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“Neither KITV exclusive piece mentioned if Fuddy had time to put on lifejacket as the other passengers/crew did.”

“Was she already unconscious or did she pass out afterwards?”

You need to read the many posts and news stories to get the totality of the events, and some contradictory accounts of those events.

The news reports indicate the pilot did an absolutely superb job of getting the aircraft into a proper failed engine glide and ditching in the sea. This was actually quite a tremendous feat given the aircraft’s fixed landing gear. A fixed landing gear of this type normally will cause the aircraft to snag a wave crest as the pilot attempts to belly the aircraft down into the water gently enough to keep from killing the people aboard the aircraft with the trauma of a severe impact. Doing so can be described as something like driving an automobile into a solid concrete wall at speeds of 40mph to 100mph. You can imagine what that can do to the head, necks, spines, and other body parts of the passengers in the automobiles and an aircraft. This pilot succeeded in gently dropping the aircraft into the water with a minimal impact, a very good feat of airmanship.

One of the passengers has been described as having a cut on his forehead, presumably due to the impact of the aircraft in the water. No doubt everyone suffered some hard knocks against their seat belts upon impact. Nonetheless, it is reported that everyone remained calm after the ditching, donned their life vests, and waited aboard the aircraft, until the aircraft began to sink in the water. The pilot then evacuated the passengers from the aircraft into the sea with their life vests, includding Loretta Fuddy. They described how they calmly walked out of the aircraft and into the sea using the steps on the aircraft. The rough seas and currents then separated the survivors into two groups after entering the sea, despite the efforts of the pilot and others to keep them together. One of the 70 year old men, a former Army Ranger (IIRC) swam ashore about a half-mile to find help for the others. the other seven people struggled to stay together as best they could as aircraft began to circle above to bring about their rescue.

Loretta Fuddy was assisted by her Deputy Director of HDOH, Keith Yamamoto, until she slipped away non-responsive to Yamamoto’s efforts to hold on to her.

Elengr's post #21 says they all had life jackets on. It seems somewhat less-than-credible for a man in swim trunks and a T-shirt to claim he was unsuccessful in his "efforts to hold onto her."

As a swimming and lifesaving instructor for many years, I find it hard to imagine having much difficulty holding onto a life-jacketed person, all the more if the victim is unresponsive. An active person, exhibiting various manifestations of distress would seem much more likely to be difficult to handle.