35 Miles from Shore (32 page)

Still, the NTSB had neglected to form a maintenance records group. Several weeks would go by before the regional accident investigator for ALPA, Louis McNair, inquired about the maintenance records. In a letter dated June 12, 1970, he questions why a maintenance records group was not formed, especially after the crew reported problems with the fuel totalizer.
¹

There was growing paranoia among some of ONA's pilots and mechanics regarding the investigation. Few people were aware of the verbal agreement between Steedman Hinckley and Octavio Irausquin to delay the installation of the auxiliary fuel tank. It was assumed by many that ONA had failed to meet the original April 1 deadline for installing the tank, and would ultimately suffer consequences if investigators were to discover this fact. Several pilots and mechanics would later claim that their phones were being tapped. Among those who suspected their phone conversations were being monitored were Hugh Hart and Ed Veronelli.

A month had gone by when Balsey received a call from Steedman. They had talked briefly several times since the accident. Steedman had shown genuine concern for his friend's well being. But this time the tone in Steedman's voice was strained. “Balsey,” Steedman began matter-of-factly, “we can't speak anymore. The insurance company has advised me to cut off all communications with you. I just wanted to let you know.” Balsey could tell that Steedman was uncomfortable making the call. “Don't worry about it, Steedman,” Balsey said, reassuring his friend. “I understand.” It would be some time before the two would speak again, and it would not be as employer to employee but as friend to friend.

In a letter dated June 15, 1970, Balsey was informed that he was being terminated. The letter was signed by Bill Bailey. An automatic appeal was filed by ALPA, but Balsey held out little hope for
reinstatement. The loss of his job put him in an immediate financial bind. Balsey was his family's sole financial provider. He had a mortgage and car payments like everyone else.

Balsey's problems only worsened. On June 17, 1970, Balsey received a telegram from the FAA informing him that his Airline Transport Pilot certificate was being suspended until completion of the NTSB hearings, which were to be held in July. He was issued a commercial license, but the loss of his ATP made finding work as a pilot almost impossible. Balsey was thirty-seven years old and faced the very real prospect of being unemployed for a prolonged period of time—in the midst of a recession.

When Balsey received a letter from the NTSB telling him that he had to be in San Juan for the public hearings, he told them that he couldn't go. He said that he was out of work and didn't have the money. This forced the NTSB to subpoena him. The NTSB was now responsible for his costs.

Harry and Hugh hadn't fared much better than Balsey. Both were terminated. Harry had his ATP suspended, and Hugh had his navigator's license suspended.

Hugh Hart had additional problems to contend with. The day after returning home from St. Croix, Hugh went to see his personal doctor about his right knee. An x-ray of both knees revealed a bone chip in his left knee. The doctor decided to wrap the right knee and put the other leg in a cast. Hugh would end up wearing the cast for several months, making it impossible for him to seek other employment.

In contrast to the plight of the three ONA crewmembers, Wilfred and Tobias didn't have to worry about the loss of their jobs. The
story of the ditching was major news in Curaçao and received front page coverage for several days following the accident. Wilfred, Tobias, and Margareth were praised for their actions. It was a sensational story that had a huge impact on the close-knit island community. Tobias and Wilfred became local celebrities recognized wherever they went. They each resumed flying after having three weeks off with pay.

One month after the accident, ALM honored Margareth and the twenty-two passengers who had perished by dropping a wreath at the site of the ditching. ALM Flight Attendant Supervisor Max Waas dropped the wreath from one of ALM's F-27 Friendship aircraft. Bill Bohlke was hired to fly a second aircraft with a photographer on board to capture the event. A picture showing Max Waas at the open door of the F-27 with the wreath in hand was published in a Curaçao newspaper.

Robby Schouten was so distraught over the loss of his fiancée that he decided to end his television show. He left Curaçao and moved to the Netherlands, eventually producing another television show that still runs today in Curaçao called
Far Away From Home Living With Us
. In the half-hour program, Robby interviews former residents of Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire who have moved to the Netherlands.

Margareth's family was equally distraught over her loss, especially her mother, who struggled over Margareth's death for many years. Not having Margareth's body left the family in a state of limbo. Margareth's mother refused to hold a funeral for her. She always held out hope that Margareth would someday walk through her front door. She would sit by the window staring out into space for hours at a time. She passed away ten years after the accident. Family members are certain that Margareth's death contributed to her mother's deteriorating health.
²

The investigation into the ditching moved from the Caribbean to Washington a week after the accident. Investigators made several visits to ONA headquarters in New York, where they questioned those involved with the planning of the St. Maarten flights and reviewed training records for the crewmembers. The investigators were especially interested in learning when and if the crews had received emergency training concerning ditchings. When the investigators inquired about the emergency training given to the navigators, ONA had to admit that the navigators had not received any specific emergency training on the DC-9. Instead, a one page pilot bulletin had been issued to every DC-9 pilot that described the navigator's duties in a DC-9 emergency landing. The navigators, however, never received the bulletin.
*

On May 14, the NTSB re-created the flight in a DC-9 simulator. The simulator, however, was programmed for different engines than those used on the subject aircraft and no meaningful results were obtained. To help determine what the fuel quantity should have been at various points in the flight, two fuel studies were conducted—one by the Safety Board and one by Douglas Aircraft. One interesting discovery from the fuel studies was the conclusion that the crew might have had adequate fuel to reach their planned alternate even after the failed landing attempts. Both fuel studies indicated that the plane should have had just over 2,100 pounds of fuel at the initiation of the climb from the St. Maarten radio beacon. Twenty-one hundred pounds was the amount of planned fuel considered necessary to reach the filed alternate of St. Thomas, which was 109 nautical miles from St. Maarten. St. Croix was a few miles closer. The NTSB listed several factors why they believe the plane ran out of
fuel before reaching St. Croix: unknown variables involving winds, weather, and track; the fact that the captain did not declare an emergency and request priority handling, which would have allowed him to climb sooner and thus burn less fuel; and the captain's decision to climb at a reduced power setting as opposed to a normal climb power setting, which would have resulted in a more efficient climb to altitude. There are a number of problems, however, with the Board's conclusions. The San Juan controller who took the handoff from St. Maarten testified that he would not have been able to clear ALM 980 higher even if it had declared an emergency, because of conflicting traffic. The Board also admitted that if the captain had climbed to a higher altitude immediately after leaving St. Maarten and had remained there, he would have opened up the possibility of running out of fuel at altitude, thus decreasing the chances of a successful ditching due to the weather and sea conditions.

The pilots and crewmen involved in the rescue of survivors from Flight 980 received varying degrees of recognition. Only one Marine helicopter crew received recognition. The crewmembers of EM-13, who rescued passenger Julius Eisenberg (who was later pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital), all received medals. John Barber received a Navy Commendation medal. The crew of EM-07, who rescued the last three survivors, did not receive any commendations. It was an oversight that the crew wasn't particularly concerned about. They hadn't even known about the medals handed out to the crew of EM-13.
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They were nearing the end of their six-month cruise and memories of the rescue faded quickly. The
Guadalcanal
returned to Morehead City, North Carolina at the end of May 1970.

None of the Coast Guard crews involved in the rescue received commendations. One reason was that the Commanding Officer, Charles Mayes, had himself been involved in the rescue. He would have been the individual responsible for recommending commendations. It would have been inappropriate, however, for him to recommend himself for a commendation. He would later say that he regretted his decision to not request commendations for the other crewmembers. The Coast Guard crews, though, didn't perceive it as a slight. Performing rescues was their job. Both Bill Shields and Charles Mayes would be reassigned to other bases within weeks of the accident.

Jim Rylee and his crew were all formally recognized for their rescue of twenty-six survivors. It was at the time (and probably still is) the largest rescue by a single helicopter in Navy history. Commander Jim Rylee and Lt. (j.g.) Donald Hartman each received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
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The Flying Cross, consisting of mounted propellers beneath red, white, and blue ribbons, is given for heroism or extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight. C.V. Lindley and Bill Brazzell each received Navy-Marine Corps medals.

T
WO AND A HALF MONTHS AFTER THE ACCIDENT, THE
NTSB held the public hearings into the ditching of ALM 980. The purpose of the public hearings is to provide a complete and documented factual record of an investigation through the testimony of witnesses. The facts obtained at the public hearings supplement the on-scene and follow-up investigation of an accident.

The hearings were held in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is a longstanding practice of the Board to conduct the hearings in a location close to the site of the accident. There are several reasons for this: the availability of eyewitnesses; the need to accommodate family members wanting to attend (most accidents occur near the departure or arrival airport); and the fact that it provides an opportunity for the NTSB to address safety concerns in an environment where the message is most likely to be heard.

The hearings were scheduled to begin on Tuesday, July 7 and continue through the ninth, with a preliminary conference to be held on July 6. The purpose of the preliminary conference was to establish who would testify and in what order.

Balsey arrived in San Juan on Monday afternoon. That night, he met with his attorney John O'Brien. They were sitting at a table having dinner when they were approached by a well-dressed woman. O'Brien recognized the woman and told Balsey that it was Isabel Burgess, an NTSB lawyer and the chairperson of the hearings.

“Hi,” Ms. Burgess said in a sanguine voice. “Is this Captain DeWitt? How are you this evening?”

Balsey had not been looking forward to the hearings. A day hadn't gone by since the accident that he hadn't thought about what he might have done differently to change the outcome. He had already talked to the NTSB investigators. He had spent countless hours rehashing all the grisly details for ONA, the aircraft manufacturer, and dozens of others. He had lost his job. And he had lost his license for doing the only thing he knew how to do. Now he was being told to present himself for cross-examination by a group of armchair quarterbacks. The last thing he needed was some NTSB lawyer trying to cozy up to him. “Madam, do I know you?” Balsey said, sounding irritated by the intrusion.

“Oh, I'm sorry. I'm Isabel Burgess. Do you mind if I sit down and ask you a few questions?”

“Well, Ms. Burgess,” Balsey began, “I didn't come over and interrupt your dinner. If you don't mind, could you please go back to your table and I'll stay at mine. I'm quite sure that you'll have plenty of time to ask me questions tomorrow.”

Isabel straightened up. “Does that mean you plan to testify?” The hearings were not a legal proceeding. Balsey had the option of not taking the stand. The penalty for not taking the stand, however, was possible jail time.

“I'm here by subpoena, Ms. Burgess, “Balsey said. “I haven't made up my mind whether or not I'm going to take the stand. So could you please kindly return to your table?” The next time Balsey would speak to Ms. Isabel Burgess would be from the witness stand.

The hearings were held in the Caribbean Suite at the Americana Hotel. Seating was provided for several hundred, though the room was seldom more than half full. The NTSB board sat behind a long table at one end of the room. Dick Baker and his investigators, along with representatives from ONA, ALM, ALPA, FAA, Douglas Aircraft, and the Coast Guard, sat at two tables on either side of the main NTSB table, forming a U shape. A witness stand was placed adjacent to the NTSB table. Each table was equipped with a single microphone. If someone at one of the tables had a question for a witness, he would either have to write the question down and have it read, or wait until the microphone could be passed to him.

The first witness to testify was Dick Baker. Dick talked about his initial notification of the accident and outlined the investigation to date. Next to testify was ONA mechanic George Chopay. George was chosen to testify before the flight crew because the Board wanted to establish the fact that the plane had no mechanical problems and had adequate fuel for the flight. They also wanted to establish that there had been no signs of fuel leakage.

Balsey took the stand next, looking thinner than most who knew him could remember. Dressed in a dark business suit and with his hair neatly trimmed, he appeared confident and unshakable. One investigator, Marty Spieser, a lawyer and the Operations Group Chairman, confided to Dick Baker that he was feeling ill over having to confront the former captain. He had to leave the room briefly to regain his composure before he could begin his questioning.