35 Miles from Shore

March 1, 2008
Experienced pilot/writer Corsetti begins with two airline CEOs eager to capitalize on a burgeoning leisure travel market. A small Caribbean company, ALM, hoped to establish a route between St. Maarten and New York but, lacking long-distance planes, reached an agreement with Overseas National Airways (ONA) to provide the planes (DC-9s) and crews. Regular service, on a route acknowledged to be perilously close to the maximum range of the planes, commenced in January 1970 without the planned installation of auxiliary fuel tanks. On May 2, 1970, ALM 980 departed New York for St. Maarten with 57 passengers and a crew of six. Shrouded in rain squalls, the flight was diverted to San Juan, Puerto Rico, but an erroneous report of a break in the weather over St. Maarten caused the captain, his plane low on fuel, to make the tragic decision to return and land at St. Maarten. After three blown landing attempts, the plane had to ditch 35 miles from shore, and 23 of the passengers and crew perished. 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. Recommended for all aeronautical collections and major libraries.John Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Cleveland

Copyright 2008 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2008
Pilot and journalist Corsetti provides an enthralling account of the only successful open-water ditching of a jet airliner. In 1970, a DC-9 on its way to the Caribbean had to ditch well offshore, throwing the surviving passengers and crew into shark-infested waters. While some failures in maintenance and piloting may be suspected of causing the ditching, there were few failures or even mistakes in the rescue effort. That involved all the American armed services and succeeded in bringing all the survivors to safety before darkness left them bobbing in their life jackets. Corsetti has done a fine job of researching the background and of interviewing participants and has created not only a must-read for aviation buffs but a useful addition to aviation-safety literature.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)