35 Miles from Shore
Emilo Corsetti III
Reviewed by Terry Studer
35 Miles From Shore by Emilo Corsetti III is the most astounding non
fiction 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!!
The flight of ALM 980 starts out with strikes against it. The pilot is
a risk taker and not one to follow orders all the time. The navigator
is fairly new to his position and wasn't supposed to be on this flight
but ended up filling in for someone else who called in sick. There are
no life boats as they are not required and the p.a. system in the
cockpit doesn't work properly. If this isn't an omen nothing is.
As if that is not bad enough, the owner of the airlines has taken
shortcuts to get his planes in the air and his crew of pilot's just
happen to be Army buddies. Even though the pilot's have more than
enough fly time in, the other employees that work for the owner are not
overly happy that he has given his buddies higher worker status than
the rest of them have. It should be a seniority base system of work but
unfortunately it is a who knows who system. This does create some
tension within the ranks of employees throughout the airline.
There is some doubt as to the flight distance that the DC-9 can handle
without having to refuel part way during the flight. Provisions have
been made to make additions to accommodate the fuel issue but are never
put in place before the airline gets the okay to fly. The airline had
promised not stop flights to it's customers and will make those flights
even though there are risks involved. Unfortunately the customers are
never made aware of this for I am sure they never would have taken the
flight if they knew.
All of that said, this is a very detailed intense story of what could
happen, what did happen and the coming together of people from
everywhere around the ditch site to help when the call goes out. Top
priority is the hope of finding survivors, assessing the area, rescuing
the survivors and then putting all the information together to see
exactly where and what went wrong.
Remember this is 1970 and it's when the airlines were just coming into
the tourist travel area so a number of airlines were trying to jump on
the band wagon to get as much business as possible. Unfortunately, the
strict regulations that we have in place today weren't there at that
time and needless to say cutting corners was a major part of the game.
They say we learn from our mistakes, well unfortunately this is a prime
example of that phrase.
The author has done a remarkable job at researching not only the
accident but the before and after life of this airline. Having
transcripts of the calls between the pilot and the tower's, accessing
financial records and work records of the airline and getting detailed
accounts from all of the survivors and rescue personal to make this
book not only enticing and exciting but educational. This book is
defiantly a grab the edge of your seat and hold on for the ride of your
life experience.