13,760 Feet--Living with TWA Flight 800
a memoir in stories and songs by Mark L Berry
Excerpts from 13,760 Feet have appeared in Airways, AOPA Flight Training, and TARPA Topics magazines, ERAU EaglesNEST, as well as Write This, and Connecticut Newspapers.
Fourteen years before Captain Sullenberger safely landed on the Hudson River saving every one of his passengers and crew, I got a call to turn on the TV. TWA 800 went down—my airline with my fiancée Susanne, a financial manager on a business trip, seated in row 3. I imagined I was suddenly onboard that 747 with her while crewmember friends of mine were assessing emergency exits, opening doors above the waterline, and ordering passengers outside and into life rafts with strong commands, “Open seatbelts, come this way!”
At the time I was a TWA 767 first officer. I knew Susanne was in good hands but none of this was happening on TV like I was expecting. I continued imagining her taking the whole emergency in stride, but expressing her frustration about the sudden change in the outcome of her flight. She was a strong swimmer and loved the water, but very much a clotheshorse, and getting her business outfit dunked in salt water would tick her off. For a Scandinavian who was very unashamed about nudity, she had more clothes than any five women I’d ever met—combined. I was puzzled that I didn’t see the evacuation procedures unfolding on the news like they were playing-out in my head. Just to see her blue and green outfit with her extremely blonde hair moving into a raft or a rescue boat from a helicopter camera angle would have settled my tiniest doubt that I was keeping hostage in the deepest dungeon of my mind.
Rebuilding my life means continuing to move the heavy metal even though I’ve seen what happens when all safety fails. Aluminum Parachute — Still Flying After TWA 800 is an insider’s view of what it takes to make it in the major airlines, as well as climbing back into the cockpit after the ultimate loss—my fiancée on TWA 800.
I’ve been in commercial cockpits over 25 years: picking through lines of thunderstorms and shedding accumulated aircraft icing; floating a flight attendant in zero g-force maneuvers on an otherwise empty airplane, only to get caught because the lavatory was re-painted blue with toilet water; and wearing my uniform at the funerals of my family, co-workers, roommates, and friends who have paid for safer skies with their blood. My memoir chronicles what has made me the MD80 captain I am today and it’s close to completion.
I’m a regular contributor for Airways Magazine where I’m developing a steady following, with appearances in ERAU EaglesNEST, AOPA Flight Training, Write This and TARPA Topics magazines plus Connecticut Newspapers. My writing is refined at Fairfield University’s creative writing MFA program.
Praise for 13,760 Feet—Living with TWA Flight 800:
“Your prose is resonating with truth, wisdom and tons of humor.
Usually I have a lot to say about any book. This one stunned me into blissful silence as I devoured one page after another. It’s so beautifully and lovingly written, that it should be read many, many…
Every word hits the mark and every sentence an illumination shining from within you out…
This is a very empowering book.”
— Da Chen
Best-selling author of Brothers, China’s Son, and Colors of the Mountain
“Straight from the airline pilot’s seat, Mark Berry has written an eloquent memoir that takes readers inside the cockpit and, through intimate memory and original song, one of the world’s most devastating flight disasters. An irresistible read for frequent flyers and frequent readers.”
— Lary Bloom
Editor, columnist, and author
Listen to my memoir’s companion songs.
They’re available below, sorted in chronological order including the chapter in which each appears.
This is a story that you don’t just read, you experience it through music.
Aluminum Parachute—Title Song
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Performed by Simon Ashby
Link to watch Debs and Errol perform Aluminum Parachute live
(use BACK button to return)
Chapter 02 – The Best Day of My Life
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Under the Tiny Bridge
Performed by Billy Sea
Chapter 04 – Tighty-Whitie Deep Sea Divers
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Tighty-Whitie Deep Sea Divers
Performed by Christopher Madden & Malakai Madden
Chapter 06 – Sorted by Speed
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Outside of School
Performed by Simon Ashby
Chapter 08 – The Majors
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
My First Solo
Performed by Billy Sea
Chapter 09 – The Road Back to the Cockpit
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Learning to Breathe Again
Performed by TC Elliott
Chapter 12 – Teaching is a License to Learn
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Teaching Is a License to Learn
Performed by Simon Ashby
Chapter 14 – St. Thomas Upside Down and Spinning
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Island Hopping Dream
Performed by Nadia Cripps & TC Elliot
Chapter 16 – Pilots of the Caribbean
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Pilots of the Caribbean
Performed by Steve Schafer
Chapter 16 – Pilots of the Caribbean (Vieques is Hot)
Tryin’ to Get Off Island
Performed by Christopher Madden and Malachai Madden
Chapter 18 – Cutting My Winter Teeth
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
The Box the Twin-Otter Came In
Performed by CTS
Chapter 20 – Pigship Probation
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Long Live the Pigship
Performed by Lynn McLeod and Deborah Linden
Chapter 22 – Before CRM – The Five Ps
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
City in the Sky
Performed by Larry Seger & Lt. Col. Sheri Miller
Chapter 24 – Success and Silence (with WLBjr)
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Anaphylactic Shock Reaction
Performed by Kristian Borreson & Adam Hill
Chapter 26 – My Airline Family—Where Dreams Are Free
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Dirty Double Crosser
Performed by Peter Watkinson
Chapter 28 – Are You a Cardinal?
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Are You a Cardinal?
Performed by Simon Ashby
Chapter 30 – The Secret the Darkness Completely Concealed
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
The Secret the Darkness Completely Concealed
Performed by: Plain White Toast
Chapter 31 – Losing the Lottery
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Susanne
Performed by Mick James
Chapter 32 – Investigation and Speculation
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
One Day
Performed by: Shane Clary – Lead Vocals
Chapter 33 – Going South in Eastern Europe
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
I Escaped into a Dream
Performed by John Cooperider
Chapter 34 – As Far Away from Myself as I Could Get
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
The Infinite Steps
Performed by Simon Ashby
Chapter 35 – My Vanilla Sky (with WSCS)
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Cathedral Steps
Performed by Don ‘Lefty’ Williams & Errol Elumir
Chapter 36 – Sacred Watering Holes
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Sacred Watering Holes
Performed by Billy Sea
Chapter 37 – High Terrain All Quads
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Shakin It In the Dark
Performed by Valerie Cox
Chapter 38 – Catching up with Concord
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
Farewell to Concorde
Performed by Cleveland Brown
Chapter 39 – 25 Years Since ERAU
Lyrics & mp3 - plus Artist links /
When I Look Back at Twenty
Performed by Joanne Gabriel
Feel free to email me with your comments: mark@pushingleavestowardsthesun.com
If you are a Literary Agent or a Publisher I’d love to hear from you!
Cheers! Mark L Berry
