The cloak of black was made all the more intense by the surreal stillness. Leonhard hit the gas as he toggled on the blue light and siren. [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. Paquita Carrasquillo 10/4/40 On Dec. 29, 1972, it carried 178, including crew. The pilot Bob Loft and the flight engineer Don Repo were two of the 101 people who perished in the air crash. Shortly after I arrived, one of my friends, Hansel Meighen, practically dragged me to his airplane and loudly announced that we were going to go fly out to the Everglades crash site. [6], The flight was commanded by Captain Robert Albin (Bob) Loft, age 55, a veteran pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern Air Lines. Before a bad back forced an early retirement, Bud laid carpet, grew avocados and worked as a game warden in the Everglades. Eastern management must have taken the stories somewhat seriously, however. It is 12 feet long and 7 feet across. On his 1979 album Three Hearts, musician Bob Welch also recorded a song titled "The Ghost of Flight 401". But it kept jamming. He was trapped beneath the water. itinerary data, aircraft/flight or vessel/ voyage data, and personal identification information, including name, gender, date of birth, citizenship, travel document data, and status onboard the vessel or aircraft. Of five survivors The Herald located this week, three talked freely about Flight 401. 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. We exited the area and returned to Opa locka Airport, but our conversations were subdued. These and other requirements are imposed for the purpose of meeting the collective objectives of the Aviation and Ever the good Catholic, she crossed herself in the dark and silently prayed, Oh God, please let that be true.. [5]:4 Fifty seconds after reaching their assigned altitude, Captain Loft instructed First Officer Stockstill to put the L-1011 on autopilot. He looks at the photo of the primitive camp he built in the cypress trees so many years ago when he was young and strong and could hunt and gig frogs and look at the stars. He did well for a while -- had a big house in the Country Club of Miami and drove a Lincoln. We're having legs tonight. With the engine dangerously wide open - the boat slipped over the grass at 35 mph - he maneuvered around all obstacles. Pine and others want to do something nice for Bud, perhaps honor him with a special day, raise cash for Bud's taxes, groceries and medical bills. The jet actually began losing altitude, so gradually that no one noticed until the very end. Photography courtesy Ron Infantino, A few minutes later Leonhards radio crackled. He wanted me to be the pilot (no objection from me) and he would occupy the co-pilot's seat. A Coast Guard helicopter flew toward them, sweeping the marsh with a bright searchlight, and then turned away. So, being the thoughtful brother-in-law he was, unbeknownst to me he had collected some of the wreckage of Flight 401. At least he lives near his precious Everglades. There were bodies that were naked, which we all figured occurred because they had been flung out of the protected environmental cocoon of the L1011 into 200 mph winds when the fuselage broke up. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 1 | 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. She had been recovering from a heartbreak of her own for a year and a half. I come from an Eastern family - my mother, Betty Olson, retired from Eastern in 1976. They headed for the flash. We've been married going on 18 years now." Lights in the Darkness: The crash of Eastern Air Lines flight 401 | by Admiral Cloudberg | Medium 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. A yellow flash. He was one of those rare south Florida individuals who owned a ton of hunting rifles and lived for the deer hunting season so he could go out on his air boat and hunt scrawny deer in the Everglades. [21] A television movie, also titled The Ghost of Flight 401, broadcast by NBC during February 1978. 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. Theyll find us eventually., Raposa had the survivors scoot together, sitting back to back so they could stay warm. "The temperature is in the low 70s, and it's beautiful out there tonight." He was more than 25 miles away. In the cockpit, the first of six radio altimeter warnings began, signaling an impending crash. James followed all of the rules and more often than not, brought home venison for the family each deer season. It is now known that "Mrs. McAvoy" was Donna Smith, Thomas McAvoy's traveling companion. The flight was under the command of Captain Robert Loft, 55, a veteran Eastern Airline plot. 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. 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. James Yandolino 3/7/52 Once you become stuck in the glades, you could be there for a long, long, time.. "I'm going to send some flowers to Miami and have them put on the grave of my first wife," said Ronald Infantino, who lost his bride of 20 days in the crash. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 6 | It turned out to be anything other than a routine Saturday! I don't pretend to understand why it happens. It crashed into the Everglades 18.7 miles northwest of the airport, eight miles north of Tamiami Trail, about 100 yards east of the L-67 canal levee. Trans World Airlines Flight 800 was carrying 230 people, including four cockpit crew members and 14 flight attendants. [8], In all, 75 survived the crash67 of the 163 passengers and eight of the 10 flight attendants. The Lockheed L-1011 crashed into the Florida Everglades. Johnson, Charles | Nicholas Minguzzi 8/5/68 [5]:4 In the next 70 seconds, the airplane lost only 250ft (76m), but this was enough to trigger the altitude warning C-chord chime located under the engineer's workstation. An Eastern flight attendant posted this scan (below) from his L-1011 FA manual. He had lost contact with his frogging helper, Ray, too. Raposa smiled cheerfully while she collected empty drink cups and dishes from the passengers. Leonhard climbed back in the Plymouth and idled on south, nosing the low-slung sedan into the inky black, unaware that his night had only just begun. Rose Lina Zollo 7/13/43. She looked into the distance, saw the dim lights of Miami framed against a coal-black horizon and noticed how far away it was. [6]:107109, Robert "Bud" Marquis (19292008),[7] an airboat pilot, was out frog gigging with Ray Dickinsin (19291988) when they witnessed the crash. A pale glow lightened the sky above Miami more than 40 miles away. They didn't find each other until morning. [6]:108 The most common injuries were fractures of ribs, spines, pelvises, and lower extremities. His 1977 book, Crash, tells the story of many of the passengers, the investigation and aftermath of Flight 401. After the wreckage is removed, salvageable parts from the plane are used to repair other aircraft. About Flight 401 | Greta Foye 3/19/45 "I was wounded in World War II when the ship I was on was hit by a kamikaze. Wrong. "He's an airboater.". NOTE - There is no official death certificates for "Mrs. McAvoy," which appeared in passenger lists released to the press at the time. "He swore that Frank Borman had paid him to come to Miami and perform an exorcism on #318. As I recall that December night, it was a relatively cool evening for south Florida with a moonless night sky. Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32 The sounds of unknown critters moving through the water lent a disturbing backdrop to the cacophony of misery. Flight 401 - Flight Crew Fatal Photograph | Lost - Passengers and Crew (Name and Birthdate), Elise Grace Agate 9/3/42 Bud waved his light until the helicopter took notice. "[5]:2324, In response to this and other accidents during the 1970s, many airlines started crew resource management training for their pilots. Incredibly, we found a man sitting alone on a small tussock. 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. 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. Little did I expect to see what he actually had. 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. At 11:42 p.m., the first officer said, We did something to the altitude.. [27]. 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). Salvatore Carfizzi 7/15/15 The final NTSB report cited the cause of the crash as pilot error, specifically: "the failure of the flight crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final four minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. 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. He was in the fetal position, head on his knees, hands covering his face, leaning against the trunk of a willow. Good for me! 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. (ABN 16 009 661 901) of 401 King Street, London, W6 9NJ, United Kingdom. Ron Infantino woke up in a chill, heart pounding, breath erratic. Those words guided Leonhard as his 14-foot patrol airboat bulldozed through dense walls of water-anchored grass. The only thing she was looking forward to on arrival in Miami was going to bed. Late in the evening of Friday, December 29, 1972, I was at the old Sun Flying Club tie-down area located on the east side of Opa locka Airport in metropolitan Miami, Florida. Everything else was in small pieces spread in a general southwest or south-by-southwest direction for 1,500 to 2,000 feet. Angelo Donadeo, whose survival may be the most remarkable of all, says the only thing still bothering him is his back, but not very much. Funny how people scream for God at a time like that. I don't know if she ever did return to flying; my mother never told me one way or the other. Flight 401 Crash Site Hauntings |. According to my late mother, she wanted to get back to flying, but she was petrified every time she heard jet noise. The flying club was also a de facto social club with members having the common bonds of flying and aircraft ownership. There would be plenty of time for body recovery, Leonhard said. Burning jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed through the swamp. Infantino also won a large legal settlement and lost everything. Tuesday. 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