flight 401 victims
The next morning, as was my usual Saturday routine, I drove to the Sun Flying club timing it to arrive at approximately 11am. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the roof of the house across the street through his front windows. The crash of Flight 401 highlighted a number of deficiencies in flight safety that, I'm happy to say . The Ghost of Flight 401. "Hey, what's happening here?" In 1985, his years as a manual laborer caught up with him. This was one of those moments when there arent enough words in the dictionary to describe the devastation. 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. I do recall that some gremlins were on it though and they kept messing up my landing!!!!". His right arm was badly hurt. The third, Repo, used a porthole to try and get a visual on the gear. There were also other artifacts such as yellow airline life preservers and panes of plastic passenger windows. The night was a balmy 72 degrees, the mosquitoes surprisingly sparse. I don't question what the Lord does.". On Dec. 29, 1972, Eastern Flight 401 from New York to Miami took off from . "I could get it running," he says, fighting for breath. An hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through the air, reassuring Infantino he was not alone. All photos by Southern Airboat, who coordinated the event. "The temperature is in the low 70s, and it's beautiful out there tonight." Wreckage site of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. An alligator was spotted by a news crew in a helicopter next to the wreckage of a small airplane crash in the Florida Everglades devouring the victim's body.. The disaster of this flight still remains as one of the worst in American aviation history. Surprise turned to horror when Repo disappeared before the pilots eyes. 2023 Skeptoid Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Eastern used the Bowmar/Calrod brand. 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. I was tired and hit the sack as soon as I got home. Angelo Donadeo, Patricia R Georgia, Adrianne Ann Hamilton, Jennifer Larsen, Thomas Mulcahy, Mercedes V Ruiz, Beverly Jean Raposa, Trudy J Smith, Sue F. Tibbs, Sharon R Transue, Dorothy M Warnock. March 21, 2017 Flight 401crash-landed into the Everglades at over 200 mph. Operated by a Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar (N310EA), the aircraft crashed into the Florida Everglades on a nighttime approach to Miami International Airport (MIA) on December 29, 1972. The flight, destined for Kyiv, Ukraine, took off on Jan. 8, 2020 from Tehran . Obviously, he was home trying to get some rest at noon on Saturday, but he eventually came out to the clubhouse late in the afternoon or early evening. He has never taken pleasure in talking about what he saw after Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 went down and how he felt about it. And so, with no actual ghost reports having been made by any actual people, and no haunted components from Flight 401 having been installed in other planes, it follows that the alleged orders from Eastern Air Lines management to remove said components never happened either; as didn't the mechanics who performed the work and made cautious reports of it to Fuller. In the cockpit, the first of six radio altimeter warnings began, signaling an impending crash. He sold 13 in a month. The crew members, however, were focused on fixing the wheel-light indicator. "I think I can still do it. This photo was taken hours before the crash on December 29th while on board Flight 26 in Miami. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the, Hospice of Southern Maine 390 US Route One, Scarborough, ME 04074. Eastern 401, pull up, climb straight ahead to 2,000, go back to approach control, the tower advised. The signal inside the cockpit had not illuminated as it should have. the passenger manifest)
Theyd been married only 20 days and were returning from their honeymoon. He was 79. The trip to Florida, by official accounts, was pleasantly routine. He hoped the circling delay would give them time to fix the problem. They never met again, never talked again, and never will: Ray died years ago in Arcadia. If you like this programming, please become a member. Of course, hearing them from the porch isn't the same as being in the middle of them armed with a gig, taking a long breath of Everglades air, feeling utterly alive. Silvia Crespo 11/30/32
Minor, Miami Herald) Below, Right, Mrs Leona Levine on March 15, 1973 (Joe Elbert, Miami Herald). Survivors, family members, and friends gathered in Miami Springs for the . Inside the planes cockpit, the crew was trying to slide in a replacement bulb, a roughly two-square-inch all-in-one light assembly unit covered by a translucent green plastic lens, valued at $12 altogether. Source: Google Sites. The disaster took the lives My direct and indirect contact with Eastern Flight 401 didn't end on December 30, 1972. Instead, he would witness the first jumbo jet crash in U.S. history. Donald Stanley Casadona 7/16/38
A Coast Guard helicopter flew toward them, sweeping the marsh with a bright searchlight, and then turned away. Rose Kashman 9/22/15
The government considered him totally disabled. An attendant of Tri-Star 318 was so shocked to see Repo looking back at her, that she called other members of the cabin crew to confirm the sighting. Off I went to check with the FAA Flight Service Station. It turned out to be anything other than a routine Saturday! I dont know this for sure, but I seem to remember he was the last survivor rescued.. The wreckage was discovered Wednesday night in the Everglades four days afte Why dont we sing to help warm ourselves up? she suggested. In fact we all were troubled because, by the luck of the draw or fate, some passengers survived while others in similar situations who looked as though they should have survived, were killed. "I was engaged and my fiance was killed in a drunk-driving accident two months before the wedding," she said. Not a single usable part was salvaged from the wreckage, and not a single component that crashed with Flight 401 was ever installed in another aircraft. Source Wikimedia Commons, Jon Proctor March 1972. Mary Carfizzi 11/3/19
In 1972 he was a young carpenter who liked living fast. Almost 40 years ago, Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed. If this was true, then perhaps they recycled more than just aircraft parts. Diane Carol Greenblatt 5/5/52
Read the accident report (PDF). Loretta E. Bloodgood 10/13/15
Situational awareness was mandatory, otherwise we could all foresee a midair collision. She had been turned down by Trans World Airlines for a job because she was a half inch under the 5-foot-2-inch minimum height required for all stewardesses. Flight Safety Foundation, 29 Dec. 1972. 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. 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. Charles Camichel 9/9/1899 (we assume this is the "C. Carmichael" on
Elizabeth M. Pollack 12/10/17
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. 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. They have two sons and live in Dade City now, near Tampa. Even at 78, Marquis is an old-fashioned country boy. Jesus Lorenzo 4/26/37
Dummett hopes that the event will inspire a permanent memorial to Eastern Flight 401, similar to the ValuJet Memorial off the Tamiami Trail in the Everglades. Trudy is survived by her nephews, Jason Mooney and wife Annette, Jeremy Ogelsby and wife Amy; great-nephews, Nathan Mooney and wife Courtney, Caleb Mooney and wife Savannah, and Brandon Ogelsby; great-nieces, Laura Mooney and Alaura Ogelsby;2 great-great-nephews and 2 great-great-nieces; cousins, Jacque Wirta and Jack Moncrief. I lost my boot., Well, Raposa said, Ill help you find it., Thats okay, Raposa said. Books and TV movies frightened audiences, and this ghost story that had it all became a permanent fixture in great American tales of the paranormal. This position is with the Agency Services area of DTMB. All three of Loft, Stockstill, and Repo were among the unlucky majority who perished. 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. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 5 |
To this day, more than four decades later, the survivors mark each December 29, and some still gather at the crash site to remember those who were lost. Bud helped the man into the airboat and poured him coffee from the thermos. But, to play it safe, she always wore an add-on hairpiece and teased her hair up into a bouffant to make herself look taller. He'd stay calm, look at the stars for direction, think things through, then crank up the airboat engine and find his way back to the Tamiami Trail. Charles H. Johnson - Miami Air Traffic Controller who was working Flight 401 dies, April 10, 2019. This just the beginning. degree history and physical education. Newsroom Ready: Canadian officials, families honour Flight PS752 victims on third anniversary Grieving friends and relatives of victims killed during the downing of Flight PS752 called for justice and accountability from the Iranian regime as Canadians from coast to coast marked three years since the country's military shot the plane down. Following the crash, Raposa was praised for her valor. Not long after the crash, the ghosts of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew . Braulio Corretjer 1/5/28
document.write(theYear) Flamingo Magazine, This Recent University of Tampa Graduate Just Won the Florida Filmmaker Award. 2017. Eastern Air Lines flight 401 encountered no problems while cruising between the two cities. 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. ", PHOTO of Mercy Ruiz and her Samsonite suitcase in May 2009. Let them not be forgotten. He had scarcely recovered from a bad auto accident when 401 crashed. Later that afternoon or evening, Bill Elliott came back to the clubhouse where we were all waiting for him so he could let us know what he did and saw. Edward was also sent to Florida to build Trap and Skeet gun clubs in some southern states, he always maintained that the clubs were 20 years ahead of their time. One retired Eastern L-1011 pilot I spoke to said that he had a second officer flying with him on a B-727 for several months in the Spring of '73 who was a self-ordained preacher. Jerrold Solomon, who had walked away from the crash unscathed, flew home to New York three days later. Carol Susan Jackter 9/26/52
Unable to move and weak from severe loss of blood, his body hung suspended in the watery muck, still bent in the sitting position. Frightened, they called the flight deck, and the flight engineer came down to have a look for himself. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the main fuselage broke into four main sections and many other smaller pieces on impact. Most of what we talked about on the return to the airport was speculation on our part as to how the plane crashed, not why it crashed. I don't remember the take-off or the landing that day, but I vividly remember the meteorological conditions and the crash site. He died in Milford Hospital, Milford CT, in September 1973, though its difficult to know if it was as a result of his crash injuries. "Hey! Robert Albin Loft 3/17/17
Then an alarm chimed, signaling a 250-foot drop. Gas gangrene attacked his lungs. Feel the warmth going down.. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 1 |
It is now known that "Mrs. McAvoy" was Donna Smith, Thomas McAvoy's traveling companion. He told of an unidentified mechanic who came upon a whole stockroom of equipment, all in perfect working condition, that Eastern had ordered to be removed from various aircraft. PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Farrell - Miami Herald Staff. Please contact us with any corrections or feedback. 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. Evelyn De Salazar 11/6/08
It looked like a piece of the wreckage, or something, had been propelled on a near horizontal trajectory, traveling just a foot or two above the waters surface, and rocketed into the willows with tremendous force., Bent at the waist, the two men waded into the hole, following a ragged debris trail of damaged vegetation. He was a devoted husband of sixty-two years to his first wife Martha (nee Regan) and beloved husband of his second wife Sue Johnson.Charlie was a loving son to the late Junius and Rachel Johnson, much loved father of the late Tracy Johnson and dear brother to the late Jeane Johnson Stanfield. It wouldn't take much.". It marked the 50th anniversary of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 disaster. 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. NOTE - There is no official death certificates for "Mrs. McAvoy," which appeared in passenger lists released to the press at the time. Nicholas Minguzzi 8/5/68
Eastern's L-1011's came equipped with six Bowmar ovens (Lockheed Part Number 671878-115). Reports began to take on much more sinister overtone, at least in the eyes of the witness involved. She found a section of the cabin with a stewardess still strapped into her seat-belt harness. '", Age 79, died Saturday, October 2, 2004 in Land O'Lakes, FL. "Remember what the doctor said," Nancy chimes in. Branches had been recently snapped off all the way around the opening, all pointing inward. He isn't a talker to begin with, unless it's about boats or engines or the 'glades. Flight 401 soared above a primordial swampland filled with poisonous snakes and alligators crawling through razor-sharp sawgrass and open-water sloughs. Reigler, P. "Lessons Learnt from the Crash of Eastern 401." They go deep into the heart of the Florida Everglades to contact the victims' ghosts and find out what really happened that fateful night in 1972. She was whipped. NOTE - There is no official death certificates for "Mrs. McAvoy," which appeared in passenger lists released to the press at the time. Definition: Here is something interesting that we discovered during our research. Serling also tracked down the Mexico City emergency landing, and found, predictably, that there was no truth whatsoever to the story of a face appearing in an oven window. Whenever someone told Fuller such a story, they frequently asked him not to use their real name, out of fear of reprisal from the company; thus, the book is full of untraceable sources and unverifiable claims. The stories began four years later with the publication of John G. Fuller's 1976 book The Ghost of Flight 401, which revealed that those four years had been filled with incidents of flight crew being startled by apparitions of Loft and Repo appearing on board other Eastern Air Lines planes. He was more than 25 miles away. Source: Pope Lick Monster the Killer Goatman of Kentucky, Joyce Vincents Unsettling Death That Went Undiscovered for 3 Years, These Real Creepy Audio Recordings Will Give You Nightmares, The Case of Teresita BasaHow a Ghost Solved a Murder. John G. Fuller, the best-selling author of The Ghost of Flight 401, carried out an investigation into the hauntings with the aid of several cautious airline personnel. Lloyd Irving Bearman 1/16/23
Captain Bob Loft survived the impact but was so severely injured that he died during the rescue efforts. Lourdes Albert 2/20/50
However, we had one advantage that members of the general public didn't have - we had access to airplanes. This killed the First Officer instantly. Burning jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed through the swamp. Surely, pilots and air crew would never make up such stories, would they? If he saw legs kicking, he turned the seat over. But we knew our job was to rescue the survivors first. (3) 2022 TV-14. They didn't find each other until morning. Lucille Cilles 1/30/24
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. Speeding across the 'glades in his airboat, Bud was the first rescuer on the scene. Theyre not going to find us, an anxious passenger whispered. One was Micale, who they found alone on a clump of swamp muck, drenched in swamp water and jet fuel. It didn't light. Henry Nunez 8/18/23
Water saturated by jet fuel filled his boots, burning his legs. Silence. Clutching his walking stick, Bud shuffles past a mango tree into the backyard. The only piece of wreckage I did keep, and which I still have in my possession, is one of the plastic passenger window panes. New York: Berkeley Publishing Corp, 1976. It's like it's a charm," she said. 17 Mar. More than a quarter mile long, the cone-shaped debris field was filled with an apocalyptic jumble of human carnage, personal belongings and aircraft wreckage. We were in Dade County, and my patrol zone was Broward County to the north., During his airboat training, senior wardens of the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission had told Leonhard, Never stop or slow an airboat down in rank grass because you may not be able to power out of it. Soon after, ghosts from Flight 401 began to haunt the land and other airplanes. Starring. 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. The strange tales of the ghostly airmen of Flight of 401 circulated in the airline community. Rose Marie Cillis - Mark Paternoster May 15, 2021, 11:07 pm. That section of the Everglades is a tangle of sawgrass, tree islands, canals and levees. For many years she was a strong advocate for crew and passenger safety in the airline industry speaking to Local and international groups in the U.S. and around the world. I diplomatically told James that I couldn't take possession of the large pieces of wreckage. 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. The final leg of the flight was canceled as a result of this fire. There were 75 at the time, 20 years ago tonight.
Is Jessi Collins Singer Married,
List Of Approved Banks For Uk Visa In Nigeria,
Articles F