35 Miles from Shore (8 page)

Balsey was in Dayton, Ohio when he first got word that his job was in jeopardy. When he returned to New York, he was told that Bill Bailey wanted to see him. What happened next is a matter of some dispute. What is known for certain is that Balsey resigned as chief pilot. He was allowed to stay on as a line captain.
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Balsey was replaced in New York by Ed Veronelli.
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Ed was a personable young man with an easygoing manner that made him a popular choice among the DC-9 crews. He became one of the few in
management who didn't have some connection with Steedman or the former ONA.

Lou Furlong, one of Balsey's main nemeses, was later replaced as V.P. of Operations by Malcolm Ed Starkloff (Starky), the former chief pilot of the old ONA and Steedman's former boss. Starkloff had been working as the chief pilot for Japan Airlines. Lou Furlong quietly went back to the line, flying as a captain on the DC-9 and later the DC-8.

Less than one year after arriving at ONA, and only four months after becoming chief pilot, Balsey was out of management. The move to line captain suited Balsey just fine. He even picked up a small pay raise, going from $1,700 a month to $1,800 a month. Balsey's problems, however, were far from over. There were more than a few pilots who felt that Balsey should have been fired and would have been if not for Steedman. Other pilots resented the fact that he was given a seniority number based on his date of hire and not on the date he became a line pilot, which was the case with new pilots. All Balsey could do was lie low and hope that things would eventually blow over.

A
S
ALM 980
CRUISED ALONG AT
29,000
FEET, A
continuous supply of conditioned air kept the temperature inside the cabin at a comfortable 72 degrees. Outside the story was quite different. Temperatures at that altitude can drop to 50 degrees below zero. Winds can exceed 100 mph. The only thing separating those on board from this inhospitable environment was a thin metal tube and a few inches of insulation. It was a tenuous layer of protection that would soon prove to be no match for the storm-tossed waters of the Caribbean
.

The three cockpit crewmembers aboard ALM 980 had not flown together prior to the May 2 flight. Hugh Hart and Balsey had flown the St. Maarten flight before, but it was the first time for first officer Harry Evans. Harry was also making only his second flight after a three-month absence. The reason for Harry's absence requires some explanation.

Harry was hired by ONA in late 1968. His probationary period began in early January 1969, the day he completed training. Balsey,
who was asked to resume his role as a check airman and flight instructor not long after leaving the Chief Pilot's office, was one of Harry's instructors during initial training. Balsey liked Harry but felt he didn't have enough experience to make it through training. Harry had about 3,000 hours of flight time when he was hired, mostly in light single- and multi-engine aircraft. The largest plane he had flown prior to ONA was a DeHavilland Twin Otter, a nineteen-seat turboprop aircraft popular with commuter airlines.
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Going from a light twin to a medium-sized jet is a big leap for any pilot. To Balsey's credit, he knew that personality conflicts can have a negative impact on a pilot's performance. He was also aware that not all students were receptive to his style of teaching. So whenever he had a student he felt was on the verge of washing out, he would ask another instructor to take the student. If the other instructor concurred with Balsey's assessment, which they usually did, then the pilot would wash out. In Harry's case, he managed to squeak through by sheer determination.

Harry began flying the DC-9 primarily on cargo flights. Since he was new to the aircraft, captains were selective in deciding when they would let him fly. Over the course of his first year at ONA, Harry accumulated close to 600 hours of flight time in the DC-9, with about forty percent of that time as “sole manipulator of the controls,” meaning that he was flying under the supervision of the captain.
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Harry was in his mid-twenties. He was much younger than the pilots he was flying with. He was married, of average height and weight, and had hair considerably longer than the short military style haircuts favored by the majority of the captains, most of whom were ex-Air Force. The difference in age and background made it difficult for Harry to fit in.
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In January 1970, Harry was given a one-year probationary check-ride. He passed the ride, but Malcolm Starkloff, the Vice President
of Operations, decided to let him go anyway, stating that he had made the decision after hearing negative comments about Harry from some of the captains.
⁴

A pilot dismissed during probation has little recourse. Starkloff, however, had given Harry his termination notice one day after his probation had officially ended. Harry appealed the termination and was reinstated three months later.

Harry was given a new class date in April 1970. Ed Veronelli, who had replaced Balsey in New York, gave him his checkride after the completion of his training. Harry passed the ride, but it was obvious to Ed that Harry still lacked confidence. Harry requested to fly as an observer on a few flights before being assigned a trip. Ed agreed, but every time he tried to set him up to observe a flight someone else had the jump seat. So rather than have Harry sitting idle in New York, he sent him to Norfolk, Virginia to get in some observer time on the DC-9s flying the Quick Transport (QUICKTRANS) cargo flights.
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Harry received twenty-five hours of observer time. He also flew one trip as a first officer before returning to New York.

On Friday, May 1, Harry learned from dispatcher Tony Delmar that he was scheduled to fly the New York–St. Maarten flight the next day. Harry tried to get out of the trip, stating that he had not received any training on the route. He complained that he didn't have any experience with international procedures, and he hadn't received training on the LORAN. Delmar told him not to worry. He was scheduled to fly with an instructor pilot and would receive whatever training he needed on the flight.
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Although he never came out and said it, part of Harry's reluctance to take the flight may have had something to do with the knowledge that Balsey DeWitt was going to be the captain. The two had not flown together since Balsey's unfavorable evaluation during Harry's initial training. Had it been any other captain, Harry might not have put up such a fight.

The truth was that there probably could not have been a worse pairing of captain and first officer than Balsey and Harry. The two were at opposite ends of the personality spectrum. Balsey was authoritative and could be intimidating in the cockpit. Harry was passive and lacked confidence. Harry could have elected to fly on the QUICKTRANS cargo flights. That would have given him a chance to learn the aircraft in a freight operation where mistakes are treated less harshly. But Harry wanted to be an airline pilot; he wanted to fly passengers.
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Hugh Hart, the navigator on board, didn't care if he was flying passengers or boxes; the pay was the same. Like Harry, Hugh had learned only the day before that he was to fly the May 2 flight. The original navigator had called in sick at the last minute. The fact was that there wasn't a single navigator who enjoyed flying the St. Maarten route. The navigators knew better than anyone that they weren't really needed on the flight. The pilots could just as easily be trained to use the LORAN for the brief period where normal navigation wasn't available.

Hugh Hart was a striking figure at just over six feet tall with reddish brown hair and a full beard. His closely cropped beard, along with his preference for smoking pipes, gave him a distinguished appearance, like that of a college professor or intellectual. When Balsey heard rumors that one of the navigators was working part time as a male model, he assumed (incorrectly) that it was Hugh.

When Hugh got the call about the St. Maarten trip, the dispatcher practically begged him to take the flight, saying that he was the last resort. Hugh had flown the flight twice before. His back ached from a cold even before he got the call. Just the thought of sitting in the uncomfortable jump seat for seven and a half hours caused his back
to spasm. Hugh finally agreed to take the trip, thinking it would be a good opportunity to buy some duty free rum.

Hugh had reluctantly become a navigator in the Air Force after failing the vision test for pilot training. He continued to work as a navigator after leaving the Air Force, working for various charter companies in the U.S. and Europe. He earned enough money as a navigator to attend Harvard Business School, where he obtained an MBA. He was working for a packaging company in Atlanta, Georgia when he first learned about a small upstart airline in New York called ONA.

Hugh went to ONA's headquarters in New York and landed an interview with Steedman Hinckley. Steedman was impressed with Hugh's background. He liked that he was a former navigator. Steedman hired Hugh as his direct assistant. All Hugh was told about the position was that he would be working directly under Steedman in the areas of business planning and marketing.

From the start, Hugh was frustrated with his nebulous job duties. Steedman was gone from the office weeks at a time. The few projects that Hugh did work on were not well received. Hugh quickly formed the impression that the only reason he had been hired was so that Steedman could say in some ONA publication that they had an MBA from Harvard working for them. Feeling underutilized and underpaid, Hugh offered to fill in as a navigator. ONA was short of navigators at the time, and Hugh needed the extra income. He told Steedman that flying as a navigator would give him an opportunity to get a better feel for the operation.

Hugh flew as a full-time navigator until October 1966, at which time he resumed his management position, flying occasionally to supplement his income. He had no more success working for Steedman the second time around, and after several months of getting the run around, he made the decision to switch to flying full time while he looked for something else. Hugh became an iconoclast
at ONA. He grew a beard. He openly criticized management's decisions. His only reason for staying was that he had heard rumors of a planned crew base in San Francisco. He was hoping to have ONA pay for his move to California so he could look for work there.
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T
WO HOURS INTO THE FLIGHT AND A LITTLE OVER
nine hundred miles south of New York, ALM 980 approached an area of thunderstorms. Balsey requested and received permission to deviate west around the weather. As the flight proceeded farther south, it encountered some light turbulence. Balsey contemplated going higher to avoid the turbulence, but as he looked out ahead of him he saw some high cirrus clouds that looked as though they were being whipped up by strong upper-level winds. He turned the seatbelt sign on and requested a lower altitude instead
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Shortly after the seatbelt sign was turned on, one of the flight attendants came into the cockpit and asked Balsey if he was going to make an announcement. Balsey replied that he couldn't make any announcements because the PA system wasn't working. The flight attendant laughed and made the comment “that's what they all say” before exiting the cockpit. A few seconds later, the flight attendant made an announcement over the cabin PA telling the passengers to fasten their seatbelts due to expected turbulence. It was the first time since leaving New York that the PA system had been used. Some of the passengers assumed, incorrectly, that the
announcement had come from the cockpit. Both Wilfred and Tobias would later deny having any knowledge that the PA system was inoperative. Harry Evans testified that he was monitoring the instruments at the time and only overheard the conversation and could not identify which flight attendant had entered the cockpit. He did, however, indicate that it was one of the male stewards. He would also say that it was the first indication he had that the PA system wasn't working
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In the back of the plane, the passengers buckled up for turbulence that never came. Other than a minor bump or two, the ride was smooth and uneventful. Those who did happen to glance out their window saw only a featureless ocean and a dull blue and white sky.

Sitting in seats 8D and 8E on the right side of the aircraft were Gene and Loretta Gremelsbacker.
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Gene had the window seat. The two spent a good portion of the flight trying to catch up on their sleep. They sat cuddled together with Loretta's head resting on Gene's shoulder. The night before, Gene and Loretta had gone out to a bar to celebrate their planned Caribbean vacation. They were joined by a friend, Rick Arnold, who was also on the flight. A mutual friend of the three, Jean Claude Alexander, a wealthy Frenchman who worked for the World Health Organization, had offered to let the three stay at his villa on St. Maarten. The original offer had been extended to Gene and Loretta, who had married the previous summer but had not yet had a honeymoon. Gene worked as a part-time bartender for a number of downtown eating and drinking establishments. Jean Claude Alexander was a patron at one of the bars Gene worked at called
Pywacket
. Rick Arnold also knew Jean Claude. They were all part of a large group of twentysomethings who hung around together, bar hopping in downtown Manhattan and partying
until daybreak. When word got out about the villa in St. Maarten, the list of people wanting to join Gene and Loretta grew. According to Jean Claude, the villa could easily accommodate six or more visitors. The villa even had maid service. Rick Arnold was invited to come along. Gene invited his sister, Ellen. And Loretta invited her sister, Joyce. The latter two were to join the group in St. Maarten in a few days.
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