9132 VICTOR! Three Got Into a Plane, Only I Walked Away

by Jennifer Truman

A mother, father, and daughter got into their plane, heading for New York. Shortly after take-off, the father stroked. The mother came forward to help but then she stroked as well. The daughter, alone, had to land the plane so her parents could get help. This is a true story.

172 pages, Paperback

First published August 5, 2009

Reviews

[Tiffany · Rating 1 out of 5]

Everybody I grew up with knows this story--most of the kids my age took flying lessons at Laconia airport in the 70's. They had a great program there. We all swapped the flight school's Cessnas and the only thing we kids paid for was the gas, and of course back then gas was cheaper than it is now.

Anyhow, I didn't know Jennifer well, but her parents were my parents' friends, so of course we all knew when this happened.

This book is a love song from its author to her parents who died in a traumatic but dramatic way.

Writing a love song is hard even when one is a tempered writer and this author is not. It is not a well written book, and frankly if the author had hired a professional writer it would have been more interesting. However, the most interesting part of the book is the 28 pages of the transcript of the radio conversation in which the author calls mayday mayday (forgetting to actually say mayday mayday) and is talked through the landing process of a plane she not only was unfamiliar with, but the actual landing, which she had never done.

[Tom Grelinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

I came across this book after watching Captain Steeeve’s YouTube channel where he walked through this incident. I found the overall story compelling, but the author should have had even a family friend or relative with editing experience do a once over. The Kindle version (I can’t speak to the paperback) had grammar related issues like repeated phrases or in one case a chapter ended without the sentence being completed. I am glad the author wrote it to tell us “the rest of the story” regarding her parents and give more background as to what led up to the incident.

[Sherri Bjorndahl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amazing story, but the author self-published and needed proofreading. The most interesting part of the book was the transcript of her conversation with the tower once she declared an emergency.