Captain Loft was found during the autopsy to have an undetected brain tumor in an area that controls vision. The unintentional jar apparently caused the planes nose to tilt down a few degrees. His flight crew included First Officer Albert John "Bert" Stockstill, 39, who had 5,800 hours of flying experience (with 306 of them in the L-1011), and Flight Engineer Donald Louis "Don" Repo, 51, who had 15,700 hours of flying experience, with 53 of them in the L-1011. Then came scattered parts from the number 1 (port) engine, and fragments from the port wing itself and the port tailplane. [5]:5. PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Farrell - Miami Herald Staff. I was amazed at the size of some of the pieces of wreckage he brought home on the air boat. He was mentioned in a book, The Crash of Flight 401, later made into a B-movie, and helped a Hollywood writer with the awful Ghosts of Flight 401, about commercial jets haunted by the dead pilots. Moe Lustig 7/16/23 Richard Micale: "I remember thinking 'S---, the plane's crashing,' and before I got finished thinking it, it was over. Bud no longer worked as a game warden - his day job was laying carpet. Then zip, the light was out.". Mama, heat up the frying pan. I diplomatically told James that I couldn't take possession of the large pieces of wreckage. The last thing Raposa remembered seeing before she was knocked out was a waterfall of colors. Some would rather not remember. When the main part of the fuselage hit the ground, it continued to move through the grass and water, breaking up as it went. The memories don't. Back to the clubhouse and armed with the airspace restrictions, I was ready to fly. I was too young for that kind of stuff. Startled, and now fully awake, he wondered, Whats going on here? A former crew chief on a B-52 in Vietnam, he had a keener sense than most passengers about a plane in trouble. All of us realized that many people had lost their lives and that there was a bit of mystery surrounding why a relatively new L1011 crashed into the Everglades on a clear, dark night. It was closing in on midnight on Dec. 29, 1972. A similar situation appeared in the Thai movie Dark Flight, directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri, produced in 2012. After dark he moonlighted as a commercial frogger. Old and sick now, he lives in near poverty on the edge of the Everglades. In fact, she told my mother that she cringed in fear every time she drove down Le Jeune Road (the eastern boundary of Miami International Airport) just because of all the jet noise when planes were landing and taking off. The trip to Florida, by official accounts, was pleasantly routine. His last complete thought before losing consciousness was, This is going to be one hell of a rough landing., Beverly Raposa with her Eastern Airlines stewardess class in the 60s; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Barbara Ann Saal Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed. My guess is that the L1011 essentially did a flat or horizontal cartwheel and tore itself apart. He had logged 280 hours in the L-1011. Then, it dropped 100ft (30m), and then again flew level for two more minutes, after which it began a descent so gradual it could not be perceived by the crew. Rowdy fans of Notre Dame and University of Nebraska, scheduled to play on New Year's Day at the Orange Bowl, were poised to take over the town. With the aircraft in mid-turn, the left wingtip hit the surface first, then the left engine and the left landing gear,[5]:8 making three trails through the sawgrass, each 5ft (1.5m) wide and more than 100ft (30m) long. He wants to show them how to gig frogs. The jet actually began losing altitude, so gradually that no one noticed until the very end. Alina Junco 5/2/44 Rodas, meanwhile, is "badly burned" as well, the source says. In the cockpit, the first of six radio altimeter warnings began, signaling an impending crash. (It was later expanded to a much larger area either later that same day or the next day.). He is completely burned. The captain, along with one of two flight crew members, two of 10 flight attendants, and 97 of 163 passengers, died; 75 . Thank you, Rob. In my mind, that makes him a real hero.". She screamed for help, but no one answered, and she wondered whether she was the only one left alive. Join FlightAware View more flight history Purchase entire flight history for AAL401. Above: A piece of wreckage from Flight 401 still visible in the Everglades. With no one flying the plane or noticing its steady descent at flight speed, it flew itself into the ground. Flashlights are now standard equipment near jumpseats, and all jumpseats are outfitted with shoulder harnesses. Above Left - Ron Infantino stands among survivors. If cities had soundtracks, none would sound quite like Nashville. Flight 401 may refer to: Iberia Airlines Flight 401, crashed on 5 May 1965. In 1972 he was a young carpenter who liked living fast. Jonathan Adam Kaminer 8/22/70 "Nobody paid him to go out there and try to rescue people," says Ken Pine, who recently fixed Bud's roof. Donald Louis Repo 5/10/21 Rosario Messina 2/29/26 On Dec. 29, 1972, it carried 178, including crew. Leonhard put the car in park, cut the motor and stepped out. N310EA, the aircraft involved in the accident. After lowering the gear, First Officer Stockstill noticed that the landing gear indicator, a green light identifying that the nose gear is properly locked in the "down" position, had not illuminated. "Remember what the doctor said," Nancy chimes in. He was out there gigging frogs when it happened. In short, it was a great place to eat (we used to have outstanding club Bar-B-Q, talk airplanes, perform minor maintenance and fly planes. Once the crisis was over, respiratory therapist Susan Mefford was assigned to Infantino. He'd get that look. North Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) December 7, 2007 On Monday, December 3, 2007 survivors of Eastern Airlines Flight 401, gathered at the Metro-Dade Firefighters Memorial Building, in Doral (Miami), Florida, to remember the 101 passengers and crew, who lost their lives in the fateful crash of a Lockheed L-1011, jumbo-jet in the Florida Everglades, December 29, 1972, while en route from New York to . The government considered him totally disabled. It didn't look as if anyone could have possibly survived the crash, yet 75 people did. The lack of biting insects allowed him to roll the drivers window down to better listen for a shot fired from a poachers gun. Flight 401 - First Response | "Welcome to Miami," the pilot announced during the descent at 11:30. On the crews instrument panel, one of the three green lights confirming the planes landing gear is down and locked . At the time, the decision to change seats carried no meaning. "That's what really gets me. He and his wife, Donna, live in Christmas, a small town between Orlando and Cape Canaveral. Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32 The aircraft was completely demolished, with wreckage, bodies, and survivors strewn over a wide area. Even at 78, Marquis is an old-fashioned country boy. The crew of Flight 401 taken aboard the jet earlier on the day of the crash: the flight attendants had gathered at the tail of the plane. This is the story about the night a jumbo jet landed among the pig frogs and alligators, the cottonmouth snakes and yellow-crowned night herons, in the Everglades. I don't know if she ever did return to flying; my mother never told me one way or the other. The flight had 163 passengers and 13 crew members. In the days and weeks following the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401, recovery efforts captivated the nation, and perhaps because of its iconic, unforgiving, alligator-riddled crash site, the event has remained seared in the memories of Floridians for decades. Silvia Crespo 11/30/32 They were both looking forward to some rest and then a big New Years celebration with Lillys Cuban parents in Miami, which would include a traditional whole roasted pig cooked over an open fire pit. Maria Elena Gonzalez 9/3/51 It crashed into the Everglades 18.7 miles northwest of the airport, eight miles north of Tamiami. Beverly Raposa switched seats from her regular position in the galley for a flight from New York to Miami. The Ghost of Flight 401. He saw openings in the sawgrass created by sliding chunks of broken airplane. Sharon Norene Gatti 3/2/48 Eastern Airlines Flight 401 is coming in for a landing in Miami. Shock had taken over. Luis Bancroft 10/10/48 Each year on December 29th, I spend a little time thinking about that silhouetted L1011 heading west over Opa locka Airport. THE CRASH OF FLIGHT 401 20 YEARS LATER SURVIVORS LIVE WITH PAIN, MEMORY, Author: ARNOLD MARKOWITZ Herald Staff Writer Copyright (c) 1992 The Miami Herald. That was the first time I had heard of the crash. At least they thought they had. Jana Dedek 6/24/53 He carried survivors to safety and made them as comfortable as he could. Im sure they all ran away. She spit the words out quickly, doing her best to sound convincing. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 3 | Good for me! The article covered the story of an Eastern L-1011 ferry flight where the jet lost one of the two operating engines and the pilot had a challenging landing. Ghosts of Flight 401 - YouTube 0:00 / 42:56 Ghosts of Flight 401 MrBallen 7.21M subscribers Subscribe 272K 5.1M views 4 months ago #mrballen #ghost #paranormal For 16 free meals with. In 2005, TANS Peru Flight 204 crashed into the Amazonian jungle, leaving a trail of bodies and wreckage scattered across the rainforest. Also in attendance was Ron Infantino, David Kaplan and the Casado family. Refresh the page, check Medium 's site. Lockheed L-1011 Inside the Hell Hole | You can see the brand name on the oven instruction plate. While the Flight Crew tried to troubleshoot the faulty indicator, the steering yoke was accidentally nudged, causing a function of the autopilot to begin a . Whether youre looking for a new reading nook or a rare find, here are all the local shops were booking it to. Makeshift tailgate strip clubs, dog poop versus machete matches and a whole lot alligators in unwanted now = new Date 09:23AM EST Miami Intl - MIA. On a moonless night, in the beam of his head lamp, the frog eyes would glow like rubies. Stephanie Rae Stanich 11/10/48 A lot of the people I saw were naked. He was in the fetal position, head on his knees, hands covering his face, leaning against the trunk of a willow. Leonhard doesnt remember which one. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 traveled from New York to Miami. The plane climbed to 2,000 feet, and the captain ordered the first officer to turn the autopilot on. Incident at Exeter concerned a series of well-publicized UFO sightings in and around the town of Exeter, New Hampshire in . And before I had time to even let off the throttle or do anything else, I ran over those two people, who I knew were both dead. One was Micale, who they found alone on a clump of swamp muck, drenched in swamp water and jet fuel. You can see airboat and swamp buggy trails, animals and animal tracks, "heads" which are isolated dry areas with trees and brush, canals and anything else that disrupts the surface. After the wreckage is removed, salvageable parts from the plane are used to repair other aircraft. An aerial view of the crash site; a swath of the Everglades; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Then the commuter airline folded. in Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering, or related subject area In another 50 seconds, the plane was at half its assigned altitude. The ultimate "yes sir, no sir" man, Bud shuffles reluctantly onto the porch, blinking furiously in the sunlight, wondering what's up. Front row: Sue Tebbs, Dottie Warnock, Beverly Raposa and Stephanie Stanich. We had a habit of informally gathering at the clubhouse on Friday and Saturday evenings to down a few beers and catch up on all the news that had any impact on us. Theyre not going to find us, an anxious passenger whispered. Incredibly, we found a man sitting alone on a small tussock. Trudy Smith didn't return to flying. In recent months Canti and others have made pilgrimages to Bud's screened door to hear his story. Around 4:30 a.m., Leonhard waded up to a willow heada thick tangle of weepy trees with brittle limbs draping into the water. But we idled back around to double-check on them just in case.. In his mind, he's still a strapping young fellow with big muscles. Two minutes later, Flight 401 called the air traffic control tower. He was more than 25 miles away. Based on the book, it dramatized the crash, rescue efforts, and NTSB investigation. Interment will follow at 2pm at Florida National Cemetery. [26], Flight 401 is mentioned in the TV show Supernatural Season 1 Episode 4 named Phantom Traveler's. Only small fragments of metal marked the wingtip's first contact, followed 49ft (15m) further on by three massive 115ft (35m) swaths cut through the mud and sawgrass by the aircraft's extended undercarriage before two of the legs were sheared off. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute - Investigation Investigation Later that morning the world woke to news of the tragedy. Grand Canyon Disaster + . Were still at 2,000, right? the first officer asked. "Hey, what's happening here?" Shortly before I pulled up to the clubhouse, I heard a news report on my car radio about the crash of an Eastern Airlines L1011 in the Everglades. Paquita Carrasquillo 10/4/40 We went deeper and deeper, until wed gone about 50 yards. His foot pressed lightly against the accelerator pedal as he inched down the south levee on the L-28 canal with his headlights off. His wife said his ashes would be spread over the crash site in the Everglades that ''he loved so much,'' at a later date. The powers-that-be want them to . Allen M. Stark 8/11/49 Flight 401 flew into the ground on Friday night, Dec. 29, 1972, at 13 seconds past 11:42 p.m. A jumbo jet crashed in the Everglades north of the Tamiami Trial, his sergeant said. The four-month-old L-1011 TriStar jet crashed into the Florida Everglades on December 29, 1972 at 11:42 p.m., caused . The television movie The Ghost of Flight 401, which was broadcast on NBC during February 1978, offers a fictionalized depiction of the crash and alleged ghost sightings. Serving coffee, tea and soda was all very nice, but this was what counted. The cloak of black was made all the more intense by the surreal stillness. Flight 401 Normal - Faulty Auto Pilot | The Ghost of Flight 401: Mystery Files | The flight should have taken around 18 hours. Five hours after the crash, the welcome sounds of voices and legs sloshing through water, labored breathing and flashlight beams probing the dark broke the silence. He was an aviation business student at Miami-Dade Community College then, and used some of his money to start a commuter airline. Part 243 - PASSENGER MANIFEST INFORMATION. Ethel L. Jackson 3/8/08 He likes to think about those days. Mr. Elder later became an Editor at the San Jose Mercury News. Bob called Infantino, who loves to tell the story: "He was a regional coordinator with AFLAC, American Family Life Assurance Co., and that's when I started -- 16 years ago, and I've been with them ever since. Sure enough, I recall that the initial restricted area was posted in a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and set out a no-fly zone that had a one mile radius from the crash site up to 2,000 feet above mean sea level. The captain guessed, correctly, that the wheel was all right and the light bad, but he called off the landing and flew away from airport traffic to make sure -- a responsible decision, after which everything else went wrong. The bronze plaques are being donated as well as the granite base. [5]:30[6]:99 The aircraft was fleet number 310, and the 10th TriStar delivered to the carrier. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011-1 Tristar jet that crashed into the Florida Everglades at 11:42 pm December 29, 1972, causing 101 fatalities (99 initial crash fatalities, two died shortly afterward). The altimeter showed a decrease in altitude, but none of the crew noticed. The middle engine and tail section had broken away from the main fuselage, coming to a rest on their sides in a remote area far from the main crash site, which was located 18.7 miles northwest of Miami International Airport. Then, on Saturday, December 29, a fleet of over 100 airboats carried survivors, their families and others to the crash site for a special memorial. He rescued some terrified folks - he doesn't know how many - before the regular cavalry of official rescuers arrived in helicopters, directed to the carnage by his head lamp. Adelaide Geneve Bearman 9/21/22 I don't see any reason to worry about what fate has brought. [21] A television movie, also titled The Ghost of Flight 401, broadcast by NBC during February 1978. "You have to keep your eye on the frogs real good when that airboat is moving - I mean not take your eyes away - and be quick with the gig," he says, in what amounts to the Gettysburg Address for him. The death toll at the time was the highest of any one-plane accident in U.S. civil aviation history. Frank Borman called it all a bunch of "crap" and considered suing the producers of the 1978 made-for-TV movie about the ghost stories for libel. [5]:4 The engineer (Repo) had gone below, and no indication was heard of the pilots' voices recorded on the CVR that they heard the chime. Feel the warmth going down.. But Infantino couldnt follow the voice. Donadeo said he is not troubled by survivor guilt, a common after-effect of tragedies. All three pilots, two of 10 flight attendants, and 96 of 163 passengers died, while 75 passengers and crew survived. Follow my voice!. 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