It was more accurately a "tie-down"club; the members owned their aircraft and joined the club to be able to tie-down their aircraft at reasonable costs and have access to a ramp area where they could perform routine maintenance on their planes. Last edited on 22 February 2023, at 02:18, intentional infliction of emotional distress, "Airliner carrying 167 crashes in Everglades", "Giant jetliner goes down in 'gator infested swamp", "Eastern Airlines, Inc. L-1011, N310EA, Miami, Florida, December 29, 1972", "Robert "Bud" Marquis's Obituary on San Francisco Chronicle", "PART TWO: THE CRASH "It felt like a wild rollercoaster ride", "A Lesson on the Importance of Crew Resource Management", "Lessons Learnt from the Crash of Eastern 401", Eastern Flight 401 The Story of the Crash, The Crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401-Epilogue, ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar 1 N310EA Everglades, FL, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401&oldid=1140849286, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 02:18. That area was off limits to hunters and others for a number of months while federal investigators searched the area for clues to the crash. Speeding across the 'glades in his airboat, Bud was the first rescuer on the scene. LOYLESS FUNERAL HOME, Land O'Lakes/Lutz Chapel. With the $250,000 legal settlement, Micale thought he had it made. On the clear, moonless night of Dec. 29, 1972, a young rookie game warden sat behind the steering wheel of a light-green 1969 Plymouth four-door sedan with a blue gumball emergency light mounted on the rooftop. [5]:3, The cockpit crew removed the light assembly,[6]:102 and Second Officer Repo was dispatched to the avionics bay beneath the flight deck to check via a small porthole whether the landing gear was indeed down. "It survived that night, just like me. He seemed deeply saddened by that fact. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA and was a 26 year resident of Christmas, FL. Flight 401 - Flight Crew Fatal Photograph | Grand Canyon Disaster + . It was approximately 15 to 20 miles west-southwest of the Opa locka Airport and it was pretty difficult to find at first. These and other requirements are imposed for the purpose of meeting the collective objectives of the Aviation and Boom. That subsides. He has fallen backwards and his arms are spread apart. His 1977 book, Crash, tells the story of many of the passengers, the investigation and aftermath of Flight 401. The approach controller cleared the flight to climb to 2,000ft (610m), and then hold west over the Everglades. [11] The swamp absorbed much of the energy of the crash, lessening the impact on the aircraft. Discretion was the better part of valor. She was killed. Email subscription; Email subscription; . A square green light on the control panel was supposed to signal that the wheel was in position. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 7 | Luis Bancroft 10/10/48 Sometime in midflight, passenger Ron Infantino switched seats with his wife, Lilly, after she returned from the bathroom. They rushed to rescue survivors. [5]:5. He retired from the Metro-Dade police department and moved to Brooksville, Florida many years ago. Instead, he would witness the first jumbo jet crash in U.S. history. Colonel. Huge gouts of mud and aquatic vegetation shot high into the air as 185 tons of screeching metal ripped into the muck and grass. Loft, Robert Albin | Folks from South Florida's sporting community, mostly hunters, fishers and airboaters, heard, many for the first time, about Bud. The bent, white-haired man in the mirror has a bad heart and breathes from an oxygen machine, hasn't been frogging in a coon's age, and hasn't been in his airboat since, well, he can't remember. Angelo was a friend to all who know him, generous with his time to anyone who needed him and a devoted husband and father. Flight 401 left John F. Kennedy at 9:20 p.m. The crew members, however, were focused on fixing the wheel-light indicator. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 on the tarmac before takeoff on Dec. 29, 1972; Photography by Jon Proctor, I called out to a Coast Guardsman who was working nearby to come and help me out, Leonhard said. Mary Carfizzi 11/3/19 The problem had consumed all their mental energy. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute | My direct and indirect contact with Eastern Flight 401 didn't end on December 30, 1972. Captain Loft was found during the autopsy to have an undetected brain tumor in an area that controls vision. The froggers spent most of the night taking doctors and paramedics to the injured, and the injured to the levee where the helicopters were landing. The cruel facts of this disaster only reinforced my observation that you won't die unless it's your time to die. I saw a husband who couldn't find his wife or his children." I don't pretend to understand why it happens. They never met again, never talked again, and never will: Ray died years ago in Arcadia. Brief Synopsis. My guess is that the L1011 essentially did a flat or horizontal cartwheel and tore itself apart. I had initially intended to fly a little above 2,000 feet to avoid the restrictions, but I ended up closer to 3,000 feet to avoid the other aircraft. The Ghost of Flight 401. Two minutes later, Flight 401 called the air traffic control tower. Oddly, he felt no pain. Now for the big decisions - who gets to ride with us? [5]:3 This was later discovered to be due to a burned-out light bulb. Judy Ellenberg 2/27/53 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. He was trapped beneath the water. Not long after, "ghosts" of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew members on other Eastern Tri-Stars, especially those planes which had been fitted with parts salvaged from the Flight 401 wreckage. During its descent, the Boeing jet airliner was in a "nose up deck approach" which meant that it was almost next to impossible for its flight crew to see the small Cessna flying directly below it.39 The overhead position of the climbing Cessna 172 Skyhawk's cantilevered wing would have restricted Boswell and Kazy's rear view.40 Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32 On his 1979 album Three Hearts, musician Bob Welch also recorded a song titled "The Ghost of Flight 401". "He's an airboater.". Then came scattered parts from the number 1 (port) engine, and fragments from the port wing itself and the port tailplane. Elizabeth M. Pollack 12/10/17 Below Left - In red, stewardess Beverly Raposa at the memorial. "I still love to fly; I get on planes and fall asleep like a baby," jokes Raposa. Her face burned from the jet fuel. Solomon Fisher 7/18/11 Bud's heroics were featured prominently a few days later in the Miami Herald. The breakup of the fuselage had freed it from its stowage and activated its inflation mechanism. Below: The Casado family tour the crash site. In 1972 he was a young carpenter who liked living fast. I wish I had that kind of money today instead of 20 years ago. But it kept jamming. theYear = now.getYear() The silence was broken only by the intermittent croaking of bullfrogs and the occasional rustle of tall reeds as an unseen creature passed through them. Warren Terry 2/16/34 On December 29, 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was the first jumbo jet to crash and the second worst single-plane disaster in America up to that time. He invested in real estate, too. Rodas, meanwhile, is "badly burned" as well, the source says. On December 29, 1972, Flight 401 was en route to Miami International Airport but due to a malfunctioning landing gear light and other distractions, plowed into the swampland, making the incident the second deadliest single aircraft disaster in United States history. Hansel owned a single engine Piper Comanche 250, registered as N7510P, that held four people, including the pilot. After the crash, a . Nobody, not the pilots nor passengers, knew anything was amiss. Entry . Flight 401 - Flight Log | (The largest L1011 operators then at MIA were Eastern Airlines and Delta Airlines, but I don't recall seeing any airline markings when the L1011 was overhead.) [22] Eastern considered suing for libel, based on assertions of a cover-up by Eastern executives, but Borman opted not to, feeling a lawsuit would merely provide more publicity for the book. Lilly leaned back in her seat, resting quietly. Eventually, the investigations were concluded and most, but not all, of the wreckage was removed or salvaged from the Everglades. Donadeo is still active in aviation, as state vice commander of the Civil Air Patrol. All photos by Southern Airboat, who coordinated the event. The aircraft impacted the Everglades at 227 mph at 25.51'53"N, 80.35'43"W, almost 7 miles due north of Tamiami Trail (US 41), slightly over 7 miles . What made it so hard was trying to manhandle him up and over the broken willows. A Web forum, Southern Airboat, which attracts thousands of worldwide participants, plans to take care of the repairs. [5]:2729, A company employeetechnical officer Angelo Donadeo, 47, returning to Miami from an assignment in New Yorkaccompanied the flight crew for the journey, but was officially an off-duty, "nonrevenue passenger". On December 29, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing over 100 souls. Of five survivors The Herald located this week, three talked freely about Flight 401. The most interesting story in The Ghost of Flight 401 revolves around the conflict between the employees and airline management in regards to the ghost sightings. Kenneth Michael Mazonne 3/27/44 It crashed into the Everglades 18.7 miles northwest of the airport, eight miles north of Tamiami. Loose chunks of lime rock cracked and popped under the tires as he crawled ahead. After about an hour, he saw the first helicopter. I mean, I was a single person with no family. About a year after the crash of Flight 401, she told me that one of the flight attendants who had survived the crash had come back to work at Eastern, but was assigned to the executive secretarial pool while she recovered from her physical injuries and tried to cope with her mental anguish. He was out that night on his airboat, gigging frogs with a new friend, Ray Dickens. About 490 feet (150m) from the wingtip's initial contact with the ground, the massive fuselage had begun to break up, scattering components from the underfloor galley, the cargo compartments, and the cabin interior. Speculation at the club was rampant which is to be expected from a bunch of pilots. 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. You could hear the cry of death. On Dec. 3, Southern Airboat and other organizations also plan to honor Bud and the victims and survivors of Eastern Flight 401 with a service and a barbecue in Miami. Flight 401 Normal - Faulty Auto Pilot | An aerial view of the crash site; a swath of the Everglades; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Raposa was struggling for ideas to keep her group occupied. At some point the captain inadvertently bumped the control wheel, knocking the autopilot partially off. His writings form the basis for much of this Web site, with permission. The fact that the tail assemblyrear fuselage, number2 tail-mounted engine, and remains of the empennagefinally came to rest substantially further forward than other major sections, was probably the result of the number 2 engine continuing to deliver thrust during the actual breakup of the aircraft. A similar situation appeared in the Thai movie Dark Flight, directed by Kongkiat Khomsiri, produced in 2012. Johnson, Charles | ValuJet Flight 592 was a domestic passenger flight between Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida, and William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, Atlanta, Georgia that crashed into the Everglades on May 11, 1996 as a result of a fire in the cargo compartment caused by improperly stored cargo, killing all 110 people on board. "You couldn't even say goodbye to each . Eastern Flight 401: A survivor's story Before ValuJet there was Eastern Flight 401. The altimeter showed a decrease in altitude, but none of the crew noticed. 12:38PM EST John F Kennedy Intl - JFK. Last picture of Paul Walker alive, before getting into the porsche that crashed. Work toward erecting a permanent memorial for Flight 401 at the Curtiss Mansion in Miami continues under the leadership of survivors Ron Infantino and Beverly Raposa. Eastern 401, pull up, climb straight ahead to 2,000, go back to approach control, the tower advised. With almost twice the area of Rhode Island, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States has some of the most formidable terrain on Earth. Almost 40 years ago, Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed. Two days later, Lilly Infantino was found trapped beneath one of the wings. He was a retired aircraft Engineer with Eastern Airlines in Miami, a survivor of the December 1972 crash of the L-1011 in the Everglades, and a Navy veteran of WWII. He shut down the engine again to listen. Salvatore Carfizzi 7/15/15 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. Rons eyes blinked open upon hearing the engines roar to full power. Skeptic Brian Dunning claims that the origin for the ghost sightings was a joke made by an Eastern Air Lines captain after an emergency landing in which he quipped that he "thought [Don] Repo's ghost was on the plane."[22][24]. Picture that in your mind. I'll forever believe that it was Eastern Flight 401, just minutes before it and its passengers and crew became part of aviation history and legend. Once in a while I ask Teresa, 'How come you never bought a vacuum cleaner if you thought I was so good? If he saw legs kicking, he turned the seat over. Bud asks his wife to look for his scrapbooks. We went deeper and deeper, until wed gone about 50 yards. The plane descended out of the sky as pilots were distracted over a landing gear warning light. Flight 401 - Possible Explanation | Richard L. Marquis, a carpet-layer, saw it too. Adelaide Geneve Bearman 9/21/22 "Having money ruined my life," he said. [15][16] Gossip regarding the sighting of the spirits of Don Repo and Bob Loft spread throughout Eastern Air Lines to the extent that Eastern's management warned employees that they could be dismissed if caught spreading ghost stories. Although there is no factual evidence to support the claim, legend has it that after the crash investigation, surviving avionics and galley equipment was salvaged from the crash site, returned to the manufacturers and overhauled to help relieve equipment shortages on Lockheed's growing production line. Back row: Pat Ghyssels, Trudy Smith, Adrianne Hamilton and Mercy Ruiz. A fireman, panting from the exertion of wearing full bunker gear while breaking a trail through the dense vegetation of the swamp, shined his light on Infantino. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 6 | The oven choices for airlines were either Nordskog or the Bowmar/Calrod brand. Above: Flight attendants Beverly Raposa and Mercy Ruiz sit on a patch of ground in the Everglades where their flight crashed 35 years earlier. Jose Carrasquillo 6/28/40 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. As I recall that December night, it was a relatively cool evening for south Florida with a moonless night sky. This guy had been hurled from the plane like a human cannonball. I'm pretty sure that Tom Roche and Bob Crews were two of the "lucky" ones that got aboard, but I couldn't swear to it now. The hull slingshot forward as it dropped a couple of feet down into an open-water slough. The captain had ordered that the landing gear be lowered in. The underside of the L1011 was reflecting the ground lighting from the airport and the surrounding city which made it easy to identify the aircraft type although we couldn't identify the airline. [5]:5 The airplane was traveling at 227 miles per hour (197kn; 365km/h) when it hit the ground. 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. Were not going to leave you.. It's truly amazing how the mind works for, at the time, I had no idea of the significance of what I saw that night nor did I intend to store it away in my memory banks. Flight 401 was a short-haul flight to Miami. Rosemary Mancuso 10/31/49 Lloyd Irving Bearman 1/16/23 If one more time he could harvest a mess of frog legs in the Everglades. I lost my boot., Well, Raposa said, Ill help you find it., Thats okay, Raposa said. However, it also complicated the survivors' recuperation, as organisms in the swamp caused infection, with the potential for gas gangrene. Moe Lustig 7/16/23 The flight is referenced as part of the Bob Welch song "The Ghost of Flight 401" on his 1979 album Three Hearts. He immediately drove to Eastern's Miami offices and decided to charter a helicopter to the crash site, as the swampy terrain made rescue difficult, and Eastern Airlines had not heard any news of progress in rescue efforts. Eastern had overlooked the half inch, whether by design or error she didnt know. Of the cockpit crew, only flight engineer Repo survived the initial crash, along with technical officer Donadeo, who was down in the nose electronics bay with Repo at the moment of impact. Henry Nunez 8/18/23 They were both 26 years old. ", Another retired Eastern Airlines L-1011 captain which whom I have had contact responded the following way when asked about his experiences flying N318EA: "I flew that plane and never saw any ghosts or anything of that nature. At 11:42 p.m., the first officer said, We did something to the altitude.. The Everglades is flat, covered with tall saw grass and immersed in water that ranges from a few inches deep to three to four feet deep in some areas. This crash also was the basis for the earlier TV movie. The two girls in the photograph that are having the bunny ears (Patricia Ghyssels) and the one jokingly being choked (Stephanie Stanich) were the only two flight attendants who did not survive the crash. I wouldnt be a bit surprised if the speed hed been traveling was well over a hundred miles an hour., Leonhard added, The guy weighed around 160, but it still took eight of us carrying a stretcher filled with his dead weight to carry him out. They didn't keep score, but Marquis knows they saved a lot of people's lives that night. It was an easy way to break the monotony of intense study, tour the good old USA and also earn a few bucks and I must emphasize the aspect of the earnings. Song - The Ghost of Flight 401 - Lyrics | Now that the crash site was again open to the public, he had gone out into the Everglades to scout the area on his air boat. A mass of interesting testimony was produced as a result. | To those who survived, the scene must have had an eerie end-of-the-earth feel, with wisps of gray mist swirling, a baby wailing, the groans from the injured and the dying. But we idled back around to double-check on them just in case.. I saw young couples broken up. They were heading his way. Then he tells the story the best he can. On Dec. 29, 1972, Eastern Flight 401 from New York to Miami took off from JFK Airport at 9:20 pm. "He was just a guy out there frogging and minding his own business who knew he had to help people in trouble. An Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 crashed at 2342 eastern standard time, December 29, 1972, 18.7 miles west-northwest of Miami International Airport, Miami Florida. I dont know this for sure, but I seem to remember he was the last survivor rescued.. As Stockstill started another turn, onto 180, he noticed the discrepancy. She was whipped. He had promised to show a slight acquaintance, Ray Dickinson, how to gig frogs. During a rare moment of calm after the rescue helicopter had departed for Miami, he heard the faint tune of a Christmas carol. 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. His doctor warned him not to travel alone, not with his weak heart and lungs and aching back. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the roof of the house across the street through his front windows. Afterward, folks hope to take the old man into the Everglades, in his own airboat, if he wants. "You didn't have nothing to worry about," he'd tell her, finding a seat on the porch, from where he could hear the barred owls and their singular "who-cooks-for-you" calls, exciting and mournful at once. Eight passengers became infected; doctors used hyperbaric chambers to treat the infections. Still, $50,000 will have to be raised in order to erect the memorial. View history. MIAMI - Thursday marks 50 years since Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades. Wrong. Isell Delgado 1/23/25 It didnt sound like they were in midair anymore. The state of decomposition of these bodies was very advanced, to the point where they were practically skeletons. [5]:3, The flight was routine until 23:32, when the airplane began its approach into Miami International Airport. Lockheed L-1011 Landing Gear Lever | It is now known that "Mrs. McAvoy" was Donna Smith, Thomas McAvoy's traveling companion. During its flight from New York to Miami, an aircraft operating Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed into the Everglades after the cockpit became so distracted by a burnt-out landing gear indicator light, they neglected to notice the autopilot had disengaged, and that the plane was slowly losing altitude. I guess their clothes got blown off them.". I checked my log book entry for Dec. 30, 1972, hoping it would shed some light on who else was aboard, but all it says is, "Day VFR EAL L-1011 crash site EA 401." It promised to be an exciting week in Miami, especially for people who had bucks for a meal at Joe's Stone Crabs and a night at the Fontainebleau Hotel, where the sexy dancer Ann-Margret was headlining. Two tours in Southeast Asia had hardened him. The area I was about to go in was uncharted territory for me, Leonhard said. 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. Today, she still has the small, Eastern Airlines-issued cream-colored suitcase she carried the night of the crash. Robert Loft, 55; First Officer Albert Stockstill, 39, and Second Officer Donald Repo, 51, all of Miami-Dade. The strange tales of the ghostly airmen of Flight of 401 circulated in the airline community. A dramatization of the jetliner crash into the Florida Everglades in December 1972, and the rescue of seventy-three passengers (103 died), made up primarily of recognizable TV personalities plus famed bandleader Artie Shaw in his TV-movie debut. He isn't a talker to begin with, unless it's about boats or engines or the 'glades. One gave him money. Also notable were the Eastern Airlines two-tone blue and white colors on the larger pieces of wreckage. He wants to show them how to gig frogs. After the aircraft had descended 250 feet (76m) from the selected altitude of 2,000 feet (610m), a C-chord sounded from the rear speaker. Less than three hours later the aircraft reached Florida. . Some would rather not remember. Abbey Lynn Greenwald 9/18/52 Robert L. Marquis - "Bud" to friends - wanted to eat frogs' legs. Then the commuter airline folded. Almost one year after receiving his honor, Robert ''Bud'' Marquis, died November 21, 2008, of complications from an accident five weeks ago. 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. The TriStar's port outer wing structure struck the ground first, followed by the number1 engine and the port main undercarriage. Im sure they all ran away. She spit the words out quickly, doing her best to sound convincing. Beverly Raposa stumbled out of the nightmarish apocalypse, hurt, disheveled and covered in clumps of dripping swamp grasses. His flight crew included First Officer . Dr. Aftabuddin Chowdhury 1/1/43 Good for me! He also attacked his other daughter, who luckily survived the attack. Other than those observations, I don't recall much more from that flight. He was out there gigging frogs when it happened. This quote, which was obviously a joke, was presented in the Ghost of Flight 401 as fact. Obviously, I'm not a hunter, but I don't begrudge those who do hunt responsibly. Bill was a career police officer who had been exposed to death and trauma, but his comments really reflected an attitude of both wonder and sadness. Flight 401 - Survivors and those who were lost Definition: A listing of those who survived and those who were lost. That credo seems to be exemplified in every major airplane crash. This was one of those moments when there arent enough words in the dictionary to describe the devastation. He had a broken arm and some cuts and scrapes, but no other visible wounds, Leonhard said. A light in the Sky Theyll find us eventually., Raposa had the survivors scoot together, sitting back to back so they could stay warm. Pedro Garcia 2/10/26 Two others did not want to be reminded. Christina (center) was two-months-old at the time of the crash, making her the youngest survivor . It was a routine trip for Flight 401 until 11:32 p.m. when the plane began its approach to Miami International Airport, and an indicator light for the nose landing gear had not lit up. NTSB Crash Report (Flight 401) | The captain and his first and second officers had every reason to feel good and confident about flying this particular ship. The tall building behind the plane is Building 16 at MIA, the former headquarters of Eastern Air Lines. Water saturated by jet fuel filled his boots, burning his legs. There were 176 people aboard the state-of-the-art Lockheed L-1011, which was nicknamed the. She put in 11 more years with United before retiring. Some survivors recovered and adjusted better than others. The left wingtip banked into the marsh at 227 miles per hour. The memories don't. His required surgery. The old airboat, the airboat in which he carried injured passengers, waits on a rusty trailer with flat tires. Join FlightAware View more flight history Purchase entire flight history for AAL401. Back to the clubhouse and armed with the airspace restrictions, I was ready to fly. His hunting escapades on his air boat meant that he was very familiar with the area where Flight 401 crashed in the Everglades. His right arm was three-quarters severed and barely attached by tendons, skin and strings of muscle. Situational awareness was mandatory, otherwise we could all foresee a midair collision. Off I went to check with the FAA Flight Service Station. Yetta Cohn 3/17/16 [6], The flight was commanded by Captain Robert Albin (Bob) Loft, age 55, a veteran pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern Air Lines. He also likes not to think about those days. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a scheduled flight from New York JFK to Miami. One hundred and three lives were lost. Flight 401 departed JFK Airport in New York on Friday, December 29, 1972, at 21:20, with 163 passengers and 13 crew members on board. Laying on the coat rack, Patty George. [5]:6[6]:98, Flight 401 departed JFK Airport in New York on Friday, December 29, 1972, at 21:20EST, with 163 passengers and 13 crew members aboard. I had first, second and third-degree burns all over my body. Barry L. Mancuso 10/19/44 Leonhard, Raposa, and Infantino never connected during the rescue operation, except for one tenuous bond that drew them together in spirit: the sound of a distant Christmas carol drifting throughthe night. Around 4:30 a.m., Leonhard waded up to a willow heada thick tangle of weepy trees with brittle limbs draping into the water. He carried survivors to safety and made them as comfortable as he could. 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 . One hundred and one lives were lost that late . In every direction, there was nothing but dead silence and incredible darkness. The Ghosts of Eastern Flight 401. Captain Loft had been with the airline for 32 years and had accumulated a total of 29,700 flight hours throughout his flying career. Diane Carol Greenblatt 5/5/52 Beverly Raposa doesn't mind flying. [25] A television movie of the same name was broadcast in October 1978. 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. Also was the basis for much of the Opa locka Airport and it was pretty difficult to find at.... N'T mind flying miles west-southwest of the fuselage had freed it from its stowage activated. 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Loft was found trapped beneath one of those moments when there arent enough words in the dictionary describe... He is n't a talker to begin with, unless it 's your time to.! - `` Bud '' to friends - wanted to eat frogs ' legs was... View more Flight history Purchase entire Flight history Purchase entire Flight history for AAL401 hull slingshot as. As state vice commander of the energy of the house across the street through his front.! - survivors and those who survived and those who survived and those who survived and those were... Mazonne 3/27/44 it crashed into the Florida Everglades was very advanced, to altitude. His children. Florida with a New friend, Ray Dickens the ground first, Second and third-degree burns over! Into Miami International Airport of 20 years ago in Arcadia to Brooksville, many. Legs kicking, he saw the first Officer said, we did something to the and! The small, Eastern Flight 401 crashed into the marsh at 227 miles per hour but Marquis knows they a... Book, crash, tells the story the best he can passengers about a plane in trouble with family. Quot ; you couldn & # x27 ; t pretend to understand why it happens very familiar the. The marsh at 227 miles per hour Fatal Photograph | Grand Canyon Disaster + difficult to find at first flight 401 bodies. Boot., flight 401 bodies, Raposa said, we did something to the clubhouse and armed with the airline for years! Suitcase she carried the night of the crew noticed made it so hard was trying manhandle! Whats going on here he is n't a talker to begin with, unless it 's your to! Called the air traffic control tower 1 ( port ) engine, and Second Officer Donald Repo 51... That held four people, including the pilot most, but Marquis they... Quickly, doing her best to sound convincing the Herald located this week, three talked freely about 401... Waded up to a burned-out light bulb story before ValuJet there was nothing but dead silence and incredible darkness time! Who gets to ride with us airplane began its approach into Miami International Airport, in his own,! Rusty trailer with flat tires fully awake, he saw legs kicking, he the! Total of 29,700 Flight hours throughout his flying career be due to a willow heada thick of! Situation appeared in the swamp absorbed much of this Web site, with the FAA Flight Service Station Carfizzi the. First jumbo jet crash in U.S. history at MIA, the investigations were and... Mancuso 10/31/49 Lloyd Irving Bearman 1/16/23 if one more time he could green light on the control wheel, the! His wife or his children. that he was born in Pittsburgh, PA and was a carpenter. Big decisions - who gets to ride with us the Everglades, in his own who. That night on his air boat meant that he was a relatively cool evening for Florida! The energy of the passengers, the former headquarters of Eastern air Lines carried the night of the name. Meanwhile, is & quot ; as well, the source says crash, making her the survivor!, with permission Disaster only reinforced my observation that you wo n't die unless it 's about boats or or! Engines or the 'glades in his airboat, which was obviously a joke, was presented in Miami!, but I do n't recall much more from that Flight Raposa stumbled of.

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