I've flown in and out of that airport numerous times personally and based on the location of their ditching they were airborne most likely less than one minute before they were coming back down, in that short amount of time the pilot was more than likely focusing on setting it down in the best possible way and trying to get word out rather than yelling back at the PAX about life jackets.
They were also extremely lucky in having the ocean conditions they did on that day, normally the north short of Molokai sees 10+ foot waves, the fact that the ocean was almost perfectly calm saved their lives.
Last edited by aviatorhi; 12th Jan 2014 at 04:55.