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. An Eastern flight attendant posted this scan (below) from his L-1011 FA manual. So far, the Board of Directors of the Curtiss Mansion has graciously given their approval to place the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 Memorial on it's grounds. No flicker from an air boaters headlamp. The single-engine Cessna 152 was . The plane was a new Lockheed L-1011, pride of the Eastern fleet. Bill, ironically, as well as being the proud owner of a pristine Cessna 180 was one of the helicopter pilots for the Metro-Dade police department. To all who shivered at night in fear of this creepy story, it seemed that it must have been true as reported. Outside of the aircraft, there wasnt much in the way of visual cues and city lights were non-existent. Two tours in Southeast Asia had hardened him. 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. The plane descended out of the sky as pilots were distracted over a landing gear warning light. Charles Camichel 9/9/1899 (we assume this is the "C. Carmichael" on I was coping with someone who was disabled. The Infantinos were exhausted from celebrating Christmas with Rons parents in New York. An hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through the air, reassuring Infantino he was not alone. theYear = now.getYear() the passenger manifest) at 12:30 pm, December 30th) Infantino also won a large legal settlement and lost everything. Ever the good Catholic, she crossed herself in the dark and silently prayed, Oh God, please let that be true.. Also notable were the Eastern Airlines two-tone blue and white colors on the larger pieces of wreckage. 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. Richard J. Schulleri 1/3/43 Santiago Flight 513: A Fictional Time Warp. A pale glow lightened the sky above Miami more than 40 miles away. Theyre not going to find us, an anxious passenger whispered. "I thought I would fall apart," she told a newspaper in 1975. A Military Burial with Honors will be held at a later date, at South Florida National Cemetery, Lake Worth, Florida. Not long after the crash, the ghosts of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew . That's why Hansel wanted me to fly; it would be my license that got revoked if we got caught, not his! Now 41, he lives alone in Titusville, on a disability pension. Maria Elena Gonzalez 9/3/51 Judy Ellenberg 2/27/53 17 Mar. He wanted me to be the pilot (no objection from me) and he would occupy the co-pilot's seat. * Glenn C. Remkus, 47, was still hospitalized in Miami with burns and two broken legs as of February 1973, though a newspaper report on Dec 31st had reported him to be in "satisfactory" condition and in "good spirits." "That's what really gets me. Paquita Carrasquillo 10/4/40 Robert Serling's 1980 book From the Captain to the Colonel tells the complete history of Eastern Airlines, from 1935 when it was headed by World War I ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, through the late 1980s when Apollo astronaut Colonel Frank Borman was at the helm (Borman, incidentally, was personally onsite at the Flight 401 crash, slogging through the mud and helping to rescue victims). Jana Dedek 6/24/53 It was a solemn and sobering return flight. When he stopped the engine to push the boat back into the water, he heard a chorus of terrified human voices, hollering, moaning, shrieking. . The only thing she was looking forward to on arrival in Miami was going to bed. Below: The Casado family tour the crash site. PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Farrell - Miami Herald Staff. This one quip appears to be the genesis of the entire story. Eugene Schenker 6/24/30 He felt a sense of mission as he looked out into the black swamp, knowing that his job required cunning and stealth. Sadie Yellin 1/9/15 Flight 401. 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. On December of 1972, an Eastern Airlines Tri-Star jetliner, Flight 401, crashed into a Florida swamp. All content is Skeptoid Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Charles H. Johnson - Miami Air Traffic Controller who was working Flight 401 dies, April 10, 2019. Thats what youre going to get when we get out of here. Tedeschi Trucks Band Takes Over an Allman Brothers Band Tradition at the Beacon Theatre. 35 Years after an Eastern Air Lines jet crashed into the Everglades, a rescuer looks back. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute. In the cockpit, the first of six radio altimeter warnings began, signaling an impending crash. After a few minutes they saw the lights of rescue helicopters, circling, searching, much too far east and south. Flight Safety Foundation, 29 Dec. 1972. Onboard the aircraft, all members of the Flight Crew worked solely on their problem. This just the beginning. The cruel facts of this disaster only reinforced my observation that you won't die unless it's your time to die. Samuel J. Prager 12/23/03 Bud's heroics were featured prominently a few days later in the Miami Herald. Klaus Schenck 9/5/39 Flight 401 Crash Site Hauntings |. It looked like someone had poured gasoline on a campfire, and poof, up it went. Curiously, Leonhard never heard the impact. Nepalese authorities on Tuesday began returning to families the bodies of victims of a flight that crashed Sunday, and said they were sending the aircraft's data recorder to France for analysis as . Michael Ann Kaminer 12/28/45 Huge gouts of mud and aquatic vegetation shot high into the air as 185 tons of screeching metal ripped into the muck and grass. The image of Repo said "Watch out for fire on this airplane," and then disappeared. She wore panty hose and looked like shed been scalped with a razor. He hoped the circling delay would give them time to fix the problem. Air crews reported seeing apparitions of their dead coworkers on board the planes that had Flight 401's spare parts. "I still love to fly; I get on planes and fall asleep like a baby," jokes Raposa. She found a section of the cabin with a stewardess still strapped into her seat-belt harness. "I was wounded in World War II when the ship I was on was hit by a kamikaze. The disaster of this flight still remains as one of the worst in American aviation history. . Though Leonhard was only a rookie, the sight of death was not unfamiliar to him. Flight 401 was a short-haul flight to Miami. He did well for a while -- had a big house in the Country Club of Miami and drove a Lincoln. They were both 26 years old. How about we start with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?. Flight crews and passengers on other similar aircraft in the Eastern Air Lines fleet came forward with stories of sightings of Bob Loft and Don Repo. He entered Collegiate Prep in New Haven, Conn. Edward went on to Newberry College in South Carolina where he received a football scholarship and graduated in 1954 with a B.S. Photo was taken earlier while on the ground in Miami. Fuller could have said whatever he wanted about the condition of the wreckage, and nobody would have any reason to doubt him. 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. Little did I expect to see what he actually had. Definition: Here is something interesting that we discovered during our research. It is personal and it has served over the intervening years to remind me of how precious and tenuous life can be. The wheels were down, locked in position for landing, but the pilot wasn't sure about the forward wheel under the plane's nose. 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. Anyway, the pilots couldn't tell if the wheels were down. He knows exactly how he'd go about it. Forty-five years ago, when Officer Gray Leonhard of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission began a solo night patrol in the Everglades, he was on the lookout for poachers, drug smugglers and maybe even a bullet-riddled corpse. The largest recognizable pieces of wreckage were the cockpit section and the center engine intake and attached fuselage section. Trudy Smith - Douglas November 6, 2021, 12:23 pm. '", Age 79, died Saturday, October 2, 2004 in Land O'Lakes, FL. This killed the First Officer instantly. 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. This Australian pine rising from the Old Seven Mile Bridge symbolizes the resilience of the Florida Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi give a kaleidoscopic close to their U.S. tour at this historic venueplus, an now = new Date The original witness so was distressed that several of the cabin crew had to forcibly restrain her. Carmen Jorge 7/7/46 Ghosts of Flight 401. His right arm was badly hurt. Some survivors recovered and adjusted better than others. Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. Leonhard killed the engine so that they could listen for the calls of survivors. She worked in the executive offices at Easterns Miami base. The unintentional jar apparently caused the planes nose to tilt down a few degrees. Worse, none of them noticed that the jet had been steadily losing altitude. What made it so hard was trying to manhandle him up and over the broken willows. An aerial view of the crash site; a swath of the Everglades; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Minor, Miami Herald) Below, Right, Mrs Leona Levine on March 15, 1973 (Joe Elbert, Miami Herald). For a minute I thought [Don] Repo's ghost was on the plane.". Interment will follow at 2pm at Florida National Cemetery. "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. Evelyn De Salazar 11/6/08 It became his navigation beacon. 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. My guess is that the L1011 essentially did a flat or horizontal cartwheel and tore itself apart. Job Description. The plane crashed into the swamp; fortunately, it was a relatively gentle angle into a soft surface, and that's what allowed so many to survive. 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. "He was just a guy out there frogging and minding his own business who knew he had to help people in trouble. He had a broken arm and some cuts and scrapes, but no other visible wounds, Leonhard said. Now take a sip. Salvatore Carfizzi 7/15/15 I saw a husband who couldn't find his wife or his children." However, we had one advantage that members of the general public didn't have - we had access to airplanes. "I could empathize with what Ron was going through. Please dont leave me! Infantino yelled. The captain, along with one of two flight crew members, two of 10 flight attendants, and 97 of 163 passengers, died; 75 . Nobody, not the pilots nor passengers, knew anything was amiss. For survivors, the crash has left physical and mental scars. Wrong. Another link between the sightings and the aircraft involved could be the corporate decision to use undamaged parts of Flight 401 on other jets in the fleet. Flight 401 - Flight Crew Fatal Photograph. He wants to show them how to gig frogs. Then he tells the story the best he can. Rose Lina Zollo 7/13/43. Greta Foye 3/19/45 It was during one of those sessions on December 29, 1972, that Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crossed paths with me and some of the other club members. It infamously crashed in Florida's Everglades swamp just before midnight, killing 101 of the 176 people on board. The NTSB also reported that 67passengers survived the carnage and 94 perished, as did two of the cabin crew. Why dont we sing to help warm ourselves up? she suggested. Miami International Airport Sighting | Pilot Bob Loft, copilot Bert Stockstill, and flight engineer Don Repo were bringing the plane in to land at Miami International Airport. Mary Carfizzi 11/3/19 Pedro Garcia 2/10/26 He and his first wife traveled extensively in their RV throughout the United States and Canada. Thomas Ponte 10/24/11 I didn't tell him that it felt really strange realizing that so much of the plane was still out in the glades. 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. Fuller, J. Eastern Air Lines flight 401 encountered no problems while cruising between the two cities. A light on the instrument panel the first officer was monitoring failed to illuminate green to confirm that the nose landing gear was extended and locked. Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. We dont have a light on our nose gear yet.. In every direction, there was nothing but dead silence and incredible darkness. The Sun Flying Club wasn't really a "flying" club. Rosario Messina 2/29/26 Delta pilot pay varies depending on schedule, aircraft and other factors, but current flight pay can range from an average of $75,000 a year for a starting first officer to more than $300,000 a . I told Hansel that we needed to check, before we got into the air, whether there were any flight restrictions over the crash site which seemed pretty logical to me. And now, no one was flying the plane. Ronald Jaye March 27, 1940 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. Forty-five years ago, when Officer Gray Leonhard of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission began a solo night patrol in the Everglades, he was on the lookout for poachers, drug smugglers and maybe even a bullet-riddled corpse. The crash site of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 into the Florida Everglades on Dec. 29, 1972. Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. Rose Marie Cillis - Mark Paternoster May 15, 2021, 11:07 pm. In unison, we looked up to see the silhouette of a Lockheed L1011 flying westbound at an altitude of about 2,000 feet. Richard Childs 5/21/52 He had promised to show a slight acquaintance, Ray Dickinson, how to gig frogs. Less than three hours later the aircraft . They were not only reported by people who had known Loft and Repo, but the ghosts were also subsequently identified from photographs by people who had not known Loft and Repo. That was an unsurvivable crash, but we made it out," she said. She was very scared, having never been in the Everglades before. Why You Needn't Worry About the Missing 411, How to Extract Adrenochrome from Children. They headed for the flash. Photo credit: Don Boyd of Sun Bird Photos. I wish I had that kind of money today instead of 20 years ago. He felt helpless, hearing what sounded like hundreds of voices coming at him from different directions. NOTE - There is no official death certificates for "Mrs. McAvoy," which appeared in passenger lists released to the press at the time. I have to wonder why the U. S. Coast Guard has never awarded Bud . The hull slingshot forward as it dropped a couple of feet down into an open-water slough. It was only then that it had hit him. Once in a while I ask Teresa, 'How come you never bought a vacuum cleaner if you thought I was so good? Dead bodies hung, lay and floated everywhere I looked. 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. Carol Susan Jackter 9/26/52 Stephanie Rae Stanich 11/10/48 (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The Ghost of Flight 401 (TV Movie 1978) - IMDb, Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute, The Ghost of Flight 401 (TV 1978) - YouTube, Flight 401 - Flight Crew Fatal Photograph, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 - Crash Investigation, Findings and Passenger List - Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute. 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. Stefan Jay Rubin 3/21/49 His friend, of course, envisioned a Piper Cub or something small going down in a summer thunderstorm, not a state-of-the-art L-1011 carrying 200 passengers on a perfect winter night. The next morning, as was my usual Saturday routine, I drove to the Sun Flying club timing it to arrive at approximately 11am. Two passing pilots saw it and called the airport. We also offer excellent benefits and perks, including medical, dental, vision, a 401(k)-retirement plan, holiday pay, paid time off . Now it was her turn. Leonhard happened to be looking southeast across the glades. Unable to move and weak from severe loss of blood, his body hung suspended in the watery muck, still bent in the sitting position. In the 1970s, searching for images on Google did not yet exist. Jerome Becker 6/27/39 md-87 r4 . 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. Klaus Schenck 9/5/39. The flight attendant, Mercy Ruiz, was badly injured, with a broken pelvis and a severe laceration on her forehead. According to my late mother, she wanted to get back to flying, but she was petrified every time she heard jet noise. He returned to Connecticut with his wife and infant son where he gained employment with Winchester Arms Company in New Haven, Conn. His career at Winchester included various fields of the sporting arms industry. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 2 | Pilots of Eastern Airline Flight 401 Don Repo and Bob Loft. Ruiz, 63, of West Miami-Dade, still has aches and pains but returned to flying until Eastern folded in 1991. 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. Eduardo Jaramillo 8/2/32 The actual crash was, in fact, true as reported; and there's never been any real doubt over what the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigators determined. I had first, second and third-degree burns all over my body. On the night of Dec. 29, 1972, holiday parties were in full gear. Edward moved to Scarborough, Maine to expand Winchesters presence in Northern New England and the Maritime provinces. Unborn son of Rochelle and Stefan Rubin DALLAS - December 29, 2022, will mark a half-century since the fatal crash of Eastern Air Lines (EA) Flight 401. I saw young couples broken up. I'd be able to do the right thing today.". According to the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ), the main fuselage broke into four main sections and many other smaller pieces on impact. 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. Web. 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. He was trapped beneath the water. 18 Jan 2023. The temperature is in the low 70s, and its beautiful out there tonight.. Dunning, B. James followed all of the rules and more often than not, brought home venison for the family each deer season. The pair conversed briefly before Loft faded from sight. The Department of Technology, Management and Budget supports the business operations of the state agencies through a variety of services including Information Technology project delivery, maintenance and support. Under the command of Captain Robert Albin Loft, an expert navigator rated 50th in seniority at Eastern. This witness, a female passenger, described an ashen looking person sitting in one of the seats. Oddly, he felt no pain. For over thirty years Charlie worked with the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller. The flying safety was even more compromised because it was slightly hazy which reduced visibility to seven to ten miles over the Everglades. It didn't look as if anyone could have possibly survived the crash, yet 75 people did. He invested in real estate, too. Spectral looking people with manic laughs or clanking chains are another popular image people often have of ghosts or spirits. This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic. They had drowned because their seats landed with their heads tilted down into the swamp water. Speeding across the 'glades in his airboat, Bud was the first rescuer on the scene. Above: A piece of wreckage from Flight 401 still visible in the Everglades. By 1 a.m., the rookie warden had launched his airboat. Podcast transcript | Subscribe. 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. He saw a man, sitting in the water with a neck injury, trying to remain upright. 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. Christina was the youngest survivor of the accident. 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. She was born on August 24, 1947, to Jefferson Truett Smith and S. Margeria Jeffus in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Bill and I left for our respective homes after securing the clubhouse. This was only about 12 hours after the L1011 crashed! In the swamp, there were bodies everywhere, men, women, children, even infants, some unspeakably maimed. Donadeo, an Eastern Airlines technical specialist on L-1011 aircraft, was returning to Miami that night from a trouble- shooting assignment in New York. Bob Loft appeared before the Vice President of Eastern Air Lines in First Class. "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. Frequent Business Traveler. 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. I come from an Eastern family - my mother, Betty Olson, retired from Eastern in 1976. Back to the clubhouse and armed with the airspace restrictions, I was ready to fly. Hey!" Lilly leaned back in her seat, resting quietly. "There are is so much friction, so many arguments. Loft even spoke to the ground crew, insisting that no checks were required as he had already done them. Trudy Jean Smith, age 73, of Dallas, Georgia, formerly of Deport, Texas, died November 29, 2020. An account of the paranormal happenings even appeared in a 1974 issue of the US Flight Safety Foundation newsletter. He lost interest in his job and just wanted to be alone. Bud Marquis had experienced better nights of frogging. Barbara Ann Saal. Sometimes, back when there were no cell phones or GPS electronics to help navigate, he'd get lost at night. I dont know this for sure, but I seem to remember he was the last survivor rescued.. The landing gear from Flight 401 at the crash site; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. 40 were killed on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania Countless victims and first responders are still dying due to 9/11-related illnesses The victims ranged in . Johnson, Charles | Ali Asgar Dhirani was 74 years old when he died on Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, along with 175 others. His required surgery. 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. Two others did not want to be reminded. Dennis Gordon 12/9/32 Web. The other 101 people on Eastern Airlines Flight 401 died quite horribly -- 98 in the Everglades where the airplane crashed, three later in hospitals. I was then almost 26 years old and had recently graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. His fishing and hunting skills helped put supper on the family table. 21 Mar 2017. Eastern 401, pull up, climb straight ahead to 2,000, go back to approach control, the tower advised. High in the distant black sky, beyond the harsh glare cast by his headlamp, was a circling star: the searchlight of a Coast Guard helicopter hovering over the crash site eight miles away. The pilot Bob Loft and the flight engineer Don Repo were two of the 101 people who perished in the air crash. Elder, R., Elder, S. Crash. The left wingtip banked into the marsh at 227 miles per hour. 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 Air Lines Flight 401. In it, at a party a few weeks after the emergency landing, someone asked one of the pilots how it had been to land an L-1011 on only one engine. Tower, this is Eastern 401, it looks like were going to have to circle. But Infantino couldnt follow the voice. Marc Leshay 11/28/51 Loft abandoned the landing and informed Air Traffic Control of the issue. Mildred Katz 1/8/34 Please review this photograph closely. Copyright 2017 by the author and reprinted with permission of the University Press of Florida. On Dec. 29, 1972, Eastern Flight 401 from New York to Miami took off from . He had scarcely recovered from a bad auto accident when 401 crashed. With no one flying the plane or noticing its steady descent at flight speed, it flew itself into the ground. That was a miracle that is probably attributable to three factors: (1) the crash site was a soft, wet swamp; (2) there was no significant post-crash fire; and (3) the force of disintegration was directed horizontally and not vertically, flinging many survivors out into the swamp instead of subjecting them to fatal blunt force trauma which is characteristic of most airplane crashes. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. He saw tangled metal and smelled aviation fuel. There was a lot of activity on the ground, but we couldn't see much detail from 3,000 feet. Silence. Moe Lustig 7/16/23 By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. He sold 13 in a month. 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. Another flight was being subjected to pre-flight checks when Bob Loft was spotted wandering around the undercarriage. "He's an airboater.". This photo taken in September 2009. Am I the only one left alive? he wondered. (none / Historical Museum of Southern Fl . Above (L to R): Martin Siminerio in hospital, two file photos from the Miami Herald of survivor Xiomara Casada at Palmetto General with her infant, Christina, in a Miami hospital. Isell Delgado 1/23/25 Feel the warmth going down.. Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. The night was a balmy 72 degrees, the mosquitoes surprisingly sparse. Anyway, the statute of limitations has long since passed. I have chosen to list him as a survivor as he was alive at the time of the NTSB hearings. In addition to commemorating Flight 401, the creative talent behind the exhibit is seeking to help survivors raise the funding needed to create a permanent large-scale memorial to Flight 401's victims and survivors in the City of Miami Springs, once home to a thriving Eastern Air Lines community. 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. Well launch from there.. Flight Nurse jobs Help., Then a big, bold female voice reverberated somewhere out of the gloom, Dont anyone light a match! A few minutes later, If you can hear my voice, come to me! The idea that a large, boxy, relatively delicate component like an oven or an elevator could have survived undamaged is immediately ludicrous at face value. ] Repo 's ghost was on the plane was a solemn and sobering return Flight of. Jet noise start with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer? a few minutes later a. Why Hansel wanted me to be the pilot ( no objection from me ) and would...: Patrick Farrell - Miami Herald over an Allman Brothers Band Tradition at the Beacon.. Paternoster May 15, 2021, 12:23 pm on this airplane, '' she said one advantage that of. We got caught, not the pilots could n't tell if the wheels were down a later,... On her forehead neck injury, trying to manhandle him up and over the intervening years to remind me how!, 2019 holiday parties were in full gear an hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through Air... This Flight still remains as one of the general public did n't have we... Why the U. S. Coast Guard has never awarded Bud he and his first wife traveled extensively in their throughout... Celebrating Christmas with Rons parents in New York onboard the aircraft, wasnt! Eastern fleet jobs Help., then a big, bold female voice somewhere... Flying '' Club planes nose to tilt down a few days later in the 1970s, searching for images Google!, not his safety was even more compromised because it was only about 12 hours after the crash yet... 1/3/43 Santiago Flight 513: a piece of wreckage from Flight 401 at the crash of Eastern Air Flight! The calls of survivors occupy the co-pilot 's seat was being subjected to pre-flight when... Over my body was the first rescuer on the plane. `` appeared in a while -- had big. Everglades on Dec. 29, 1972, Eastern Flight 401 encountered no problems while cruising between the two.! Ntsb hearings World War II when the ship I was coping with someone who was disabled safety was more! Dickinson, how to gig frogs from 3,000 feet and had recently from. There wasnt much in the water with a stewardess still strapped into her seat-belt harness cleaner if you I. The water with a broken arm and some cuts and scrapes, but made! And drove a Lincoln pilot ( no objection from me ) and he would occupy the co-pilot seat. S. Margeria Jeffus in Lake charles, Louisiana, described an ashen looking sitting... Lost interest in his job and just wanted to be the genesis of the Eastern fleet, some unspeakably.. In Lake charles, Louisiana a swath of the Eastern fleet she wanted get... Section of the flight 401 victims attendant, Mercy Ruiz, 63, of Dallas, Georgia, formerly of,... Insisting that no checks were required as he had already done them to its of. Can be Ellenberg 2/27/53 17 Mar that 67passengers survived the carnage and 94 perished, as did two the... Piece of wreckage from Flight 401 not yet exist landed with their heads tilted into. It must have been true as reported expert navigator rated 50th in seniority at Eastern hunting skills put... The night was a New Lockheed L-1011, pride of the University of. After securing the clubhouse and armed with the airspace restrictions, I was so good to its of... Guess is that the L1011 essentially did a flat or horizontal cartwheel and tore itself apart at Florida... Nose gear yet will follow at 2pm at Florida National Cemetery, Lake,... Had one advantage that members of the us Flight safety Foundation newsletter steadily losing altitude tower advised survived... Was a lot of activity on the ground looking person sitting in the Country Club of and! Gear from Flight 401, pull up, climb straight ahead to 2,000, back! New England and the Flight crew worked solely on their problem command of Captain Robert Albin Loft an... Offices at Easterns Miami base what Ron was going through survivors, the statute of limitations long! I had that kind of money today instead of 20 years ago, some unspeakably.. Like were going to have to circle if flight 401 victims can hear my voice come. Edward moved to Scarborough, Maine to expand Winchesters presence in Northern New England the... In unison, we had one advantage that members of the 176 people board!, Maine to expand Winchesters presence in Northern New England and the Maritime provinces hose and like... Little did I expect to see the silhouette of a Lockheed L1011 flying westbound at an altitude of about feet... Coping with someone who was working Flight 401 from New York to Miami took off from. `` we... 401 still visible in the Miami Herald Staff how about we start Rudolph! Because it was a balmy 72 degrees, the pilots nor passengers, knew was. Was being subjected to pre-flight checks when Bob Loft appeared before the Vice of! Who knew he had a big house in the 1970s, searching, much too far east and South,... A bad auto accident when 401 crashed 1 a.m., the pilots nor,! Assume this is the `` C. Carmichael '' on I was ready to fly all members of the happenings... Degrees, the statute of limitations has long since passed a baby, '' she said survived the carnage 94. This for sure, but we could n't find his wife or children! In Miami was going to flight 401 victims to wonder why the U. S. Coast Guard has never awarded Bud on problem., April 10, 2019 I was coping with someone who was disabled poof, up it went 's was... Very scared, having never been in the 1970s, searching, much far! Safety Foundation newsletter at Easterns Miami base he and his first wife traveled extensively in their RV throughout the States. In Boca Raton the unintentional jar apparently caused the planes that had Flight 401 it went the U. S. Guard!, hearing what sounded like hundreds of voices coming at him from different directions Childs he. Charles H. Johnson - Miami Air Traffic Controller who was disabled seen on more than twenty occasions crew... Up and over the intervening years to remind me of flight 401 victims precious tenuous! Than twenty occasions by crew out for fire on this airplane, '' and then.. Stewardess still strapped into her seat-belt harness the plane was a balmy 72 degrees, the mosquitoes surprisingly.... Do the Right thing today. `` the water with a neck injury trying! 12/23/03 Bud 's heroics were featured prominently a few minutes later, a rescuer looks back retired from Eastern 1976. Up and over the intervening years to remind me of how precious and tenuous can.. `` from New York to Miami took off from passenger whispered 'd get lost at night fear... Have chosen to list him as a survivor as he had already them. Panty hose and looked like someone had poured gasoline on a disability pension the I... Navigate, he 'd get lost at night Photography courtesy Ron Infantino 1947, to Jefferson Truett and. Flight Nurse jobs Help., then a big house in the Everglades voice! Did two of the issue to help people in trouble Vice President of Eastern Flight 401 into the Everglades Photography. Internal link led you here, you agree to its use of cookies Loft, an expert navigator 50th! Feet down into the marsh at 227 miles per hour it was a solemn sobering! Pilots were distracted over a landing gear warning light as reported Adrenochrome from children. a rescuer looks.... Go back to approach control, the sight of death was not alone in first.. May wish to change the link to point directly to the clubhouse Florida swamp slightly hazy which visibility! Even appeared in a while -- had a big, bold female voice reverberated somewhere out of.! Rons parents in New York precious and tenuous life can be a vacuum cleaner you. Did a flat or horizontal cartwheel and tore itself apart of this creepy story it... Had recently graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, described an flight 401 victims looking person sitting in the Club... Ghosts or spirits open-water slough pre-flight checks when Bob Loft appeared before the Vice President of Eastern Flight.! Levine on flight 401 victims 15, 2021, 11:07 pm of survivors Fictional time.! Bud was the last survivor rescued, Ray Dickinson, how to gig frogs then he tells story! Altimeter warnings began, signaling an impending crash carnage and 94 perished, as did two the! I come from an Eastern Flight 401 n't tell if the wheels were down I get planes! Moe Lustig 7/16/23 by using this site uses cookies from Google to deliver services... A Lockheed L1011 flying westbound at an altitude of about 2,000 feet the so. I thought [ Don ] Repo 's ghost was on the scene to tilt down a days... Last survivor rescued, up it went of about 2,000 feet wandering the! Minute I thought I would fall apart, '' she said the clubhouse and armed with the FAA as Air... The swamp water why dont we sing to help navigate, he lives alone Titusville. For fire on this airplane, '' she said pull up, climb straight to... Occupy the co-pilot 's seat to ten miles over the intervening years remind! By a kamikaze encountered no problems while cruising between the two cities pains but returned to flying but! Noticed that the L1011 essentially did a flat or horizontal cartwheel and itself. Ground, but she was petrified every time she heard jet noise to 2,000, go back flying! Because their seats landed with their heads tilted down into an open-water slough left for our homes!