35 Miles from Shore (12 page)

Forty-five seconds after talking with the Juliana control tower, Balsey asked the San Juan Center for a direct heading to St. Maarten. The fuel totalizer indicated 5,800 pounds of fuel. Balsey estimated that they would land at St. Maarten at 15:05 with 4,400 pounds of fuel remaining. The legal minimum was 4,300 pounds (2,100 pounds of fuel to the alternate plus 2,200 pounds of hold fuel). It was enough fuel in Balsey's mind to at least go down and take a look. If the weather turned sour on the approach, he would proceed to his alternate of St. Thomas.

A
FTER CHECKING BACK ON THE FREQUENCY
, ALM 980 was re-cleared direct to the St. Maarten radio beacon (identifier PJM) and given a clearance to descend to 10,000 feet. The weather north of San Juan was hazy but clear with just a few cumulus clouds. The weather toward St. Maarten, however, looked more ominous with towering cumulus visible in the distance. Balsey turned the radar on to get a better look. Precipitation returns filled the screen. He tilted the radar antenna down toward the water in hope of picking up St. Maarten. The Juliana airport didn't have distance measuring equipment. One way to determine the distance from the airport was to point the radar antenna toward the water. Depending on the scale the radar was set to, it was easy to determine distance. If the radar was set to the eighty-mile scale and a shoreline was visible halfway down the scope, then the island was forty miles away. This time, however, they couldn't pick out the shoreline. There was too much precipitation.
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Shortly after reaching 10,000 feet, San Juan Center issued a vector of 090 degrees due to conflicting traffic with another inbound aircraft to St. Maarten.
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The DC-9 was the faster of the two aircraft and would be cleared for the approach once the other aircraft was out of the way. The second aircraft was told to hold over the beacon at 5,000 feet. ALM 980 was then cleared to descend to 6,000 feet. The short vector would not normally have been a concern, but the turn took them away from the airport and cost them additional fuel.

With the conflicting traffic out of the way, ALM 980 was re-cleared direct to the PJM radio beacon and cleared for the NDB approach to runway nine. Descending through 5,000 feet, they were told to contact the Juliana control tower. On their initial contact with the tower, they were given a visibility of 2 to 3 nautical miles. The tower operator also reported that it was raining at the airport.

The runway at St. Maarten was 5,249 feet long. It was a short runway for a jet aircraft. When the runway is wet, landing distance is increased significantly.
²
While Balsey didn't pull out any landing charts to check to see what effect the wet runway would have on their landing distance, he knew it was going to take every square-inch of runway to stop the plane.

The NDB approach began at the PJM radio beacon, which was located on the airfield. As they neared the NDB, the tower operator reported the winds as 090 at 8 to 10 knots.
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The ceiling was reported as 800 scattered, 1,000 broken, 5,000 overcast. Visibility was given as 2 to 3 nautical miles. What the crew was seeing outside their windows, however, did not correspond with the weather that was being reported. They were level at 2,500 feet and almost directly over the airport, but their forward visibility was practically zero due to heavy rain showers. Concerned about the poor visibility, Harry asked for another visibility report as they passed over the beacon and proceeded outbound on the approach. Once again the tower operator reported a visibility of 2 to 3 nautical miles.

The weather reports given by the tower operator were estimates based on visual observations and pilot reports. Visibility was determined by reference points located on the mountains to the east. There were no visual references looking west toward the water where the approach was to be conducted. As the crew would soon discover, the visibility west and northwest of the airport was significantly less than 2 to 3 nautical miles.

The first part of the NDB approach involves a maneuver known as the procedure turn. The purpose of the procedure is to turn the aircraft around so it is aligned with the inbound course. During this portion of the approach, the tower operator, apparently concerned about the weather, advised ALM 980 that it was free to make any turns as necessary in the event of a missed approach.

After completing the procedure turn, Balsey called for gear down and flaps to twenty-five degrees. He slowed to 140 knots then started his descent to 600 feet, which was the lowest altitude he could descend to on the approach. He elected to leave the flaps at twenty-five degrees. A higher flap setting would have required a much higher power setting. Flying the approach in that configuration was standard operating procedure for ONA at the time. Balsey told Hugh and Harry to keep an eye out for the runway. Harry reported to the tower that they had completed the procedure turn. The tower operator acknowledged the transmission and gave an updated wind report of 060 at 15 knots gusting to 20 knots. The winds had shifted to the northeast and had increased by 10 knots.

Hugh Hart elected to remain standing rather than strap himself into the jump seat. He wedged himself in behind Balsey's seat in order to get a better look outside. He saw occasional vertical glimpses of the water, but forward visibility was still poor.

Hugh and Harry kept their attention focused outside as the rain continued to pound against the windscreen. It was coming down so hard in some places it was like flying through a car wash. The ride
was fairly smooth—just an occasional bump in the heavier areas of precipitation. Reaching 600 feet, they were in and out of the clouds. It was obvious to each of them that this was going to be a tight approach. Spotting the runway in time to set up for a landing was going to be difficult. As they neared the airport, the rain lightened and the visibility improved. Hugh was first to spot the runway. He saw the bright Visual Approach Slope Indicator (VASI) lights on the left side of the runway.
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Balsey and Harry spotted the VASI lights shortly after Hugh pointed them out, but the runway was well left of their position. They were too close and too high to get properly aligned for landing.

The weather directly over the airport and to the north appeared somewhat better. Balsey had good visual contact with the runway and decided to circle the airport to the north to make a visual landing. The controller had already approved him to make whatever turns he needed. Balsey stayed at 600 feet and began his circle to the left, telling Harry to keep an eye out for the hills east of the airport. He left the gear down and the flaps at 25 degrees. Doing so allowed him to make a tighter turn, but the added drag from the gear and flaps required additional power to maintain altitude.

The ceiling was ragged, and precipitation northwest of the airport made it difficult for Balsey to keep the runway in sight. Poor visibility forced him to stay in tighter to the runway than he would have liked. As he turned from base leg to final, he overshot the runway and flew through the final. He was well south of the runway centerline. Unable to realign the aircraft in time, Balsey was once again forced to go around.

The winds at the airport had shifted from the east at the start of the first approach to the northwest at some point during the second landing attempt. It's unclear from the record whether the crew was given this information. Balsey did, however, call for full flaps on the
next landing attempt in an effort to keep from overshooting the runway. Flying at 128 knots as opposed to 140 knots, Balsey was able to align the aircraft as he made the turn from base to final. But as he pulled the power back, he realized that he was too high. He shoved the yoke forward, but the sink rate increased to over 1,500 feet a minute. Rather than force the aircraft onto a wet runway in an unstabilized approach with both engines unspooled, Balsey was forced to once again pull up. Had he continued, the aircraft would have more than likely run off the end of the runway and into the bay at St. Maarten. The DC-9 passed over the end of the runway at 200 feet. Balsey called for flaps to 25 degrees. He left the gear down because he wanted to stay close to the airport. He was afraid of losing visual contact with the mountains to the east.
⁵

Balsey had already made the decision that if he was unsuccessful on the third landing attempt he was going to proceed to his alternate of St. Thomas. He was too busy flying the airplane to look at his fuel. The last time he remembered looking at it was on the downwind leg of the third landing attempt. At that time, he noted that he had 3,800 pounds of fuel.
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He needed 2,100 pounds of fuel to reach St. Thomas. Surely he hadn't burned up that much fuel in the last landing attempt. He climbed back up to 600 feet and made a wide circle to the north. The plane veered far enough to the north that some residents on the French side of the island heard the plane flying overhead. Balsey continued turning until the aircraft passed almost directly over the tower cab. He called for the gear and flaps and told Harry to tell the tower that they were going to their alternate. Harry raised the gear
and flaps and made the call to the tower. When the tower operator didn't respond, Balsey got on the radio: “Juliana, nine eighty. We would like to have an immediate and direct route to St. Thomas.” He said it in an authoritative voice that left no doubt in the controller's mind that there was no time to waste. The controller acknowledged the request and cleared them to 4,000 feet. Two minutes later at 19:31 GMT (3:31
P.M.
), the Juliana tower operator told ALM 980 to contact San Juan center. Shortly after they left the frequency, the tower operator closed the airport due to low ceilings and visibility.

The passengers were fully aware that there was some difficulty in landing at St. Maarten. Many of them had had their eyes glued to the windows as the plane banked repeatedly. Emerson Ussery had flown into St. Maarten hundreds of times and knew the layout of the airport and surrounding terrain. Emerson had lost an eye in a bow and arrow accident when he was ten, but even with only one good eye he could tell that they were circling dangerously low to the ground. He continued to monitor the approaches by looking out the windows over the shoulders of other passengers. He couldn't help noticing that the woman sitting next to him in seat 1E appeared nervous throughout the multiple landing attempts.

“What's going to happen?” the woman asked after the second failed landing attempt.

“Don't worry,” Emerson said in an attempt to reassure the woman. “He'll make it.” But Emerson had his doubts. He was well aware of the mountains on the east end of the runway. He was secretly hoping that they would abandon the approach and head for their alternate.

Jeannie Larmony, sitting in 16A, kept her eyes peeled to the window. She caught brief glimpses of the water and land, but the clouds and rain obscured her view most of the time. On the last circle, however, she was able to see the ground for an extended period of time.
The plane was flying so low that she became concerned that they might hit a tree or the roof of a house.

Rick Arnold, sitting behind Gene and Loretta Gremelsbacker, wasn't overly concerned. He was well aware of the fact that the aircraft was making multiple approaches and that there seemed to be a lot of banking going on, but the ride itself wasn't particularly rough or uncomfortable. Had he been able to see outside, he might have had a better sense of the struggle going on inside the cockpit. The only clues he had that the pilots were having trouble were the sound of the engines and the sound of the hydraulic pumps, which came on every time the flaps and slats were raised or extended. When the banking stopped and the landing gear was raised, his thoughts turned to guessing which island they were going to next.

Sitting directly behind the cockpit and facing rearward, Wilfred Spencer was wondering the same thing. His view outside the aircraft was restricted. He had only the small windows in the main cabin door and galley door to peer through. He had been a flight steward long enough to recognize that they were probably headed for somewhere other than St. Maarten. He also knew not to bother the flight crew in this situation. It was best to wait until he was given further instructions. He glanced back toward the cabin and noticed a few quizzical stares directed his way. He sat back against his seat and hoped that the pilots would make some announcement. Wilfred didn't know that the PA system wasn't working.

P
ASSING OVER THE
S
T
. M
AARTEN RADIO BEACON
, Balsey took up a westerly heading for St. Thomas. Hugh, who was still standing in the cockpit, glanced down at the fuel totalizer. The digits on the totalizer were spinning erratically.

“Balsey,” Hugh said, pointing to the totalizer, “this sonofabitch is spinning like hell.”

“It should stop spinning when we level out,” Balsey said. The plane was in a nose-high attitude and rocking from side to side in moderate turbulence.

Leveling at 4,000 feet, Hugh once again glanced down at the fuel totalizer. “You're kidding,” Hugh said incredulously. The totalizer was indicating just 850 pounds. Balsey again assured Hugh that the bad readings were due to their low fuel status and the turbulence. “When we get into some smooth air, she'll stable out,” Balsey said. “There's no way we can have less than 2,000 pounds of fuel on board this aircraft.” Seconds later, the totalizer started spinning again. It was spinning like a slot machine whose lever had just been pulled. It went from 800 pounds to 2,000 pounds and then back down again.
The one reading they noted that registered the longest was 1,400 pounds. Harry pointed out that the fuel-used counter for the right engine was showing 13,156 pounds. This was an indication of how much fuel the engine had burned. The second engine had a similar reading. Harry doubled the figure for a total fuel burn of just over 26,300 pounds. Since they had started with 28,900 pounds of fuel, there should have been 2,600 pounds remaining in the tanks.
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They only needed 2,100 pounds to make it to St. Thomas.