26 Seconds
Grief and Blame in the Aftermath of Losing My Brother in a Plane Crash
On a stormy late May morning in 2008, TACA Airlines Flight 390 crashes at one of the most dangerous airports in the world, Honduras’s Toncontin International Airport. Five people die in the crash—among them Rossana D’Antonio’s brother, pilot Cesare D’Antonio. Suspecting Cesare will be made a scapegoat for the accident, as so often happens to pilots, Rossana decides to leverage her decades of experience as an engineer and set out in search of the truth.
Part memoir, part exposé, 26 Seconds interweaves Rossana’s research regarding other parallel accidents with her own story. Six months after the TACA crash, Captain Sully Sullenberger lands his plane on the Hudson River. Although authorities call his landing a miracle, they also blame him for its necessity. One year after the TACA 390 tragedy, Air France 447 falls from the sky. Again, pilot error.
As Rossana digs deeper, she exposes a culture that is too quick to conclude pilot error and an industry that experiences systemic weaknesses, chooses profits over safety, lies to its customers, and is willing to risk lives to get its planes back up in the sky. Ultimately, she uncovers the smoking gun she’s been looking for—revealing the truth about TACA 390, exposing aviation cover-ups, and challenging us all to question the very systems we’ve been told we can trust with our lives.
Praise for 26 Seconds
“An engrossing re-creation of an aviation tragedy, blending meticulous analysis with a passionate plea for reform.”
—KIRKUS REVIEWS
“A sister’s moving, alarming examination of an air tragedy. A compact, powerful read.”
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY’S BOOKLIFE REVIEW
“In 26 Seconds, Rossana D’Antonio shares a raw and compelling account of tragedy, resilience, and discovery. With vivid storytelling and an unwavering commitment to uncovering the facts, she takes readers on a journey through loss, love, and the complexities of blame. This unforgettable memoir is a testament to the enduring power of truth and the unbreakable bonds of family.”
—LOS ANGELES BOOK REVIEW
“[A] touching tribute to lost lives and a call to action for change in how we perceive and investigate aviation accidents… This memoir makes a significant contribution to the discourse on grief, memory, and justice, reminding us of the human stories behind each headline.”
—READERS’ FAVORITE
“Where others see only ‘human error,’ and learn nothing of value, Rossana takes us by the hand and shows us what there is to learn and love instead. Speaking for the dead speaks as loudly for Cesare as it does for everyone who could have been in his shoes. It speaks for the past as much as for the future—our future, and the future of Cesare’s legacy.”
—Dr. Sidney Dekker
Author of The Field Guide to Understanding ‘Human Error’
“26 Seconds is at once a searing portrait of grief and a damning investigation of an industry that puts profit over safety at every turn. With an engineer’s exactitude, Rossana D’Antonio exposes how blaming “pilot-error” is often a cover for corporate greed and systemic failures. Like so many plane crashes, the flight that killed D’Antonio’s brother was not an accident — and this powerful book is an affecting guide to understanding why.”
—Jessie Singer
Author of There Are No Accidents:
The Deadly Rise of Injury and Disaster — Who Profits and Who Pays the Price
“D’Antonio takes you on a journey of discovery. 26 Seconds is a story that blends the humanity following an aviation disaster, an obsessive quest for answers, finding purpose beyond tragedy, and a scathing rebuke on the weaknesses in our aviation industry. Heartbreaking and so timely.”
—Gloria Feldt
Author of No Excuses and
Co-Founder & President of Take the Lead
“26 Seconds is impossible to put down. You will read it in one sitting. I happily lost a night’s sleep as my heart raced, tears stinging my eyes. Turning page-after-page, I couldn’t read fast enough to see if Rossana’s heroic search to find the “smoking gun” that would ultimately clear her brother’s name would be uncovered by her ceaseless efforts to research each detail of the disaster.”
—Monica Holloway
Author of Driving With Dead People, Simon & Schuster
“This story will move you to tears and move you to action — which is to say that it does what a great memoir must do. With the heart of a sister, Rossana takes us inside the life of a brother who loved to fly and died doing it. With the mind of an activist and an engineer, she takes us inside the aviation industry that is far too quick to lay blame on the pilot in the cockpit rather than examine it’s own shortcomings. A riveting read — and an important one for anyone who steps on a plane.”
—Jennie Nash
CEO, Author Accelerator
“Rossana D’Antonio has written a gorgeous tribute to her hero, to her brother, in this heart-stopping memoir. 26 Seconds is the work of a determined mind. We as D’Antonio’s readers are gifted with the opportunity to follow along and see what happens when a brilliant woman with the brain of a successful civil engineer and the heart of a fiercely protective sister are combined and set in motion. Charged as a child to take care of her beloved, adventurous younger brother, D’Antonio is forced to follow through with this expectation at the worst of times—when he is killed in an airplane accident as the pilot of a commercial jet. When she becomes suspicious of the airlines and its subpar investigation as well as the aviation industry in general, she uses her high-level skills to uncover the truth of what happened to her brother and in doing so clear his name. D’Antonio’s readers are fully in the know and along with her on this suspenseful, devastating, and deeply loving journey. I highly recommend this stunning memoir as its own gift to humanity.”
—Marty Ross-Dolen
Author of Always There, Always Gone:
A Daughter’s Search for Truth
“Rossana’s passion for public safety is an impressive legacy that honors not only her brother but also herself. A profound, and well-written journey of healing from a very personal tragedy.”
—Bonnie Comfort
Author of Staying Married is the Hardest Part: A Memoir of Passion, Secrets and Sacrifice
“26 Seconds: Grief and Blame in the Aftermath of Losing My Brother in a Plane Crash by Rossana D’Antonio is a deeply moving memoir about loss, resilience, and the search for truth. When Rossana’s beloved brother is tragically killed in a devastating plane crash, her world shatters in an instant—just 26 seconds of chaos altering the course of her life forever. This important story illustrates how unimaginable pain can lead to purpose – and the power to make a difference. Somewhere up there Cesare is smiling.”
—Deb Miller
Author of Forget the Fairy Take and Find Your Happiness
“Weaving together the systemic coverups in the airline industry together with her loving relationship with Cesare, this memoir is both an expose and a tribute. Readers will be shocked at D’Antonio’s findings. Yet fulfilled as she honors her brother’s life and the contribution his death made to air travel safety.”
—Babs Walters
Author of Facing the Jaguar:
A Memoir of Courage and Confrontation
“26 Seconds pulls you into a deep personal family crisis on a personal level, where the reader has an unquenchable thirst to get to the truth themselves. It also highlights the author’s defining moment, when she will not let governments and large, influential businesses hide the inconvenient truth by placing blame on “pilot error.” Because of her valor, she will have saved countless other lives, while also reframing her brother’s death as a hero who saved 130 lives. My hat’s off to Rossana for telling this important story!”
—Maria Lehman, PE
Director, US Infrastructure at GHD and Former ASCE 2023 President
“A very personal, heart wrenching story. I came away so inspired by grief transformed into a positive mission.”
—Marsha Anderson Bomar, Ph.D.
Commissioner Emeritus Atlanta Department of Transportation
“Rossana has woven a deeply personal narrative of loss. This is a compelling book with an important message for all of us to be catalysts for change. A powerful book!”
—Dr. Feniosky Pena-Mora
Dean of Engineering and Sciences Tecnologico de Monterrey
“26 Seconds is both a memoir and a compelling examination of the decisions airlines, manufacturers, and oversight agencies make regarding traveler safety. D’Antonio highlights instances where safety concerns were identified but, for various reasons, went unaddressed. The book underscores the need for strong leadership and the courage to make difficult decisions when balancing competing priorities. While centered on air travel, its lessons extend far beyond aviation, prompting readers to reflect on where they might be compromising safety for convenience, comfort, or cost.”
—Kristina Swallow, PE
2018 ASCE President
“26 Seconds took me on an emotional journey and challenged me to look at the airline industry with critical eyes – the same way I’d critically review other transportation systems and infrastructure I rely on every day. If a system results in prioritization of profits over people will future disasters claim someone else’s brother? If we heed Rossana’s warning, we can avoid someone else’s grief.”
—Carol Haddock, PE
Former Director Houston Public Works
Cesare D’Antonio
“Writing this book has been the hardest thing I have ever done. Along this 15-year journey, there have been countless people who have been instrumental in helping me get this labor of love out into the world and into your hands. Perhaps the most pivotal influence has been my brother, Cesare, who served as my muse. On days when I thought this project would never take flight, Cesare would peer at me from his picture frame nestled amongst my most prized possessions on the bookshelf in our home office. The snapshot, taken in an Airbus 320 cockpit, is of a uniformed Cesare seated at the captain’s chair sporting his Prada sunglasses, his crooked smile displaying a chipped front tooth. He is forever in his happy place, at 35,000 feet over Mother Earth, and he would nudge me to keep at it. I could almost hear him reminding me this story needed to be told. I thank him every day for being my inspiration, my teacher, my pesky little brother. I miss you every single day.”
—Rossana D’Antonio
Contributed Essays:
“What’s In a Name?”
“Love is a Many Splendored Thing”
Lessons From My Parents:
100 Shared Moments that Changed Our Lives
Have you ever experienced a moment in your life when you began to appreciate the stories and lessons your parents might have shared with you? Perhaps it was a moment quietly working when your father told you of his painful experience during WWII; or when your mother taught you about beauty while picking daffodils for her neighbor; or when in a moment of tragedy you recall how your parents handled something so difficult with such poise and strength that it helped you go on? Our culture and our history is created through stories, personal stories, whether funny or sad, light or difficult, poignant or profound. Lessons From My Parents has collected 100 such stories from writers from across the world and shares them in this seminal work celebrating the life lessons we learn without even realizing it.