Information Captain Dewitt News Today

San juan, puerto rico. but 13 minutes later san juan air traffic control center tells him st. martin tower wants to talk to him. >> i picked up and i tried to get hold of san martin. i got hold of san martin tower and all they did was start giving me fairly good weather, 1,500, et cetera. which was well above the minimums i needed. i did question them, where did the report come from that you were below minimums? i elected then to refile for san martin, my original destination, which i did. >> bu...

Talk to him. >> i picked up and i tried to get hold of san martin. i got hold of san martin tower and all they did was start giving me fairly good weather, 1,500, et cetera. which was well above the minimums i needed. i did question them, where did the report come from that you were below minimums? i elected then to refile for san martin, my original destination, which i did. >> but as these dramatic animations illustrate, contrary to the information captain dewitt says he was given, weather is ...

Standard required for landing. he elects to divert to san juan, puerto rico. 13 minutes later, san juan tower tells him st. martin tower wants to talk to him. >> so i picked up and tried to get hold of san martin tower. all they did was start giving me fairly good weather, which is well above the minimums i needed. i did question them, where did the report come from that you were below minimums? i elected then to refile for st. martin, my original destination, which i did. >> but as these dramat...

May 2nd, 1970. bad weather, low visibility, and lack of fuel. captain dewitt has no choice but to ditch his plane in the caribbean sea. no footage exists of this incident, but our dramatic animation shows what the plane might have looked like as it slammed into those turbulent waters. here is how the pilot describes what it felt like to be in the cockpit in that life-and-death moment. >> my first contact with the water was quite smooth. it was not too long after that that the rest of the airplan...

Vibrating so that i couldnt even read it. >> but how did this flight end up in such a dire situation? after failing to land at st. martins airport in bad weather, captain dewitt decides to divert first to the near by island of st. thomas and then to st. croix when he finds out its even closer. but as the plane is climbing away from the airport in a torrential downpour, theres a problem. >> my navigator said to me, my god, look at the fuel gauges. >> because of the wind and the turbulence and con...

Second approach into st. martin was fuel critical. and to allow a jet to get into that fuel critical of a state is an error on the part of the crew. >> theres one thing in this accident that cannot be taken away from me, and i will not let anybody take it away from me and thats the responsibility. i take that. i wear the stripes. i made all the decisions. somewhere along the line, i should have been sharp enough to know regardless than to get myself in a situation like that. and to this day, i s...

Caribbean weather. all of those factors combined are about to turn a routine flight into a nightmare. for the first time after four decades, the pilot of that flight, captain dewitt is telling his story on american television. >> as far as an accident being a chain of events, this definitely was it. >> on the ground, captain dewitt says he confirms he has enough fuel to make it not only to his destination but also to an alternate airport in case of a diversion. standard for all commercial flight...

St. thomas. >> i briefed the crew we were going to st. croix but we were going to set up for a possible ditching. its dark. its raining and the sea is really very angry. a lot of white caps. the swells were quite enormous and i had heavy winds. >> all of captain dewitts years of experience are about to come into play. as he descends, he eyeballs the 10 to 15-foot waves. and he chooses one, knowing full well he has to land on top of it rather than into it, or the plane could break into pieces. ti...

Telling his story on american television. >> as far as an accident being a chain of events, this definitely was it. >> on the ground, captain dewitt says he confirms he has enough fuel to make it not only to his destination but also to an alternate airport in case of a diversion. standard for all commercial flights. he goes through his equipment checklist and discovers the cockpits p.a. system isnt working, but thats not required. at 11:14 a.m., the flight is cleared for takeoff. the dc-9 is des...

13 minutes later, san juan tower tells him st. martin tower wants to talk to him. >> so i picked up and tried to get hold of san martin tower. all they did was start giving me fairly good weather, which is well above the minimums i needed. i did question them, where did the report come from that you were below minimums? i elected then to refile for st. martin, my original destination, which i did. >> but as these dramatic animations illustrate, contrary to the information captain dewitt says he ...