The year is 1970. The country is up in arms over the war in Vietnam. In just two days, four students will be shot and killed at Kent State. At JFK, a DC-9 jet prepares to take off, with fifty-seven passengers and six crew members. Its destination is the Caribbean island of St. Maarten. A plane that size doesn’t have the fuel capacity to make a flight like that without stopping to refuel, but every time the plane lands and then takes off again, it costs the airline money. The price of the tickets isn’t quite enough to make up the difference, so the airline has done some research and discovered that with the addition of an extra fuel tank, the DC-9 will be able to fly straight to St. Maarten without a refueling stop. But for some unexplained reason, this flight was allowed to take off before the installation of the additional tank.
As the flight progressed, the weather turned for the worse. As the pilot did his best to avoid the worst of the weather, he flew at a slower speed and a lower altitude, which also burned up costly fuel. When time came for him to land, weather conditions were so bad, despite what the tower told him, he was unable to bring the plane to a safe landing. After trying repeatedly, he decided to head for a different landing site, but did not make it there before he was out of fuel. He had a decision to make, and he ditched the plane, meaning that he landed the plane on water. The plane was submerged in under ten minutes, and not everyone survived, including one of the flight attendants.
Author Emilio Corsetti is himself a pilot, and he recounts this true story with the understanding that comes from experience. As we learn about the many different errors that led up to the final tragedy, Corsetti explains what is going on and how it should have transpired. We get background information on each of the passengers and crew members and feel like we know them. We cheer as the rescue helicopters come to deliver the survivors out of the water. And we are left to ask the all-encompassing question, “why?” Why was the plane not outfitted with the other fuel tank? Why did the tower report the weather conditions to be more favorable than they were? And why has the body of the plane never been recovered to look for more clues?
An engaging and educational read, I found “35 Miles from Shore” well worth my time.
(This book was published in 2008 by Odyssey Publishing.)
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