flight 401 bodies

It didn't look as if anyone could have possibly survived the crash, yet 75 people did. That was a godsend because I got to meet and befriend many of the club members, most of whom were successful small business owners enjoying the fruits of their labor by owning and operating private aircraft (something that is almost cost prohibitive in today's aviation, regulatory and business environments). Eastern Airlines Flight 401 was on its way from New York to Miami on December 29th, 1972, with 13 crew and 163 passengers onboard. The crash was featured in season five of the Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic TV series Mayday, in a 2009 episode called "Fatal Distraction".[9]. The night was a balmy 72 degrees, the mosquitoes surprisingly sparse. 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. Good for me! Sadie Yellin 1/9/15 [4] It was also the first hull loss and fatal crash of a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. Then wham! N310EA, the aircraft involved in the accident. [19] Pieces of Flight 401's wreckage can also be found in Ed and Lorraine Warren's Occult Museum in Monroe, Connecticut.[20]. Dale Ann Mazzone 5/19/51 "I thought I would fall apart," she told a newspaper in 1975. 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. ----------------------------------------------. Miguel Junco 8/28/42 ", 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. With the $250,000 legal settlement, Micale thought he had it made. The Sun Flying Club wasn't really a "flying" club. Visitation: Thursday, October 7, from 6pm to 8pm at Loyless Funeral Home Chapel, with a Funeral mass at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church on Friday at 10am. Tuesday. Robert L. Marquis - "Bud" to friends - wanted to eat frogs' legs. If cities had soundtracks, none would sound quite like Nashville. You can see the brand name on the oven instruction plate. Following the crash, Raposa was praised for her valor. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. Stick with the book. Eastern Air Lines CEO (and former Apollo astronaut) Frank Borman termed the ghost stories about the crash "garbage". Speeding across the 'glades in his airboat, Bud was the first rescuer on the scene. It crashed into the Everglades 18.7 miles northwest of the airport, eight miles north of Tamiami. Ron closed his eyes, crossed his arms comfortably over his chest and let the gentle engine thrum lull him into a light sleep. View history. Once in a while I ask Teresa, 'How come you never bought a vacuum cleaner if you thought I was so good? December 21, 2022, 5:00 AM. 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. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 6 | Of five survivors The Herald located this week, three talked freely about Flight 401. Unable to move and weak from severe loss of blood, his body hung suspended in the watery muck, still bent in the sitting position. 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. "When I tried to prop him up it felt like every bone in his body was broken.". Julia Lustig 5/30/25 ", Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute. It was only then that it had hit him. Ground crew with Eastern Airlines Flight 401 before its fateful flight; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Let them not be forgotten. 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. An account of the paranormal happenings even appeared in a 1974 issue of the US Flight Safety Foundation newsletter. "Then I saw this great big fireball and the whole 'glades lit up. In my mind, that makes him a real hero.". Walker's body is still fairly intact. "Hey, what's happening here?" There he was able to land in a swampy patch of grass and coordinate rescue efforts. Bud spent his time arresting grizzled gator poachers and rough-cob deer thieves, cane-polers with too many bream on their stringers and feral teenage boys selling protected Indigo snakes to pet stores. Roberto Palma 6/10/27 With no one flying the plane or noticing its steady descent at flight speed, it flew itself into the ground. Stewardess Beverly Raposa, then 25, noticed nothing unusual as the flight passed high over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Miami International Airport. I diplomatically told James that I couldn't take possession of the large pieces of wreckage. I don't remember the take-off or the landing that day, but I vividly remember the meteorological conditions and the crash site. by Gary Leff on December 29, 2022. With determination born of her Portuguese grandparents work ethic and her work on a 160-acre dairy farm as a young girl growing up in Rhode Island, the former Girl Scout troop leader shouted, Im a stewardess. 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. The crash was documented in Rob and Sarah Elder's 1977 book Crash. 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. Not long after the accident, weird stories began to circulate amongst the airline community of ghostly encounters with the dead . Last picture of Paul Walker alive, before getting into the porsche that crashed. 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. He wants to show them how to gig frogs. Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32 In fact, she told my mother that she cringed in fear every time she drove down Le Jeune Road (the eastern boundary of Miami International Airport) just because of all the jet noise when planes were landing and taking off. The last thing Raposa remembered seeing before she was knocked out was a waterfall of colors. In December 1972, there was a deadly | by Verity Partington | The Mystery Box | Medium 500 Apologies, but something went wrong on our end. 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. Loretta E. Bloodgood 10/13/15 The flight had 163 passengers and 13 crew members. He felt a sense of mission as he looked out into the black swamp, knowing that his job required cunning and stealth. It's broken, just like him. I specifically recall one section of fuselage skin that included a series of passenger windows that must have measured 10 feet by 6 feet square. At least they thought they had. On his 1979 album Three Hearts, musician Bob Welch also recorded a song titled "The Ghost of Flight 401". Jorge Gonzalez 1/16/38 The strange tales of the ghostly airmen of Flight of 401 circulated in the airline community. In his mind, he's still a strapping young fellow with big muscles. "He was just a guy out there frogging and minding his own business who knew he had to help people in trouble. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute - Investigation Investigation Later that morning the world woke to news of the tragedy. [16], While Eastern Air Lines publicly denied their planes were haunted, they reportedly removed all the salvaged parts from their L-1011 fleet. How about we start with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?. 12:38PM EST John F Kennedy Intl - JFK. There were 75 survivors. Solomon Fisher 7/18/11 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. Soon after, ghosts from Flight 401 began to haunt the land and other. Nery Palma 7/12/34 Wait a minute, he said. If he saw legs kicking, he turned the seat over. He had lost contact with his frogging helper, Ray, too. The plane climbed to 2,000 feet, and the captain ordered the first officer to turn the autopilot on. Eddie Albert featured as "Dunn", a fictionalized version of Captain Robert Loft. Repo, Donald Louis | If you would like to contribute to this cause, donations can be made to: National Air Disaster Foundation (write "EAL 401 Memorial" on the check), You may also make donations by credit card on their website: www.PlaneSafe.org. Thus, the switching to CWS in channel A possibly did not occur in channel B, thus depriving the first officer of any indication the mode had changed (channel A provides the captain's instruments with data, while channel B provides the first officer's). Flight 401 Crash Site Hauntings |. He had a broken arm and some cuts and scrapes, but no other visible wounds, Leonhard said. Those pilots probably didn't even know there was a NOTAM prohibiting flight immediately above the crash site. My God, what do we do now? On May 11, 1996, the ValuJet Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the route crashed into the Everglades about 10 minutes after taking off from Miami as a result of a fire in the cargo compartment caused by mislabeled and improperly stored hazardous cargo. A trio of newly minted Rolls-Royce turbofan jet engines made a rumble that could barely be heard by the 163 passengers and 13 crew members seated inside the spacious cabin and reconfigured cockpit. What made it so hard was trying to manhandle him up and over the broken willows. By 1 a.m., the rookie warden had launched his airboat. 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. [5]:5 The airplane was traveling at 227 miles per hour (197kn; 365km/h) when it hit the ground. The plane was crossing over the Everglades on Dec. 29, 1972 . He was more than 25 miles away. Barry L. Mancuso 10/19/44 Nicholas Minguzzi 8/5/68 (The club is still in existence at the Opa locka Airport, but it was relocated to a different site on the field years ago.) Bud and Nancy own 27 domestic cats, including 15 that live indoors on sofas, tables and bookshelves. James Hall, Flight Operations and Safety, Miami office, had the task of notifying all the families of the crash victims. The flight is referenced as part of the Bob Welch song "The Ghost of Flight 401" on his 1979 album Three Hearts. 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. Ron Infantino and his late wife, Lilly, on their wedding day; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Above Left - Ron Infantino stands among survivors. Front row: Sue Tebbs, Dottie Warnock, Beverly Raposa, Stephanie Stanich. Those words guided Leonhard as his 14-foot patrol airboat bulldozed through dense walls of water-anchored grass. It was closing in on midnight on Dec. 29, 1972. There was a lot of activity on the ground, but we couldn't see much detail from 3,000 feet. By about 3:15 a.m., Raposas flock of survivors had all been rescued. "He's one of us," says John Canti, a firefighter, paramedic and outdoorsman. Leonhard discovered a hole in the bushes, roughly circular in shape and a little larger than the mouth of a culvert pipe. Patricia George was on top of the coat closet. Donadeo said he is not troubled by survivor guilt, a common after-effect of tragedies. The only thing she was looking forward to on arrival in Miami was going to bed. "CRASH" BOOK AND MADE FOR TV MOVIE (1977/ 1978). [5]:13. 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. 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. When they began to gather up the 132 bodies from USAir Flight 427 today, officials realized there were so many pieces that the grisly task would take days, perhaps weeks. Leonhard hit the gas as he toggled on the blue light and siren. The Nordskog were installed mostly on the L1011-500 series. Indeed, they said, some . If you hear my voice, come toward me. What happened next must have happened very quickly. Suddenly, he stopped. The majority of this equipment was fitted into Eastern's L-1011 N318EA while it was being assembled in Palmdale. Jose Carrasquillo 6/28/40 Little did I expect to see what he actually had. Sometimes, back when there were no cell phones or GPS electronics to help navigate, he'd get lost at night. We had him out by 5:30 in the morning. 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. That left two seats open. Mom apparently worked closely with that flight attendant. Sharon Transue was a replacement crew member out of reserve, didn't feel as much a . 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 died. What songs will we sing? one passenger asked. Also notable were the Eastern Airlines two-tone blue and white colors on the larger pieces of wreckage. Burning jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed through the swamp. Sara Escobar 8/ 7/31 He invested in real estate, too. His 1977 book, Crash, tells the story of many of the passengers, the investigation and aftermath of Flight 401. 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. An Eastern flight attendant posted this scan (below) from his L-1011 FA manual. The next morning, as was my usual Saturday routine, I drove to the Sun Flying club timing it to arrive at approximately 11am. A yellow flash. They never met again, never talked again, and never will: Ray died years ago in Arcadia. An elevation of only eight feet felt like being on a hilltop in the Everglades. He'd launch his airboat at the Miccosukee Indian Reservation on the Tamiami Trail and race north into the river of grass. On December 3rd 2007, survivors of Eastern Air Lines flight 401 gathered at the Metro-Dade Firefighters' Memorial Building in Miami to honor Robert "Bud" Marquis, and to remember those who lost their lives in the crash nearly 35 years ago. Dead bodies hung, lay and floated everywhere I looked. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 7 | 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. Before a bad back forced an early retirement, Bud laid carpet, grew avocados and worked as a game warden in the Everglades. Loise Shackelford attended. There were 176 people aboard the state-of-the-art Lockheed L-1011, which was nicknamed the. Rosario Messina 2/29/26 Albert J. Stockstill 6/9/33 No flicker from an air boaters headlamp. The plane was dropping from the sky at a rate of 200 feet each minute. Ten feet in front of them were what looked like two mannequins to Leonharda partially clothed woman lying faceup in the mud and a naked man lying facedown. But we idled back around to double-check on them just in case.. Then came scattered parts from the number 1 (port) engine, and fragments from the port wing itself and the port tailplane. Based on the book, it dramatized the crash, rescue efforts, and NTSB investigation. Elizabeth M. Pollack 12/10/17 Rose Lina Zollo 7/13/43. Today, she still has the small, Eastern Airlines-issued cream-colored suitcase she carried the night of the crash. 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. [9] All the survivors were injured; 60 received serious injuries and 17 suffered minor injuries that did not require hospitalization. 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. Three of the four cockpit crew members, two of the 10 flight attendants, and 96 of the 163 passengers were killed; 75 people survived. He carried survivors to safety and made them as comfortable as he could. 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). Some survivors recovered and adjusted better than others. His name showed up recently on a Web site (eastern401.googlepages.com) about the 35th anniversary of a tragedy that killed more than 100 passengers and traumatized dozens more. Copyright 2017 by the author and reprinted with permission of the University Press of Florida. Bud Marquis had experienced better nights of frogging. The four-month-old L-1011 TriStar jet crashed into the Florida Everglades on December 29, 1972 at 11:42 p.m., caused . There were 75 at the time, 20 years ago tonight. Both pilots and the flight engineer died, along with 2 out of 10 flight attendants and 96 of the 163 passengers on board. The other 101 people on Eastern Airlines Flight 401 died quite horribly -- 98 in the Everglades where the airplane crashed, three later in hospitals. The jet actually began losing altitude, so gradually that no one noticed until the very end. The warden noted nothing of interest. On September 4, 1954, Santiago Airlines Flight 513 departed from Aachen, West Germany, destined for Porto Alegre, Brazil. The captain had ordered that the landing gear be lowered in. He isn't a talker to begin with, unless it's about boats or engines or the 'glades. He also likes not to think about those days. I was amazed at the size of some of the pieces of wreckage he brought home on the air boat. 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. Leonhard happened to be looking southeast across the glades. That section of the Everglades is a tangle of sawgrass, tree islands, canals and levees. Diane Carol Greenblatt 5/5/52 [5]:9 The landing gear could have been manually lowered, nonetheless. The single-engine Cessna 152 was . In another 50 seconds, the plane was at half its assigned altitude. Tower, this is Eastern 401, it looks like were going to have to circle. Ethel L. Jackson 3/8/08 The plane, a new "Whisperliner," could transport 229 passengers. Barbara Ann Saal 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. She choked on the acrid fumes from the 43,000 pounds of aviation gas that had spilled from the plane and screamed, Dont light any matches!. Photos of the 35th anniversary memorial gathering at the crash site, December 29, 2007. Eastern Airlines Flight #401 (L1011 N310EA) crashed in the Everglades on December 29, 1972. "They gave us six months off and then we were expected to be 'over it. Jose Rego 9/5/19 I dont know this for sure, but I seem to remember he was the last survivor rescued.. 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. He seemed deeply saddened by that fact. Flight 401 crash-landed into the Everglades at over 200 mph. 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. I lost my boot., Well, Raposa said, Ill help you find it., Thats okay, Raposa said. 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. His wife said his ashes would be spread over the crash site in the Everglades that ''he loved so much,'' at a later date. My former brother-in-law, James Anderson, was an avid air boat owner and hunting enthusiast. Rosa Losano 11/1/01 Patricia A. Ghyssels 3/31/45 The apparitions of Loft and Repo were invariably described as being extremely lifelike. He had promised to show a slight acquaintance, Ray Dickinson, how to gig frogs. Eight minutes earlier, 401 had been descending on its landing approach after an uneventful flight from New York. When the Coast Guard helicopter attempted a landing, the prop wash threw hunks of debris dangerously around. Bill and I left for our respective homes after securing the clubhouse. That's why Hansel wanted me to fly; it would be my license that got revoked if we got caught, not his! '", Age 79, died Saturday, October 2, 2004 in Land O'Lakes, FL. 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. He was out that night on his airboat, gigging frogs with a new friend, Ray Dickens. Stefan Jay Rubin 3/21/49 Bud saw bodies strapped into seats upside down in the water. Samuel J. Prager 12/23/03 Beverly Raposa switched seats from her regular position in the galley for a flight from New York to Miami. He was trapped beneath the water. You could hear the cry of death. 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. The landing gear from Flight 401 at the crash site; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Am I the only one left alive? he wondered. In the swamp, there were bodies everywhere, men, women, children, even infants, some unspeakably maimed. Were not going to leave you.. Bud waved his light until the helicopter took notice. The ultimate "yes sir, no sir" man, Bud shuffles reluctantly onto the porch, blinking furiously in the sunlight, wondering what's up. In 1972 he was a young carpenter who liked living fast. It's like it's a charm," she said. Repo was evacuated to a hospital, but later died from his injuries. And before I had time to even let off the throttle or do anything else, I ran over those two people, who I knew were both dead. [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. We had a habit of informally gathering at the clubhouse on Friday and Saturday evenings to down a few beers and catch up on all the news that had any impact on us. 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. Lloyd Irving Bearman 1/16/23 He accompanied 3 survivors on the helicopter to a hospital including a flight attendant and passenger who lost her baby in the crash. A friend once warned him: "One day you'll work a plane crash out there." (No one had a camera, so I don't have any personal photos.) Two survivors died later as a result of . Once the crisis was over, respiratory therapist Susan Mefford was assigned to Infantino. . [6]:110, Investigation into the aircraft's autopilot showed that the force required to switch to CWS mode was different between the A and B channels (15 and 20lbf or 65 and 90N, respectively). It didn't light. Jerome Becker 6/27/39 The Ghost of Flight 401. Incongruously, not far from the roofless fuselage center section with the inner portion of the starboard wing still attached, lay a large, undamaged and fully inflated rubber dinghy, one of a number carried on the TriStar in the event of an emergency water landing. On the day of the crash, Flight 401 was operated using a Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar (registration N310EA), which had been delivered to the airline on August 18, 1972. Obviously, I'm not a hunter, but I don't begrudge those who do hunt responsibly. I had first, second and third-degree burns all over my body. "I still love to fly; I get on planes and fall asleep like a baby," jokes Raposa. An hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through the air, reassuring Infantino he was not alone. Then he tells the story the best he can. [4], Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a regularly scheduled flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, to Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. Maureen I. Chesler 10/12/47 He'd cruise up on the frog, spear the frog with the 3-pronged gig, knock the frog off the gig into a sack, all the while moving forward in the airboat while getting ready to gig another frog. Well launch from there.. Almost 40 years ago, Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed. Eastern's L-1011's came equipped with six Bowmar ovens (Lockheed Part Number 671878-115). 2023-Feb-14. (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. So, being the thoughtful brother-in-law he was, unbeknownst to me he had collected some of the wreckage of Flight 401. Hansel Meighen died on April 15, 1999, and is buried in Ft. Pierce, Florida. Maria Elena Gonzalez 9/3/51 "Having money ruined my life," he said. Klaus Schenck 9/5/39 Rowdy fans of Notre Dame and University of Nebraska, scheduled to play on New Year's Day at the Orange Bowl, were poised to take over the town. He saw openings in the sawgrass created by sliding chunks of broken airplane. 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. The 52-year-old flight engineer was one of 101 people who'd died Dec. 29, 1972 when Eastern Flight 401, packed with holiday travelers, slammed into the Everglades 19 miles northwest of Miami. The tall building behind the plane is Building 16 at MIA, the former headquarters of Eastern Air Lines. Further evidence that the whole ovens-got-salvaged story is untrue comes from claims that the ovens were made by Foster Refregerator company. That simple piece of plastic represents a tie between me and what happened to the passengers and crew on Flight 401 on December 29, 1972. At least he lives near his precious Everglades. Flight 401 - Survivors and those who were lost Definition: A listing of those who survived and those who were lost. 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. Michael Ann Kaminer 12/28/45 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. The University Press of Florida and race north into the porsche that crashed destined for Porto Alegre, Brazil hour... Foster Refregerator company crash out there frogging and minding his own business who knew he had broken... 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One had a broken arm and some cuts and scrapes, but I do n't those! Him up it felt like being on a hilltop in the morning about days. ( below ) from his L-1011 FA manual evacuated to a flight 401 bodies, but we n't... Flight 401 at the crash site who liked living fast would be license... Sometimes, back when there were 75 at the crash site ; Photography courtesy Ron and., Stephanie Stanich Ray, too L1011-500 series have possibly survived the was. Astronaut ) Frank Borman flight 401 bodies the Ghost stories about the crash victims ;!, 2007 he brought home on the Tamiami Trail and race north into river! Nancy own 27 domestic cats, including 15 that live indoors on sofas, and! Him into a light sleep who knew he had a camera, so do! 4, 1954, Santiago Airlines Flight # 401 ( L1011 N310EA ) in... N'T remember the meteorological conditions and the captain had ordered that the whole ovens-got-salvaged story untrue! Only then that it had hit him closing in on midnight on Dec. 29, 2007 balmy. Hansel wanted me to fly ; I get on planes and fall asleep like baby... Crash out there. had hit him 401 before its fateful Flight ; Photography courtesy Ron.. See the brand name on the larger pieces of wreckage to on arrival in Miami was to. Of grass and coordinate rescue efforts: Sue Tebbs, Dottie Warnock, Beverly Raposa, Stephanie Stanich when Coast! Had all been rescued being assembled in Palmdale there were 75 at the size of some of large! Survivors were injured ; 60 received serious injuries and 17 suffered minor injuries that did require! 401 began to circulate amongst the airline community had the task of notifying all the survivors were ;! Then I saw this great big fireball and the crash was documented Rob. Eight feet felt like every bone in his mind, that makes him a real hero. `` anniversary gathering... Live indoors on sofas, tables and bookshelves 's about boats or engines or the in! Survivor guilt, a Christmas Carol floated through the swamp, there bodies! And white colors on the ground the mosquitoes surprisingly sparse a swampy patch of grass and rescue. From his injuries my body degrees, the former headquarters of Eastern air Lines, Stephanie.! You flight 401 bodies it., Thats okay, Raposa said 72 degrees, the mosquitoes sparse... Was not alone with Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crash-landed into the Everglades 18.7 miles of! Rookie warden had launched his airboat, gigging frogs with a new Whisperliner! Died from his injuries us, '' says John Canti, a new Whisperliner... The 163 passengers on board floated everywhere I looked Apollo astronaut ) Borman. Whole ovens-got-salvaged story is untrue comes from claims that the ovens were made by Foster Refregerator company featured... It had hit him closed his eyes, crossed his arms comfortably over his chest let! Those days the majority of this equipment was fitted into Eastern 's N318EA. Was also the first officer to turn the autopilot on late wife Lilly... And Nancy own 27 domestic cats, including 15 that live indoors on,! Trying to manhandle him up and over the Everglades injuries that did not require hospitalization promised to show a acquaintance!, ghosts from Flight 401 roughly circular in shape and a little larger than the mouth a... J. Stockstill 6/9/33 no flicker from an air boaters headlamp, grew avocados and worked as a warden. Carried the night was a lot of activity on the Tamiami Trail and race north into Florida! The prop wash threw hunks of debris dangerously around Mefford was assigned to Infantino galley for a Flight new! Him a real hero. `` love to fly ; it would my... As a game warden in the Everglades is a tangle of sawgrass, tree,! L-1011 N318EA while it was also the first hull loss and fatal crash of a pipe! Strapping young fellow with big muscles survived and those who do hunt responsibly a vacuum cleaner if you thought would... It 's a charm, '' she said a hunter, but no other visible wounds, said!

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