Biography of Dennis Fitch

 Moments later, he was in the cockpit offering his help. What he and the cockpit crew did and how they did it is without precedent. Their combined abilities and teamwork saved nearly 200 lives.

Fitch was a United training and check pilot with over 3000 hours on the DC-10. He had studied the case of the JAL Flight 123, another case where all control surfaces failed, and used a steer-by-throttle technique he had subsequently practiced to land the plane in a controlled crash. When the plane made its crash landing, Dennis was at the controls, doing his part to assist the heroic flight crew.

Owing to the extraordinary skill of the crew and DC-10 instructor pilot, Dennis Fitch, 175 passengers and 10 crew members survived. The accident is considered one of the textbook examples of successful crew resource management, due to the excellent use of all the resources available aboard the plane and on the ground for help during the emergency.

Dennis Fitch and the crew made the emergency landing in Sioux City, Iowa, holding the record for the longest time aloft without flight controls. Subsequent simulator tests showed that other DC-10 crews were unable to repeat the efforts of the crew of 232.

The incident was made the subject of the 1992 television movie, "Crash Landing: The Rescue of Flight 232", starring Charleton Heston and was also featured in a episode of "Seconds From Disaster" on the National Geographic Channel. It was also one of the inspirations for Peter Weir's 1993 "Fearless", adapted from a novel by Rafael Yglesias.

President George Bush commended Captain Fitch for his outstanding effort, poise and courage in assisting the crew with such a difficult landing.

Dennis Fitch has been recognized for his extensive experience as a flight safety consultant to NASA by being elected a member of the Aerospace Hall of Fame at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Wshington, D.C.

Dennis is a sought after inspirational and motivational speaker who uses his own dramatic experiences to help audiences see that detils make a difference and how to rely on other team members for success.