Uploaded November 2022 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Sometimes your life changes course by accident, like a real accident. For Hugo Leuteritz that happened on August 15 1928 when on a flight from Habana, Cuba to Key West, Florida the Pan American Airways Fokker F-V11a/3m drifted off course and was forced to attempt a water landing in the Gulf of Mexico. The landing was far from perfect, although the crew survived, one passenger died and one survived.
Hugo Leuteritz, the radio operator on that flight, was employed by RCA, where he was working on aircraft radios for communication and navigation, but the overconfident pilot, Captain Robert Fatt, didn't see the need for artificial navigation aids. Fatt told Leuteritz "I've thrown better radios off airplanes than you can build."
In retrospect Pan Am did see the need for radio navigation and hired Hugo Leuteritz to develop radios that not only improved flight safety, but allowed Pan Am to pioneer trans ocean air traffic routes.
Brian Harrison, a radio consultant to the PBS documentary "Across the Pacific" tells the story of how Hugo Leuteritz and Pan AM changed transportation history.
If you enjoyed this video, consider becoming a member of the Antique Wireless Association at: antiquewireless.org/homepage/membership
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Sometimes your life changes course by accident, like a real accident. For Hugo Leuteritz that happened on August 15 1928 when on a flight from Habana, Cuba to Key West, Florida the Pan American Airways Fokker F-V11a/3m drifted off course and was forced to attempt a water landing in the Gulf of Mexico. The landing was far from perfect, although the crew survived, one passenger died and one survived.
Hugo Leuteritz, the radio operator on that flight, was employed by RCA, where he was working on aircraft radios for communication and navigation, but the overconfident pilot, Captain Robert Fatt, didn't see the need for artificial navigation aids. Fatt told Leuteritz "I've thrown better radios off airplanes than you can build."
In retrospect Pan Am did see the need for radio navigation and hired Hugo Leuteritz to develop radios that not only improved flight safety, but allowed Pan Am to pioneer trans ocean air traffic routes.
Brian Harrison, a radio consultant to the PBS documentary "Across the Pacific" tells the story of how Hugo Leuteritz and Pan AM changed transportation history.
If you enjoyed this video, consider becoming a member of the Antique Wireless Association at: antiquewireless.org/homepage/membership
Subscribe to the Antique Wireless Museum channel and you'll receive news of our latest video uploads.
