcome was for the people on the aircraft and the rescue crews that responded.

An unfortunate confluence of circumstances would doom ALM 980 on that fateful afternoon. by Paul Tognetti
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.

One question remains by ladyace
I was an observer on one of the Marine Corps CH-46 helicopters that took part in the rescue and I strongly recommend this book as a complete record of what happened. It is a spellbinding but professional account of the ditching, what went before and what followed afterwards.

My only disappointment is that the author does not ask the On Scene Commander Lt. Blank why he used the Aircraft he had at his disposal the way he did. It was a puzzle to the Marines at the time and still is.

At 16.30, Lt. Blank had the following assets at his disposal.

4 * CH-46. Useful load 8,750 lbs. Time to scene- 25 mins

2 * CH-46. Useful load 8,750 lbs. Time to scene- 45 mins

1 * SH-3. Useful load 4,000 lbs. Time to scene- 50 mins

2 * SH-52 Useful load 3,000 lbs. Time to scene- 75 mins

It was about this time, 16.30, that Lt. Blank diverted the 4 Marine CH-46s to St. Croix, followed shortly by the other 2. It didn’t make sense to us at the time, and it makes even less sense now, that he would bench his most capable aircraft, which also happened to be the nearest to the scene. They were the fastest, too, even if not by much. The CH-46s were fully equipped and certified for instrument flight. They were all brand spanking new, new engines putting out full power, all equipment and radios working and were manned by the best pilots in the squadron, all with 2.000+ hours, at least 1,000 of them flown in a 13 month tour in Vietnam, where they flew almost every day, all hand flying, no autopilot.

The Marines had done an outstanding job. They launched, with full fuel, in 15 minutes instead of the usual one hour. They were the first rescue helicopters to launch, within 25 minutes of the DC-9 ditching. When eventually allowed to take part in the rescue, they performed at a level well beyond what could normally be expected, flying in terrible weather conditions, high winds, 10 to 15 foot swells, 400 foot ceilings, Â¼ to Â½ mile visibility and rapidly failing light. It would be difficult to imagine worse.

But instead of the justifiable feelings of pride for the skills and courage exhibited and satisfaction of a job well done, the Marines were left with feelings of anger and frustration. They were very angry at Lt Black (although they didn’t know who he was at the time) because they had left people behind and they knew it.

That goes against everything the Marines believe and hold dear. But especially :”Never leave anyone behind”. Even though those they were rescuing were not Marines, they had been given into the care of the Marine Corps. As illogical as it may seem to the average person, the Marines believed they had let them down. This feeling is so strong in the Marine Corps even though they had done everything possible, those who took part in this rescue believe to this day, that if they had been called in earlier, they would have gotten them all. And being Marines, they believe that they should have been able to persuade the On Scene Commander that he should release them or if he could not be persuaded, they should have gone ahead anyway.

I remember how astonished the author was, that we were still so angry even after 30 years, especially when by any normal standards the Marines had performed in an outstanding manner.

Why? That’s easy to explain. The United States Marine Corps does not judge itself by normal standards, Each Marine judges himself against standards that he has evolved for himself, a combination of his own character modified and added to, where needed, by those of the US Marine Corps. These standards are invariably much higher and more stringent than those others judge themselves by.

Lt. Blank, if you read this tell us why.

Tags: aircraft, aircraft accidents, airline accidents, aviation, aviation disasters, ditching, marine corps aviation, military, nonfiction, rescue, true account, true story

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