35 Miles from Shore (17 page)

Passengers reported the plane skipping at least once on the water before the main impact. More than likely they were referring to the point at which the left flap first contacted the water. The deceleration was rapid and severe. Anything not secured inside the aircraft was immediately sent airborne, including passengers. It has been estimated that passengers experienced between eight to twelve g's of deceleration force over a time period of .5 to 1.0 second. The seats were rated for nine g's of forward deceleration. It has also been estimated that the plane came to a stop within fifty to eighty feet once the fuselage came in contact with the water, which is less than the overall length of the aircraft.
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Passengers in the forward part of the cabin were struck by flying debris and other passengers. Because most of the passengers were not in a brace position at impact, their heads hit the seatbacks in front of them as they were thrown violently forward; their chests then slammed against their thighs and knees, causing additional injuries to the neck and spinal column. At least seven passengers were thrown from their seats even though their seatbelts were fastened. There were also a number of seat failures in which the entire seat was ripped from the floor.
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Arthur Johnson was sitting next to the exit door. He had prepared himself to open the door in the event they actually had to ditch. But when the plane hit the water, his head was thrown forward and struck the seatback in front of him. He was dazed by the impact and has no recollection of what happened next. He testified that he isn't sure if he opened the door.

Someone, however, opened the emergency exit door, at least partially. Israel Kruger, the retired electrical engineer, claims to have pushed the door open. Since the door opens inward the only possible explanation is that the door was opened by another passenger
reaching over Arthur Johnson. That passenger would have been in an awkward position to lift the heavy door and move it completely out of the way. He or she either abandoned the attempt and left the door blocking the exit, or exited through the partially opened door. In that scenario, it would have been possible for Israel to push on the door until it was completely out of the aircraft.

Once the door was opened, passengers streamed out of the plane through the narrow exit. When Arthur Johnson stepped out onto the wing, the waves were just starting to lap over the upper surface of the wing. He turned around expecting to see his wife right behind him but instead saw her sitting in her seat. She was looking for her purse. “Honey, forget that,” Arthur yelled to his wife. “Let's get out of here.” Sybil followed her husband onto the right wing. Arthur slid off the back of the wing and into the water along with another passenger. His wife was reluctant to enter the water. She walked the entire length of the wing before gaining the courage to jump in.

Israel Kruger had been standing in the aisle when the plane hit the water. He thought it would be easier to put his life vest on if he were standing, so he stood up from his seat to don his life vest. He then helped his wife with her life vest. He didn't secure the straps around his waist. Israel glanced out the window across the aisle and saw the water. At first he thought they were getting ready to land. But he couldn't remember any landing where the plane had been so close to the water. He instinctively grabbed the seatbacks with both hands. When the plane hit, the deceleration was too great for him to hang on. He was thrown forward down the aisle, eventually ending up with a group of people near the front of the cabin.

When he regained his senses a minute or two later, his first thought was to get back to his wife. He picked himself up off the pile
of people and headed down the aisle to where Toby was sitting. He had to force his way around a few dazed passengers who were blocking the aisle. He found Toby in a state of shock. She was unable to speak or respond in any way. Israel opened the overhead bin and grabbed the blue suitcase containing their jewelry. He reached over and unfastened his wife's seatbelt then physically removed her from the seat, still holding on to the suitcase. Together they headed for the emergency exit across the aisle. Israel claims that when he got to the exit he had to push the door open. He inflated Toby's life preserver then pushed her through the opening. He followed right behind her. As he reached the exit, he came to the realization that there was no way that he would be able to swim and help his wife and still hold on to the heavy suitcase. He tossed the suitcase out the emergency exit then stepped onto the wing. The suitcase slid off the wing and disappeared beneath the waves.

Rick Arnold was thrown forward against the seatback in front of him. When he put his hands up to brace himself, the middle finger of his right hand scraped against something sharp. He didn't realize it then, but he had cut his finger to the bone. Rick blacked out momentarily when his head hit the seatback. When he came to, he noticed water was already entering the cabin. He glanced to his right and saw Loretta sitting motionless in her seat. He looked to see how Gene was doing, but all he saw was an empty spot where Gene had been sitting; the entire seat was missing. Rick unbuckled his seat-belt and stood up. Water was slowly filling the cabin. “Loretta!” Rick yelled. “We have to get out of here!”

Loretta didn't respond. Rick reached over and unbuckled her seat-belt. He grabbed her and helped her out of her seat. He could tell that Loretta couldn't support herself, so he wrapped his arms around her and helped her to the exit. The water level inside the aircraft was
rising, and people were bumping into each other as they pushed and shoved their way down the aisle.

As Rick and Loretta neared the emergency exit, they became separated. Rick suddenly found himself outside the aircraft and on the wing. He immediately started to search for Loretta. When he didn't see her, he jumped into the water. He pulled both inflation tabs on his life vest but the vest wouldn't inflate. Rick spotted a suitcase floating nearby. He grabbed the suitcase with one hand and continued tugging on the inflation tabs with the other. The vest still wouldn't inflate. He took a minute to catch his breath. He had the presence of mind to reach behind him and button his pants pocket so he wouldn't lose his wallet. The suitcase was keeping him afloat, but he had the strange sensation of being weighed down. As he kicked his legs, he realized that he was still wearing his shoes—the expensive Italian loafers that he had just purchased. He hesitated for a fraction of a second before kicking them off. He then yanked hard on the two inflation tabs once more and finally heard the sound of compressed air rushing into the two chambers of the life vest.

Emerson Ussery was thrown out of his seat and against the bulkhead directly in front of him, despite having his seatbelt on and secured. His forward momentum flung him past that bulkhead and into the cockpit door. He hit the cockpit door square to his back. He then slid down the door until coming to rest on his back. Emerson watched incredulously as an avalanche of debris and people came flying toward him. When the plane finally came to a stop, he was buried beneath bodies and debris. Emerson could feel water coming into the aircraft all around him. Despite the mound of people on top of him, his hands and arms were free. He felt certain that the floor had given way and that water was rushing in through a hole in the floor. He could feel water pushing up against him. He started to
panic when he realized that the water was about to cover his mouth. Reaching up through the pile of bodies, Emerson grabbed onto something to help pull himself free.

“You're choking me, you're choking me,” a man yelled.

Emerson had hold of a man's tie. The man pulled away but Emerson held on. He continued to hold on until he had enough leverage to move. Finally, he worked himself free. He saw the purser and navigator struggling with the main cabin door. When they left, Emerson took over the task of trying to open the door. He was so focused on getting the door opened that he was completely unaware of the life raft inflating behind him. The water was waist high when he turned around and saw that the entire galley area was empty, except for a few people floating face down. Emerson spotted the open galley door opposite him. He took one last look back through the cabin and observed a heavyset woman a few rows back. She appeared uninjured but stunned. “Come on!” Emerson yelled. “We gotta get out of here.” He turned and exited the galley door, assuming the woman was right behind him. He never saw the woman again.
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Jim Razzi didn't fasten his seatbelt prior to the ditching. His wife Hedi did have her seatbelt on. When the plane hit the water, Jim was thrown from his seat and knocked unconscious. When he regained
consciousness, he looked but could not find his wife. He had been thrown forward in the cabin almost to the forward bulkhead. As his head cleared, Jim noticed that a number of seats had been pulled up out of the floor and were flattened on top of one another. Instinctively, he turned and headed toward the back of the plane. He had to step over at least one body as he made his way back. He glanced to his right toward the left forward overwing exit and it appeared to be blocked. He could see someone through the window trying to open the overwing exit from the outside.
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Just then he heard a loud noise. He turned around just in time to see a torrent of water rushing down the aisle toward him. The water seemed to originate from the cockpit. The water level rose up to his chest. Jim saw the opened right aft wing exit. It was partially under water. He also noticed a woman standing by the exit too afraid to move. Jim pushed the woman through the exit and then followed her out, having to go underwater as he made his way out of the aircraft.
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Jeannie Larmony didn't have time to fasten her seatbelt before the plane hit the water. She was thrown out of her seat and up against the bottom of the overhead bins. Her head and back scraped against the air vents and the reading lights as she continued forward above the heads of passengers. She was knocked unconscious. When she came to, she found the aircraft completely empty. The plane was dark and rapidly filling with water. As she looked around to get her bearings, she noticed that she was now in row six. She had been thrown forward ten rows. One peculiar sight that caught her attention was what at first looked like heads floating in the water. Upon closer inspection, she realized that they were wigs. There were at
least five or six of them. She saw a shaft of light in the rear of the plane. Sensing that the plane was only seconds away from sinking, Jeannie crawled over the seatbacks and swam toward the dwindling light. When she reached the exit, there were only six or seven inches of the exit still above water. She worked her way to the opening but a wave forced her backwards. On her next attempt, she clung to the sides of the exit with both hands and waited for the wave to subside. She climbed out of the aircraft and into the water. Jeannie Larmony was most likely the last person out of the plane.

S
HORTLY AFTER
B
ALSEY INFLATED HIS LIFE VEST, A
wave swept him forward of the aircraft. He looked back and thought he saw damage to the underside of the plane. He turned his focus to reentering the aircraft. He had no idea how many passengers were still inside. He swam around to the main cabin door. The aircraft was bobbing up and down in the water, making the handle difficult to reach. He looked through the small window in the cabin door and noticed someone trying to turn the handle from the inside. But as he examined the door, he noticed that it had buckled. He abandoned the main cabin door and swam toward the overwing exits. The emergency exits could be opened from either the inside or the outside. He first tried to open the forward overwing exit but couldn't pull the handle all the way. He peered through the window and noticed a seatback blocking the exit. He then proceeded to the aft overwing exit and opened it without difficulty.

It was dark and misty inside as Balsey stepped into the cabin. The water was waist-high. He looked across the aisle and saw that the aft
overwing exit on the opposite side of the aircraft had been opened. One row up from the exit row, he noticed a man sitting in his seat. The man appeared to be in shock. Balsey tried to get his attention but got no response. Balsey waded over to the man and grabbed him by the arm. He then assisted him to the overwing exit. Balsey tried to move the seat that was blocking the forward overwing exit, but it barely budged. There wasn't time to fool with it, he decided. The water level was increasing too fast. He turned around and noticed a woman crouching in the aisle calling out a name. “My husband, my husband,” the woman repeated frantically. “I'll get your husband,” Balsey assured the woman. He led her to the left overwing exit and helped her onto the wing.
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Balsey stepped back into the cabin and scanned the interior of the plane. He didn't see anyone. He concluded that the man that he had helped out earlier must have been the woman's husband. The aircraft was now listing to the right. Balsey sensed that the plane was about to sink. He took one last look through the cabin. He was surprised by the damage. Seatbacks were flattened. Overhead bins were opened and their contents were now floating in the aisle and between the seats. At least one seat, the one closest to the overwing exit that Balsey had opened, was missing. It had been ripped from the floor. Balsey didn't think that the landing had been that severe. His only injury was to his hand, and that had come after the ditching. “Anybody here,” he yelled, his voice deadened by the rising water. There was a noise behind him. He turned to see that the male passenger he had helped out of the aircraft minutes earlier was now
trying to reenter the plane. Balsey blocked his path and stepped through the exit and onto the wing. He grabbed the man and woman and started swimming away from the sinking plane.
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They weren't much farther than the end of the left wingtip when Balsey turned and saw the left wing rise out of the water. Seconds later the nose dipped below the surface and the plane began a shallow descent. Soon only the V-shaped horizontal stabilizer was all that remained above water, looking like the tail of a whale that had just breached the surface. Balsey spotted Harry Evans swimming over the submerged fuselage and then resting briefly on the elevator before swimming off. There were two loud popping sounds, and the plane disappeared beneath the water.