35 Miles From Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980 (With a New Afterword)

Winner of the 2018 Audiobook Listeners Award for Nonfiction

On May 2, 1970, a DC-9 jet with 57 passengers and a crew of six departed from New York's JFK International Airport en route to the tropical island of St. Maarten. Four hours and 34 minutes later, the flight ended in the shark-infested waters of the Caribbean. The subsequent rescue of survivors took nearly three hours and involved the Coast Guard, Navy, and Marines. This gripping account of that fateful day recounts what was happening inside the cabin, the cockpit, and the helicopters as the crews struggled against the weather and dwindling daylight to rescue the survivors, who had only their life vests and a lone escape chute to keep them afloat

© 2025 Odyssey Publishing, LLC (Audiobook): 9780977897179

Release date

Audiobook: 7 May 2025