35 Miles from Shore (39 page)

While my name graces the cover of this book, it was truly a collaborative effort. I won't mention everyone who contributed to the book here. Their names can be found elsewhere in the text. I would, however, like to single out a few individuals. First, I'd like to thank the crewmembers of ALM 980 who agreed to be interviewed: Balsey DeWitt, Hugh Hart, Wilfred Spencer, and Tobias (Tito) Cordeiro. A few individuals went out of their way to accommodate me by insisting that I stay in their homes rather than pay for a hotel room. Balsey and his wife Edith did so on two occasions. Bill Bohlke and his wife Tuddy graciously offered me a room in their house overlooking the Caribbean Sea. And Jim Rylee and his wife Donna, whom I interviewed on the thirty-first anniversary of the accident, provided a room in their home. Sadly, Jim passed away before he had a chance to read the manuscript.

I would like to thank the following readers who gave me valuable feedback during the early drafts of the manuscript: my wife Lynn Corsetti, Albert White, Jim and Barbara Hamiliton, Jerry Castellano, and Jeff Darnell. Lastly, a special thanks to editor Kathleen Marusak, who helped shape the manuscript from its earliest stages and kept me from embarrassing myself.

E
MILIO
C
ORSETTI
III
IS A PROFESSIONAL PILOT AND
author. His work has appeared in both regional and national publications including the
Chicago Tribune
,
Multimedia Producer
, and
Professional Pilot
magazine. A graduate of St. Louis University, Emilio has been covering aviation and space topics for more than fifteen years. This is his first book. For more information about the author and this book, please visit the author's web site at
www.EmilioCorsetti.com
.

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Airport security was considerably lax during this time period, even on international flights.

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A VOR is a ground-based navigation aid.

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The winner of the Kentucky Derby on May 2 was the horse Dust Commander, a 15–1 long shot. Jack Nicklaus edged out Arnold Palmer to win the Byron Nelson Golf Classic.

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While having the extra fuel tank more than likely would have prevented the accident, it was not a direct contributing factor. The flight departed with legal fuel reserves. It could be argued that there would have been no legal requirement to add additional fuel even if the tank had been installed. However, Captain DeWitt has stated that had the tank been installed, he would have filled it to its capacity.

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When ALM 980 departed JFK on May 2, it not only met the legal fuel requirement but exceeded it by nearly 3,000 pounds.

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Balsey denies having let anyone other than a qualified pilot sit in a pilot's seat. He says that his only mistake was not clearing the rides with the company first. He also claims that the decision to go back to the line was his. Other pilots whom I've talked to claim that Steedman stepped in and allowed Balsey to remain as a line pilot. In either case, Balsey was out of the chief pilot position just four months after making chief pilot with the Columbia, South Carolina incident as the most likely reason.

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While the suggestion that escape slides could be used as flotation devices was a good one, the fact was that escape slides had not been approved for that purpose and would not be approved for that purpose for many years to come. Some of the reasons the slides were not approved as replacements for life rafts include lack of hand holds, the slides were too small to support a full load of passengers, and lack of survival equipment.

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The instruction to not pre-position life rafts was later countermanded by ALM in a memo to its flight attendants, instructing them to pre-position the raft located in the coat closet. This was done in order to standardize their training since they were required to pre-position life rafts aboard the DC-8.

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The bases of clouds are reported as height above the ground—2500 scattered means that there are scattered clouds at 2,500 feet above the ground. Cloud tops are given as height above mean sea level. Wind speed is always given in knots (kts). A conversion table is used to convert from kts to mph.

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The weather radar on the DC-9 used a monochrome display, making it even more difficult to discern ground returns from precipitation.

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Balsey testified that he had noted the 3,800 pound figure on the downwind leg of the second circling approach. A fuel study conducted by the Douglas Aircraft Company (DACO) and the Safety Board concluded that the 3,800 pound figure could only have been taken sometime between the time of completion of the NDB approach and the start of the first left-hand circling approach and not later. (Official NTSB report NTSB-AAR-71-8.)

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Fuel burned by the APU is not recorded on the engine fuel-used counters. If you subtract the 250 pounds of fuel estimated to have been burned by the APU prior to takeoff, that still would have left approximately 2,350 pounds of fuel in the tanks (2,600 – 250 = 2,350). That figure is very close to what the DACO fuel study indicated the aircraft should have had at that point in the flight. (Note: The official NTSB report has a math error of 100 pounds in reference to these numbers.)

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When Wilfred testified in San Juan, he recounted this incident. When I interviewed him, he informed me that he had actually been called and turned away from the cockpit twice before he was finally told to prepare the cabin. Both Balsey and Hugh have no recollection of this happening. Harry Evans has elected to not be interviewed. I have chosen to go with the official record of him being turned away just once.

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Wilfred testified that Harry had said, “Captain, I think we have to inform
him
now,” the implication being that Harry was referring to Balsey informing the purser and not so much the passengers. One possible scenario is that Harry and Balsey had argued about the need to notify the flight attendants of the possibility of having to ditch. This would explain Wilfred having been called to the cockpit and then turned away.

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Wilfred testified that he did not tell the navigator that the cabin was ready. When Hugh asked him if they were ready, Wilfred was referring to the fact that he had completed the life vest demonstrations and that, as far as he knew, all of the passengers had their vests on.

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ALM's ditching procedures called for the captain to first announce “emergency stations,” which was the crew's signal to proceed to their assigned evacuation station. Prior to impact, the captain was to announce “safety positions,” which was the crew's signal to have the passengers assume the brace position. Wilfred was not aware that the PA system was out.

^†
There are also proponents who claim that it is better to inflate the life vest inside rather than waiting until you exit the aircraft. Some of the reasons for this include: If the plane were to break apart, you would be better off having the vest inflated; if you were injured or left unconscious after impact, you might be unable to pull the tabs; lastly, once a person is in the water, the inflation tabs are beneath the surface and may be more difficult to locate. The recommended procedure, though, is still to wait until exiting the aircraft.

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This conversation was overheard by passenger Martha Kellner, who was sitting directly behind the passenger who made the comment to Margareth. In an ironic twist of fate, the man who had made the argument for not securing his seatbelt did not survive. His seat was ripped from the floor and collapsed. Had he not been wearing his seatbelt there is some chance that he might have been thrown free and survived the ditching.

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There is conflicting testimony whether one or both men were without their life vests. It's possible that one or both of them could have put their vests on at a later time.

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Newer escape slides found on most aircraft flying today will automatically inflate upon deployment.

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While it may seem improbable that Balsey had time to think about this prior conversation concerning ditchings, he mentioned it during questioning in St. Croix and in his testimony in San Juan.

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The subject of who did what concerning the running of the checklist would come up again during the public hearings in San Juan. Harry claims to have run the checklist from memory. It's unlikely that Harry had enough experience to run the checklist on his own from memory as he claimed in both his written statement and in his testimony in San Juan. Harry Evans did not want to be interviewed for this book.

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The exact sequence in which Balsey switched to emergency power and flicked the seatbelt sign off and on three times is not known. What is known is that no one heard the bells, although Hugh would later testify that he had heard them. But Hugh's testimony is suspect because he claims that he didn't remember having heard the bells until two days before testifying. If Balsey switched to emergency power and then flicked the seatbelt sign off and on three times, the bells would not have sounded because the bells are not on the emergency bus. It's also possible that he flicked the switch too rapidly for the circuit to trigger the bells. It's unlikely that the bells went off but no one heard them.

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Harry Evans did not want to be interviewed for this book. The version of events described here is solely the recollection of Captain Balsey DeWitt. Harry's testimony in San Juan confirms that the captain “helped push” him through the jammed cockpit door. His testimony does not mention the captain putting a life vest over his head and, in fact, Harry did not have a life vest on when he later entered the water.

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Hugh Hart later identified the passenger as Emerson Ussery. Emerson's testimony, however, conflicts with Hugh's.

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While the passengers were not shown how to get into the brace position by the flight attendants, the emergency briefing cards in the seat pockets did graphically demonstrate two different brace positions. The first position required the passengers to lean forward and grab their ankles. For those passengers who didn't have the flexibility to get into that position, a compromise position was shown where the passengers lean forward and protect their heads by grabbing onto the seatback in front of them. In both positions, the primary goal is to prevent the head from flying forward as well as to protect the head from flying objects.

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Emerson's recollection of what took place in the galley conflicts with the recollections of Wilfred and Hugh. Hugh testified that Emerson was the passenger on the floor waving his arms in an exaggerated swimming motion. He also claims that it was Emerson who inflated the life raft. While it seems highly improbable that Emerson was not aware that the life raft was inflating directly behind him, it isn't impossible assuming a panicked state and a tunnel-vision like focus on the door handle. Emerson also testified about bodies on the floor in the galley. Both Hugh and Wilfred testified that there were no bodies on the floor, just the one passenger flailing his arms and legs. Emerson also claims that there was a hole in the floor. This aircraft did have an access panel on the floor which covered the hydraulic controls for the cargo door, but it was too small to have been the hole described by Emerson.

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The person he saw trying to open the emergency exit from the outside was Balsey.

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The official record is that after helping the male passenger from the plane, Balsey opened the forward left overwing exit. Balsey's recollection now is that he did not open the exit. Balsey also claims that he helped the female passenger out before the male passenger. I chose to go with the official record and Balsey's own statement written days after the accident concerning the sequence of the two passengers he assisted.

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Some of the survivors reported seeing one person approach the overwing exit then turn around and take a seat, presumably refusing to leave their loved one behind. That person was assumed to have gone down with the plane. More than likely, this was one of the passengers that Balsey helped out of the aircraft before it sank.

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Rescuers and survivors alike mistakenly identified the escape slide as a life raft. In all instances where there is a reference to “a large group of people in or around a life raft,” it is the escape slide that is being referenced.

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Life raft packages are designed to float in the event they are put into the water without being inflated. Had the crew thrown the life raft into the water as the passenger claimed, it would have resurfaced seconds later.

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Israel kept his vow and never again wore shoes with laces, at least not on an airplane.

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Other factors affecting the rate of cooling include: activity — an active person will expel more heat than a person who remains stationary in the water; body weight — a heavier person will cool at a slower rate than a thin person.