Kindle Unlimited
Unlimited reading. Over 4 million titles. Learn more
Read for Free
OR
Kindle Price: $5.98

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

Audiobook Price: $21.83

Save: $14.34 (66%)

Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Mark Berry
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

13,760 Feet—My Personal Hole in the Sky Kindle Edition

by Mark Berry (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 142 ratings
See all formats and editions
The 747 that went up whole and came down in 876 pieces invaded every part of my life. My only consolation is that, without being able to turn around, she never saw behind her the giant hole where the rest of the aircraft should have been—an oblong oval opening to the tumbling sky, bordered by torn cables, shredded aluminum aircraft skin, sheared beams and spars, and accented with sparking severed wires. And I hope she couldn’t comprehend what was actually happening if she lived long enough to ride this nearly three mile high, free-falling hell-ivator all the way down to the ocean’s surface, and then sink to 140 feet below, where her body would wait to be recovered.


Mark is a major airline pilot with twenty-five years of seniority and he’s a contributing editor for Airways magazine. He earned an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University where he was also a managing editor for Mason's Road literary journal. Excerpts of this memoir have appeared in Airways as well as: AOPA Flight Training, Connecticut Newspapers, Epiphany, ERAU EaglesNEST, So…Stories, The Stoneslide Corrective, The Story Shack, TARPA Topics, Under the Sun, and Write This.

There are 41 companion songs for this book that can be heard on the author’s website: http://marklberry.com/memoir
Previous page
  1. Print length
    348 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publication date
    August 20, 2013
  5. File size
    887 KB
  6. Page Flip
    Enabled
  7. Word Wise
    Enabled
  8. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  9. See all details
Next page

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00EP20AMM
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Trans World Author, Inc.; 1st edition (August 20, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 20, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 887 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 348 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 142 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Mark Berry

Mark Berry

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

"The 747 that went up whole and came down in 876 pieces invaded every part of my life. My only consolation is that without being able to turn around, Susanne never saw behind her the giant hole where the rest of the aircraft should have been."

— excerpt from Mark's memoir: 13,760 Feet - My Personal Hole in the Sky

Praise for 13,760 Feet - My Personal Hole in the Sky:

“This is a story only Mark Berry could tell — and it may be one of the most powerful true stories of love and heartbreak anyone will ever read.”

— Jacquelyn Mitchard

Bestselling Author, The Deep End of the Ocean and What We Lost in the Dark

“A sensitive, intelligent, and touching rendition of a tragic story, told by a sensitive and intelligent man who is also a good craftsman with words..."

— Thomas Block

Bestselling Novelist, Magazine Writer, and Retired Airline Captain.

Read or listen to the first chapter as it appeared in Airways magazine:

http://marklberry.com/2013/07/03/8132/

Download Mark's first novel Pushing Leaves Towards the Sun as a FREE 36-episode audiobook on iTunes>Podcasts.

Bio:

Mark is an airline pilot with an MFA from Fairfield University, contributing editor for Airways magazine, and former managing editor for Mason's Road literary journal. His work has also appeared in 4'33", Aerospace Testing Int'l, AOPA Flight Training, BMW Owners News, Connecticut newspapers, Epiphany, ERAU EaglesNEST, Graze, LIFT, MilSpeak Memo, Port Cities Review, Rogue, So...Stories, The Stoneslide Corrective, The Story Shack, TARPA Topics, Under the Sun, and Write This. He lives in St. Louis, MO near the big staple in the middle of the USA map. Locals call it: The Arch.

Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
142 global ratings
A personal journey centered on a controversial disaster
4 Stars
A personal journey centered on a controversial disaster
Mark Berry writes a compelling narrative centered around his personal loss involving the destruction of TWA Flight 800. The destruction touched not only his personal love life, but also his career as a TWA pilot. Mark traced movements in his life and career that were forever changed on July 17, 1996. A good read, especially for those interested in the life of commercial pilots, air safety in general, and impacts of a duplicitous political administration.
Hide
Thank you for your feedback
Sorry, there was an error
Sorry we couldn't load the review

Top reviews from the United States

Lauran Canatella
5.0 out of 5 stars Great memoir
Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2024
Verified Purchase
The writer shared his vulnerability during tough times not common in pilots. His story telling and musical talent was reflected in the audible version that I listened to after reading the paperback version. Everyone should be as self aware as Mark. I highly recommend this book, especially to young pilots of today who don’t understand how competitive becoming a pilot was in the 70s, 80s and 90s. They also won’t fully grasp the safety they enjoy due to the changes made from the untimely deaths of their aviation ancestors.
Helpful
 Report
Emilio Corsetti III
5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written memoir
Reviewed in the United States on February 25, 2016
Verified Purchase
On July 17, 1996, TWA 800 experienced a center fuel tank explosion at 13,760 feet during its climb out of New York's JFK airport. On board the flight was the author's fiancé Susanne Jensen. Mark is also a pilot and at the time was employed by TWA. Thus begins this excellent memoir about dealing with tragedy and a life in aviation. The book expertly alternates chapters between the loss of Mark's fiancé and his climb from wannabe pilot to airline captain.

Mark and I both flew for TWA and currently fly for the same airline, though we have never met. Like me, Mark came up through the civilian aviation ranks. We both had a strong determination at an early age to want to fly professionally. Even though we took different paths to the cockpit of a major airline, there were also numerous similarities. I found myself laughing out loud numerous times while reading the book as his stories brought back my own memories. One story involved a prank that he and his fellow crew member played on a young flight attendant. The prank required an extensive setup, but the end result was a flight attendant jumping up and down in the center aisle of the small regional plane in order to get a supposedly "stuck" landing gear unstuck. Mark and I flew for different regional airlines, but I remember this exact same prank at our airline. Another prank that we liked to play on new flight attendants was to hand them a note with the name Hugh Jass written on it. We would hand the unsuspecting flight attendant the note and ask her to please make an announcement over the PA that we need to speak to this passenger immediately. The flight attendant would then dutifully get on the PA and start asking for "passenger Hugh Jass." No matter how clearly she might try to say it, it always came out as passenger "huge ass" over the PA.

While there are plenty of examples of humorous stories, there is no shortage of touching stories, such as when five-year old Mark loses his baby brother to SIDS. The young Mark wonders why his baby brother couldn't learn to breath. I especially enjoyed reading the chapters dealing with Mark's relationship with Susanne. The story of how he proposed to Susanne is especially memorable. I also enjoyed his many globe-trotting stories.

This two-memoirs-in-one will appeal to anyone dealing with the loss of a loved one, as well as anyone contemplating or already in a career in aviation. Even if you don't fall into those two categories, this book is worth your time. It is beautifully written, and as good of memoir as you're likely to find.

I read the book on my Kindle. The audio book contains original songs that accompany the book. I'm listening to the songs right now on mark's website as I write this review. The Kindle version contains lyrics interspersed throughout the book. I found the lyrics a little distracting, but I give Mark credit for trying something different.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
eretz73
5.0 out of 5 stars A flight in light and darkness
Reviewed in the United States on April 8, 2016
Verified Purchase
Pilot and writer Mark Berry’s book is a tale of love and darkness and hope.
The book turns around the tragic death of the author’s soon-to-be wife, Suzanne, in the TWA 800 crash.
“The 747, that went up whole and came down in 876 pieces” he writes, “invaded every part of my life.” And indeed, as Marks draws us in his story, we can see both how everything “before” this terrible event seems to work up to Mark’s encounter with Suzanne, and how everything “after” unravels to a final open-end, so full of hope and beauty. Events either flow towards it or away from it. It is not easy to tell such a difficult, painful story. Mark tells it very effectively and virtually takes us into his life.

As we follow this movement, we are enveloped by the world of an intelligent young man who struggles to fulfill his dream and become a commercial pilot, but at the same time, we claw our way out of the deep pain in an amazingly professional and sensitive man’s existence. The author cycles forwards and backwards in time to uncover the story of who he is as a pilot and as a human being.

The book is at once a personal and private account of Mark’s life and a vivid and rich account of his professional life. He emerges from A Hole in the Sky as a native born New Yorker whose environment and cultural background were shaped by an ingrained love for aviation and for life.

As we turn the pages, we have the impression that Mark is answering to the question of “how far?” How far can we go in bearing with the pain, in searching for a new meaning, in trusting others, in finding a new courage to stand up again and fight. No, there is no white flag above his door.
So, this amazing man and pilot proves us that forces beyond our control can take everything we posses except one thing, our freedom to choose how we will respond to the situation. Mark leads us into understanding that we cannot always control what happens to us in life, but we can always control what we will feel and do about what happens to us. Every life event, no matter how bad it is, holds a potential for growth and it is possible to actualize the potential happiness and meaning inherent and dormant in any given situation.

And yet, Mark’s book is not completely autobiographical: anyone interested in the technical aspects of the commercial pilot career will find everything accurately illuminated, with lots of “tips” to success too!

The writing is remarkable and the style of the narration is riveting and passionate. Very humorous too. It makes one laughing out loud and weeping uncontrollably. No doubt, this is a gripping, moving read from start to finish. Not to miss at any cost.
2 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Connor Burroughs
5.0 out of 5 stars A compelling story about love, loss and strength
Reviewed in the United States on September 12, 2023
Verified Purchase
Mark Berry has a way with words. His voice is unique, yet relatable... His ability to tell such a heart wrenching story is both beautiful and courageous. My biggest take away from this book is to keep going, to continue to forge new relationships, & to continue to search for joy! But most importantly, to always remember and honor our loved ones who've passed away. I highly recommend to anyone who has experienced profound loss - please read this book! If I could give more than 5 stars I would - Raquel
Helpful
 Report
Michelle
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2016
Verified Purchase
Interesting read about the TWA flight and the horror that the company and it's employees went through.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Angel
4.0 out of 5 stars Un buen libro
Reviewed in Spain on December 12, 2016
Verified Purchase
Interesante reflexión y libro de un piloto de avión alrededor de un accidente fatal de su compañía que sin duda fue el inicio del fin de la misma.
Report
Gabriel Quesada
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book
Reviewed in Mexico on August 24, 2016
Verified Purchase
Very nice book, a well written history by someone who loves life and aviation, i enjoyed reading this book a lot
Report
MR G J DEVINE
5.0 out of 5 stars A great read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 16, 2014
Verified Purchase
Having read some of the author's work in an airline magazine, I was keen to read this book. And i wasn't disappointed. Mark Berry cleverly mixes stories of his life before and after the tragedy of TWA 800, and his career in the flight deck. Both are fascinating to read. For the aviation-enthusiast in me, learning about his struggles to get hired as a pilot, and then his progression through the ranks, was amazing. To page-turn the period in his life relating to the loss of his girlfriend aboard the 747, gives you an insight into the human mind, and the pressures such an event can bring.
I'd really recommend this book, and kudos to Mr Berry for having the strength of character to write it.
2 people found this helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report