Shari Peterson is best known for her book “The View from 13F,” which covers her life and her survival of the United Airlines Flight 811 accident. The author talk was hosted by the Sac City Public Library.

On Feb. 24, 1989, Flight 811, which held 337 passengers and 18 crew members, took off from Honolulu, Hawaii heading to Sydney, Australia. After the cargo door malfunctioned mid-flight, it was completely torn off the side of the plane. This caused explosive decompression and blew several rows of seats out of the plane. In total, nine passengers had lost their lives in the accident before the plane was able to make it back to Honolulu.

Peterson, who was raised on a rural Iowa farm, was aboard the flight and describes her experience in “The View from 13F,” which was published in 2019.

The most harrowing detail of Peterson’s story relates to the title of her book. She was originally supposed to sit in seat 9F, but there was already someone in that seat who did not want to move. Peterson moved over to 13F and during the accident, the man in 9F was thrown out of the plane and died.

The talk started with a short introduction of the author and moved quickly into a video she had that explains the bulk of the actual accident.

After the video, Peterson moved into discussing how the event affected her life. She started by asking the crowd if they could tell her what the most common question she gets is. That question being, “Do you still fly?” Her answer was “absolutely.”

Peterson explained that the crowd understands because that’s how Iowans are raised. She said Iowans are “raised to get back on the horse after falling off.”

Going over her life before the accident, Peterson discussed how her husband at the time would verbally put her down and how she developed drinking issues, and then moved on to how the event forced her to look at her life and make some changes.

She then discussed the time immediately after where she was filled with anxiety and couldn’t stand how often people would talk to her about the event.

After a while she found strength in turning this event into something she could use to help others. She brought up how growing up in Iowa instilled the idea of treating others how you would like to be treated and showing kindness while having a strong sense of self.

To her, the event has reinforced these morals for her. On reflection of the horrifying event, Peterson believes she has come out of it fearless. Peterson said that she no longer weighs her fears before going forward with her life, and that this has led her to a life she truly loves.

Once a few questions were asked, the conversation went back to details of the event. She brought up interesting facts like how people ran simulations, and they never survived in them. She also brought up how the plane was in a sweet spot when it comes to altitude which allowed them to get back to Honolulu because they had to fly around a thunderstorm.