Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds by Gary Pomerantz
Flight attendant Robin Fech told passengers to remove pens and other sharp objects from their pockets. "Take off your eyeglasses", she instructed, "and pour your drinks into the seat-back pockets". Two rows forward, a Diet Coke in hand, Jennifer Grunbeck reached for the seat-back pocket. "Don't you think this will make a mess?", Jean Brucato asked her. "I think", Grunbeck said, "that they are more concerned with what's going on outside the plane". In 1995 29 people boarded a small commuter plane expecting nothing more than an ordinary journey. Soon after take-off a propeller blade shattered, destroying an engine and leaving their plane unable to stay airborne. It hit the ground nine minutes and twenty seconds later. All of us have wondered, however fleetingly, what would happen if something like this went wrong. How would I feel? What would I do? What would others do? Would I survive? Nineteen people on board that day did survive. Gary Pomerantz draws on hundreds of hours of interviews with them, their families, and the families of those who died, to create an intensely moving, compelling real-life drama. This is not a book about aeroplanes, it's about the heroism and humanity in all of us. And it will stay with you long after you've turned the last page.
Pomerantz's title refers to the time it took for a small American commuter plane to hit the ground after one of its propeller blades shatteredIt was an unusual accident of its kind, because 19 of the 29 people on board survived (despite horrific injuries) - and because of the amount of time they had to face almost certain death. Drawing on 500 interviews with the survivors, this unusual piece of non-fiction is constructed as both a compelling narrative and an examination of some uncomfortable issues. How do people behave in such a crisis? How relevant are the safety routines to what actually happens in a crash? It might be thought that September 11 has overshadowed such 'minor' tragedies, but this real-life drama brings home the individual personal stories behind the statistics.
Gary Pomerantz is an award-winning feature writer at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He lives in Atlanta with his wife and three children.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780718144357 |
| ISBN 10 | 071814435X |
| Title | Nine Minutes, Twenty Seconds |
| Author | Gary Pomerantz |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Year published | 2002-05-30 |
| Number of pages | 304 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |