The View from 13F: One Woman's Story of Surviving Flight 811

by Shari Peterson

On February 24, 1989, Shari Peterson was a passenger on the ill-fated United Flight 811 from Honolulu to Auckland.

Traveling four miles above the Pacific Ocean, the jumbo jet's cargo door was ripped from its hinges, creating an enormous hole in the side of the aircraft. Facing certain death, terrified passengers and crew were now at the mercy of the deadly incoming hurricane-force wind, ear shattering noise, and bitterly cold night air.

In her personable and relatable Midwestern style, Shari takes us through her early life which sets the stage for her story of survival.

314 pages, Paperback

Published September 23, 2019

Reviews

[Lisa J Shultz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book to learn about the story of this flight from a surviving passenger. The parts of the book that talked about what happened was interesting to me. But there was a lot of extra material packed into this book. The back story of the author's past history I skimmed over. At the end, there was a section on self-help, personal development and coaching the reader, which I was not looking for so I skimmed past that too. Sometimes a book tries to do too much and that might be the case here.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book started out slow because she told about her growing up years. The book is a memoir and I understand that she wanted to give background.

I was a little perplexed about what she wrote about her LSD trips. She was very positive about taking drugs?

The book became more of a page turner when we got to the crux of the story--what happened on that flight.

The end of the book is rather her philosophies of life, spirituality, a bit of a life lessons.

[RN · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gripping account during the flight tragedy

The book, leading up the accident, was boring and didn't really tie into the crash, as what happened after the tragedy. She was rather a lost soul trying to find her place in life, which it seems she never did.

[Twobird · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wasn't for me, abandoned it

[Lyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspiring read. I know Shari personally and she's the real thing! Interesting life she has led so far. She has even married my son and daughter..

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Riviting

It was hard to believe that this really happened. Good explanation of personal growth both before and after the disaster.

[John Mitchell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful life

We can all benefit from the views shared in this autobiography. This tells how we can better fulfill our lives. All can benefit from this book.

[PJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book! True story of overcoming all sorts of adversity and living through an airplane disaster! She takes a long time telling about growing up and her early adult years but it all fits once she gets back to telling about the airplane disaster.