Blind Descent by Robert Hess

Book Description: TERROR IN THE ANTACRTIC WASTELAND

After regaining consciousness and crawling from the twisted wreckage of the plane, Robert Hess surveyed the landscape around him: the icy desert of Antarctica stared back, a white emptiness as far as he could see. Then, from inside the plane came the screams of his mangled friend and the keening of frightened sled dogs.

Only a year earlier, Hess had been a retired flight engineer working for the phone company when an old friend made him an intriguing proposition: help fly supplies to Antarctica as part of famous explorer Norman Vaughan's expedition to climb Mt. Vaughan. It was a job Hess couldn t pass up, and he worked tirelessly with his friends to make it happen.

But now, he and his comrades found themselves fighting desperately to stay alive.

Blind Descent is a gripping insider s account of an adventure gone horribly wrong and what really happened on a plane crash that made headlines around the world.

My Review:  Blind Descent by Robert Hess is based/written about his adventure in the Antarctica.  Robert tells of the trip and of he and his comrades attempts to stay alive.  The story begins as the men are in a blind descent 500 feet above the Antarctica.  The heating system wasn't working, the plane's windshield was covered in ice---visibility was zero!  The fog made it almost impossible to see anything!  

The author did fades back to the beginning of the trip.  How he met the pilot, how they came up with a plan, how the trip began and then the story goes into the adventure of the blind descent.

Not being a pilot but having ridden in an airplane a couple of times I can only guess at the terrible uncertainty of a blind descent.  A blind descent is being unable to see, permanently or temporarily.

This is an interesting, tale-gripping read of man against nature.  Robert and his team learn to rely on their instincts, each other and nature.  At times not sure if they will survive or even be able to relay their messages to the outside world they keep plodding on-never giving up.  A hardy crew with a zest for not giving up.

At the end of the tale it's interesting to see how the FAA depicts this blind descent.

There are "real" pictures of the men and the plane in the middle of the book so that the reader can see what the men and the circumstances looked like.  It makes the book seem so more real to the reader.

This is a short, fast read worthy of 4 stars.

*I reviewed this book for Reader's Favorites.com*