The transcript of what the reporter Brianne Randle and Phil Hollstein say isn't exact. What she says in the video is "Phil last remembers seeing health director Loretta Fuddy with a life vest on."
http://www.khon2.com/news/plane-crash-survivor-praises-pilot
Slideshow: Plane crash off Molokai
One of the survivors in a plane crash off Molokai was determined to get everyone out and into their life vests, even swimming a half mile to shore to flag down help!
Phil Hollstein says he's absolutely thankful to be alive, hailing the pilot, Clyde Kawasaki, a hero.
"I'm guessing the air speed was at least 70 and we hit the water. It's like instant brakes," Hollstein said.
Hollstein says it all happened so fast. His Makani Kai Air flight had just departed Kalaupapa, bound for Honolulu when they heard it.
"Not sure how high. Maybe 300 to 500 feet. It wasn't too long after and we were climbing and then there was a bang. Not too loud, not too quiet, but there was a bang. Then everything quit," Hollstein said.
He says the pilot had only moments to react.
"He did everything by the numbers. He was handling the airplane and just the fact that we got it in there as clean as we did," Hollstein said.
The plane landed right side up. Everyone had their seat belts on and remained calm. Then it was a race against the clock to get everyone out.
"Nothing like the movies. No one was screaming or yelling, just trying to get out of there. And the way it was filling with water, it seemed the best course of action was to just get out of there," Hollstein said.
He says everyone did make it out ok and he helped people get into their life vests.
"There was one couple that had their vests. The guy had a seat cushion to his chest leaning back. He couldn't open it. I went and helped him open it, shoved it over his head, and fired the thing off," Hollstein said.
Hollstein last remembers seeing Health Director Loretta Fuddy with a life vest on. Then he took off swimming for shore.
He got cut up on the rocks, but made it, and flagged down a passing driver for help.
The pilot's son told KHON2 that his dad even gave his own life vest away to one of the passengers to make sure they would be safe.
Friends say Kawasaki suffered broken ribs and a concussion.
His son is expecting him to be released from the hospital soon.
thanks for posting that, I still can't read the text, it must be something to do with my security settings...this is an interesting comment:
He got cut up on the rocks, but made it, and flagged down a passing driver for help.
So it was Hollstein who had blood on his shirt, we were confused about that.