Rosa Fitch says her husband, Dennis Fitch, died at their home in St. Charles of brain cancer on Monday.
In July 1989, Fitch was a United pilot and flight instructor who happened to be a passenger on United Flight 232 when it lost all hydraulic power while flying from Denver to Chicago.
The DC-10 crash-landed, killing 111 people. Fitch and 184 others survived, due largely to his troubleshooting from the cockpit floor where he and the crew struggled to control the plunging jet.
The work of the crew became famous in the aviation world and became part of pilot training.
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Information from: Daily Herald, http://www.dailyherald.com
