For his efforts, he received the Humanitarian Award from the National Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation and the "Alumitech Airboat Hero Award", from the American Airboat Search and Rescue Association. Eddie Albert featured as "Dunn", a fictionalized version of Captain Robert Loft. How about we start with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?. He'd see the lights and hear the roar as the jets climbed into the black night over the swamp or descended toward Miami International Airport. The jet bounced once, then hit again. Lourdes Albert 2/20/50 [5]:3, Loft, who was working the radio during this leg of the flight, told the tower that they would discontinue their approach to their airport and requested to enter a holding pattern. Silvia Crespo 11/30/32 The National Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation gave Marquis a humanitarian award for being the first to respond to the crash, and in a touching tribute, members of The Southern Airboat association presented Marquis with a completely rebuilt airboat - the same one he had used to rescue crash victims in 1972.. "I think it's nice, but I don't think I really deserve a lot of hullabaloo over this," Marquis, 78, of Homestead, said of the award. It didn't light. The cloak of black was made all the more intense by the surreal stillness. Pin. Carol Susan Jackter 9/26/52 Aside from the initial trouble finding the crash site in the dark, most of his comments that I remember related to the passengers and crew that had been killed in the crash. [11] The swamp absorbed much of the energy of the crash, lessening the impact on the aircraft. He probed it with his flashlight beam. In December 1972, there was a deadly | by Verity Partington | The Mystery Box | Medium 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. I especially remember Bill describing passengers who apparently survived the crash impact, but were knocked unconscious and were still strapped into their seats. 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. Bill Elliott had a much more eventful night. This guy had been hurled from the plane like a human cannonball. Perhaps the most extraordinary and credible research into the ghost phenomenon ever documented is the so-called "Ghosts of Flight 401."On December of 1972, an Eastern Airlines Tri-Star jetliner, Flight 401, crashed into a Florida swamp.Read the accident report (PDF). It looked like someone had poured gasoline on a campfire, and poof, up it went. Curiously, Leonhard never heard the impact. the pilot asked at the last second. NTSB Crash Report (Flight 401) | I'd be able to do the right thing today.". (It was later expanded to a much larger area either later that same day or the next day.). 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. They turned on the autopilot. Two years after the crash, Anita and Franklin Kent's lives were taken up by endless doctor visits. Sadie Yellin 1/9/15 Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a scheduled flight from New York JFK to Miami. A glance out a window, after all, would have shown nothing but the black Everglades below. Patricia Renee Shackelford 12/9/52 Some would rather not remember. Only their bedroom has an air conditioner. Anyway, the pilots couldn't tell if the wheels were down. Each year on December 29th, I spend a little time thinking about that silhouetted L1011 heading west over Opa locka Airport. 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. 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. I saw young couples broken up. They rushed to rescue survivors. Around 4:30 a.m., Leonhard waded up to a willow heada thick tangle of weepy trees with brittle limbs draping into the water. His book was later adapted into a made-for-tv movie starring William Shatner as an NTSB investigator. Based on the book, it dramatized the crash, rescue efforts, and NTSB investigation. 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. Mr. Elder later became an Editor at the San Jose Mercury News. 3h 15m. Wreckage from Eastern Airlines Flight 401 in the Everglades; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino, Buried up to his neck in freezing water and muck, completely naked except for the elastic rims of his socks, severely injured, shivering and in shock, Infantino feebly called into the night: Lilly, where are you? He has fallen backwards and his arms are spread apart. ", PHOTO of Mercy Ruiz and her Samsonite suitcase in May 2009. After about an hour, he saw the first helicopter. A jumbo jet crashed in the Everglades north of the Tamiami Trial, his sergeant said. [4] Despite their own injuries, the surviving flight attendants were credited with helping other survivors and several quick-thinking actions such as warning survivors of the danger of striking matches due to jet fuel in the swamp water[9] and singing Christmas carols to keep up hope and draw the rescue teams' attention, as flashlights were not part of the standard equipment on commercial airliners at the time. 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 powers-that-be want them to . [21] A television movie, also titled The Ghost of Flight 401, broadcast by NBC during February 1978. The NTSB classified the injuries of one nonrevenue passenger and one other passenger as nonfatal, as their deaths occurred more than seven days after the accident. A team catalogues the mangled remains of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 aircraft at the crash site in the Everglades. Some still feel the pain. 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. I wish I had that kind of money today instead of 20 years ago. He put his arm around her, and they began slogging through knee-deep muck and water. I was amazed at the size of some of the pieces of wreckage he brought home on the air boat. ValuJet 592 went down in May 1996, killing all 110 on board. Yetta Cohn 3/17/16 His writings form the basis for much of this Web site, with permission. Loretta E. Bloodgood 10/13/15 [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". I don't recall any large scorched patches of saw grass, but I remember a few small burned areas. Were not going to leave you.. His wife Nancy - they married when she was 15 - could always tell when it was on his mind, though. The scene was impressive. Lockheed L-1011 Landing Gear Lever | Raposa, Beverly | I tried to keep hold of myself by showing up at work, but I couldn't concentrate.". Ground crew with Eastern Airlines Flight 401 before its fateful flight; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. He was more than 25 miles away. Rose Kashman 9/22/15 Flight 401 - Flight Log | With the $250,000 legal settlement, Micale thought he had it made. Rosa Losano 11/1/01 Flight 401 Survivors, Years After the Crash and Memorial Efforts. All 110 people on board died. Dennis Gordon 12/9/32 Retired Air Force Col. Frank Bormana former astronaut, vice president of Eastern Airlines and now a first respondercame to escort her into a helicopter hovering at ground level a short distance away. "CRASH" BOOK AND MADE FOR TV MOVIE (1977/ 1978). He hoped the circling delay would give them time to fix the problem. He cranked up the engine and moved toward the sound. Raposas survivors became upset. Jerrold Solomon, who had walked away from the crash unscathed, flew home to New York three days later. Silence. 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. On December 29, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing over 100 souls. Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32 Unborn son of Rochelle and Stefan Rubin At 11:42 p.m., the first officer said, We did something to the altitude.. I was coping with someone who was disabled. At some point the captain inadvertently bumped the control wheel, knocking the autopilot partially off. He ended up making numerous trips out to the levee where the rescue operation base was located. "That wasn't my first brush with death," he said. The plane was dropping from the sky at a rate of 200 feet each minute. 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 . Carmen Jorge 7/7/46 He can't remember anyone's name now. Rosemary Mancuso 10/31/49 Those pilots probably didn't even know there was a NOTAM prohibiting flight immediately above the crash site. But he and his helper had 30 pounds of legs. Abbey Lynn Greenwald 9/18/52 The captain and his first and second officers had every reason to feel good and confident about flying this particular ship. I do recall that some gremlins were on it though and they kept messing up my landing!!!!". The area I was about to go in was uncharted territory for me, Leonhard said. Thomas Ponte 10/24/11 An elevation of only eight feet felt like being on a hilltop in the Everglades. The plane, a new "Whisperliner," could transport 229 passengers. 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. His left knee was dislocated, wrenched sideways at a vicious right angle. He received a $250,000 settlement in a lawsuit, blew it all, got into drug trouble, went back to work and fell off a truck. Please dont leave me! Infantino yelled. Eric Olson holding a piece of wreckage from Flight 401. Of the 176 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 401, 77 survived the initial crash. An hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through the air, reassuring Infantino he was not alone. Leonhard discovered a hole in the bushes, roughly circular in shape and a little larger than the mouth of a culvert pipe. As I recall that December night, it was a relatively cool evening for south Florida with a moonless night sky. Lilly leaned back in her seat, resting quietly. Seventy-five miraculously survived. He was left wearing nothing but a necktie and belt pushed up under his armpits. He saw a man standing, shocked, in knee-deep water. The flying club tie-down area and ramp were immediately adjacent to the Sun Line operation and I often was called upon to fuel aircraft on the Sun Flying Club property. The Miami News, Dec. 30, 1972. He felt helpless, hearing what sounded like hundreds of voices coming at him from different directions. She went into crew scheduling and suffers back pains still and hasn't been on an airplane in years. Flipping through the pages, Bud smiles for the first time in hours. Part 243 - PASSENGER MANIFEST INFORMATION. From this point on, the breakup of the fuselage became more extensive, scattering metal fragments, cabin fittings, and passenger seats widely. Why dont we sing to help warm ourselves up? she suggested. Refresh the page, check Medium 's site. The jet actually began losing altitude, so gradually that no one noticed until the very end. Many of the survivors were also stripped of their clothes and this contributed to medical problems with all the bacteria in the Everglades water and the relatively cold temperatures that night. What was so strange was that it was there in the first place. . Photo credit: Don Boyd of Sun Bird Photos. Robert A. Loft, then 55 years old, with 30 years experience and 29,700 flight hours under his belt, attempted to lower the landing gear. 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. [10], Most of the dead were passengers in the aircraft's midsection. The other 101 people on Eastern Airlines Flight 401 died quite horribly -- 98 in the Everglades where the airplane crashed, three later in hospitals. Bill and I left for our respective homes after securing the clubhouse. 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. The cruel facts of this disaster only reinforced my observation that you won't die unless it's your time to die. Isell Delgado 1/23/25 Footage of the incident appeared in the movie Days of Fury (1980), directed by Fred Warshofsky and hosted by Vincent Price. If you hear my voice, come toward me. 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 The court citing, among other reasons, that the claimants were found to be actors or participants in newsworthy stories or events, that the book a nonfictionalized account based on the authors own investigationfell under the legitimate public interest exception. The only piece of wreckage I did keep, and which I still have in my possession, is one of the plastic passenger window panes. Back to the clubhouse and armed with the airspace restrictions, I was ready to fly. His foot pressed lightly against the accelerator pedal as he inched down the south levee on the L-28 canal with his headlights off. Bound for Miami, Flight 401 took off from New York's JFK at 9:20 p.m. '", Age 79, died Saturday, October 2, 2004 in Land O'Lakes, FL. [14], During the following months and years, stories began circulating that employees of Eastern Air Lines, and numerous passengers, had reported sightings of the dead crew members, captain Robert Loft and second officer (flight engineer) Donald Repo, sitting aboard other L-1011s (including, in particular, N318EA). Eastern used the Bowmar/Calrod brand. Richard L. Marquis, a carpet-layer, saw it too. The apparitions of Loft and Repo were invariably described as being extremely lifelike. But the passengers were her peopleher responsibilityand it was still her job to help them. 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 The old airboat, the airboat in which he carried injured passengers, waits on a rusty trailer with flat tires. ", Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute. Almost 40 years ago, Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed. Jorge Gonzalez 1/16/38 The captain, along with one of two flight crew members, two of 10 flight attendants, and 97 of 163 passengers, died; 75 . Small burned areas pressed lightly against the accelerator pedal as he inched down the south levee on the 's... Micale thought he had it made home to New York JFK to Miami delay would give them time fix... 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