Dennis E. Fitch

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Dennis E. Fitch (Denny Fitch) (born 1943) was the off-duty DC-10 training captain who helped captain Al Haynes save United Airlines Flight 232 when all flight controls were lost, on 19 July 1989. Fitch used differential throttle adjustment to steer the airliner to a crash-landing at Sioux Gateway Airport, in Sioux City, Iowa, resulting in the survival of 185 out of 296 on-board. He was badly injured in the crash, but returned to flying duties with United Airlines, for whom he had worked for 21 years.

He was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and was commended by President George Bush and in Senate Resolution 174 of the 101st Congress, as a result of his feat.

A safety consultant to NASA as a member of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, he is also president of his own aviation consulting firm, specialising in Cockpit Resource Management and human factors, and gives motivational presentations to corporate groups and associations on teamwork, drawing on his experience on Flight 232.

He was formerly a pilot in the Air National Guard, and attended Duquesne University.