Nothing stellar but a good, clear - written story about an airplane crash. If you enjoy that genre, recommend.

Audiobook note :excellent narrator ( )

My original 35 Miles from Shore audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

As I flew into SFO from PHX, I had a new perspective on air travel. I immediately found the life rafts. There were multiple and above the center aisle behind what looked like plastic attic doors. I kneeled and looked under my seat for the life vest. I turned off my audiobook as I listened intently for the instructions on how to inflate the life vest and made sure to get an aisle seat near the front cabin door. I wondered if my head would hit the tray table if I braced for impact. I now knew to wait to inflate my life vest until after I left the plane. I looked intently out the window as we passed over the bay and onto dry land in San Francisco. I could breathe again. This book will change how you travel, make you aware of your surroundings, and bring you one step closer to understanding what really makes for a safe airline and what doesn’t.

Emilio Corsetti III, in 35 Miles from Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980, starts with a strong hook, an airplane in the middle of the ocean that no one has come to investigate or pull out of the water because it’s a mile down. How did it get there? Why has it been down there so long? What happened? There are many directions Mr. Corsetti could have gone: a focus on the passengers’ point-of-view, the captain and flight crew’s, or the before and after on shore. He managed to weave all of the pieces together from the history of the airline itself, to the pilot’s backstory, the dramatic event, and the aftermath. While the general recommendation is to start in medias res, in the middle of the action, to create a dramatic beginning, the snapshot of the plane in the ocean was enough to propel a reader into the story and once there, he or she would not be disappointed with the narrative.

The premise is straightforward: Why did this tragedy happen? Emilio Corsetti III elevates the non-fiction genre to detective non-fiction where we learn everything about everyone in such a well articulated and compelling narrative that it doesn’t feel like we are in the classroom. Rather, we feel as if we are hearing the stories from multiple people as if we were the investigators ourselves. Corsetti III breathes life into technical jargon, complex procedural pieces, and turns what the mechanic sees into a vivid graphic through artful word choice and plain language.

The tower dialogues gave the audiobook an authentic theatrical feel more script-like than book. The explanations were so clear such that any bit of minutia or jargon found an explanation. From explaining tunnel vision as cognitive narrowing to the rationales for certain pilot altitude and airspeed choices, throughout the book I felt as if I had a mentor, a coach, teaching me about being a pilot. This is truly a book for anyone, it respects the jargon and speaks to the aviation enthusiast, but it speaks to us on a human level. What is it like to go through such an ordeal? How does a communication breakdown lead to a life-altering mistake? How do different people respond?

Because we are so invested in each character, know they are real; the last half of the book creates a satisfying closure to every thread of the story. It’s a rare author who can teach from the narrative rostrum with such detail as to both educate the reader and leave him looking around and appreciating the humanity in the giant machine of an airplane we take for granted. The irony of hell in a Caribbean paradise will not be lost on any of the readers. Is it worth reading? It’s worth listening right now.

Narrator Review

Fred Filbrich, the narrator, does a wonderful job with both the narrative and the dialogue. The book was more than an easy listen; it was one that I tried to fit in the spaces of time at the grocery store and on the way to and from work. Filbrich continue to press page-turning narrative with subtle elevations of his voice, empathetic caresses towards a tragedy, and the straightforward talk as if I was the only person in the room. It is the work of a consummate professional.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author. ( )

Ok ok, fear of flying girl reads a book about an airplane crash. Smart move.

I don’t even remember when or where I brought this book, but when I was looking for my next book to read I decided to start at the top, alphabetically, of my TBR and this is where I ended up.

35 Miles from Shore is, naturally, heavy on aviation industry speak, and contains a lot of information on the plane, the airline and the bodies responsible for regulating the industry. However, this is to be completely expected, and is not overly dry in facts and figures and airplane-yabber.

The telling of the events leading up to the crash, the rescue and the aftermath are riveting reading, with a particular focus on the airline staff and certain key passengers. The subsequent investigation, conclusions and recommendations also make for interesting, if slightly disturbing reading.

35 Miles from Shore is well written and engaging, with the history of the airlines involved and other examples of air-disasters that have occurred before and since the ditching of flight ALM 980.

Don’t read this before you fly (especially if you are going to be flying over open water!), but if you have an interest in survival, disasters or flying, there’s something in 35 Miles from Shore for you. ( )

The title is very descriptive. It tells the story of the ditching of ALM flight 980 and the rescue of the survivors. I don't know why the author waited 38 years to publish this story. However, I found it to be captivating reading. I read the Kindle edition on my iPod. Every time I had a few minutes, I turned my iPod on and read a few more screens. If you're into airline disaster stories, i would recommend it.

Almost 40 years after the event, Emilio Corsetti III tracks down what happened to bring down a DC-9 flying to a Caribbean island. There are, of course, differences of opinion but after reading this it seems to me that the plane was allowed to fly with too small an amount of fuel to cope with any complications along the way. With deteriorating weather and a malfunctioning fuel guage, they did run into complications. It turned out that there were other problems--a nonworking PA system, a crew not trained in safety procedures on this particular model of aircraft, life vests that didn't work as well as one would wish. And those life vests are still the standard so many years later. The writing style is a bit simplistic but the story keeps moving. Thanks to those rescuers who risked themselves to save the majority of the people aboard. ( )