Character Interview with Balsy Dewitt of Emilio Corsetti III's 35 MILES FROM SHORE

Character Interview Day! Today's guest is Balsy Dewitt from inside the pages of 35 MILES FROM SHORE by Emilio Corsetti III.  It is a pleasure to have him with us at The Literary Nook!

What is your name? Balsey DeWitt. My wife never liked my first name, so she always called me by my middle name of Dean.

What do you look like? I’m almost 87 years old right now, but when this happened, I was a young 37. I was an airline pilot. If you’re picturing Tom Cruise or Matt Damon, you’d be wrong.

Where are you today and what are you doing? I’m at home in upstate New York living in the house I built.

Describe the outside of your home. A wooded area full of wildflowers, trees, and leaves.

You come face to face with your worse enemy. How do you react? I still have dreams about that day. What could I have done differently? Why did this happen? Why did we have to lose those two little girls? It’s been nearly fifty years.

You keep a photo album of memories from your lifetime. If you could only keep one photo, which one would that be? It would probably be a picture of me in my United Airlines uniform.

Are you a morning person or a night owl? Morning.

A police officer stops you for a minor violation. What violation is that and how do you react? Having an expired license plate. Yes sir, I’ll take care of it as soon as I can.

What is your favorite piece of clothing? Really? How about my pajamas.

Do you have any phobias? What are they and how intense are they? How have they impacted your life? For the longest time I dreaded having to relive that day. It wasn’t until I told my story to the author and got it all off my chest that I was finally able to accept and forgive myself.

Open your wallet, purse, or briefcase. What do you find? A few dollars that I happily give to my grandkids.

You move into a new home. What's the first thing you buy for it? A nice chair.

How do you feel about mortality? It’s something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. I survived an accident that took the lives of twenty-three people, including two young girls aged four or five. I think about Maragareth Abraham, the twenty-four-year-old flight attendant, who didn’t survive. I’m lucky to be here, but I do think about those twenty-three people.

What scares you? Knowing that people still blame me for what happened.

How would your parents describe you? Conscientious and ambitious.

What’s the last thing you do before you go to bed at night? I say a prayer.

Who is your best friend? My wife Edith. She stood by me all this time.

Who is your worse enemy? Memories

Are you faith-oriented? Yes.

Are you married or in a relationship? Happily married.

Do you have children? Two

Where is your favorite hangout? Hawaii

You are at the zoo. What is your favorite animal? The penguin. I’ve been told that I sometimes walk like a penguin.

You just woke up to find that war has been declared. What’s the first thing you would do? Pray for everyone involved.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? A pilot.

If there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would that be? It would have to be my first name. Balsey, really? What were they thinking.

About the Book  

On May 2, 1970, a DC-9 jet departed New York’s JFK international airport en route to the tropical island of St. Maarten. The flight ended four hours and thirty-four minutes later in the shark-infested waters of the Caribbean. The subsequent rescue of survivors involved the Coast Guard, Navy, and Marines. In this gripping account of that fateful day, author Emilio Corsetti puts the reader inside the cabin, the cockpit, and the rescue helicopters as the crews struggle against the weather to rescue the survivors who have only their life vests and a lone escape chute to keep them afloat.

ORDER YOUR COPY

Amazon → https://amzn.to/39zbKBq

 Barnes & Noble → https://bit.ly/39HL7dz

 

About the Author 

Emilio Corsetti III is a professional pilot and author. Emilio has written for both regional and national publications including the Chicago Tribune, Multimedia Producer, and Professional Pilot magazine. Emilio’s first book 35 Miles From Shore: The Ditching and Rescue of ALM Flight 980 tells the true story of an airline ditching in the Caribbean Sea and the efforts to rescue those who survived.

Emilio’s latest release Scapegoat: A Flight Crew’s Journey from Heroes to Villains to Redemption tells the true story of an airline crew wrongly blamed for causing a near-fatal accident and the captain’s decades-long battle to clear his name. Emilio is a graduate of St. Louis University. He and his wife Lynn reside in Dallas, TX.

WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:

Website Address: https://www.EmilioCorsetti.com
Blog: https://www.35milesfromshore.com (dedicated website)
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EmilioCorsetti 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Emilio.Corsetti.III