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. There were 75 at the time, 20 years ago tonight. It's broken, just like him. I vaguely remember that we ended up taking a total of five people on that flight. (The club is still in existence at the Opa locka Airport, but it was relocated to a different site on the field years ago.) Silvia Crespo 11/30/32 Blackness. [25] A television movie of the same name was broadcast in October 1978. Eastern Flight 401: A survivor's story Before ValuJet there was Eastern Flight 401. Raposa, Beverly | I saw young couples broken up. The plane descended out of the sky as pilots were distracted over a landing gear warning light. He sold 13 in a month. (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. Bill and I left for our respective homes after securing the clubhouse. At 11:32 p.m., Capt. "I was engaged and my fiance was killed in a drunk-driving accident two months before the wedding," she said. '," she says now. Water saturated by jet fuel filled his boots, burning his legs. Sometime in midflight, passenger Ron Infantino switched seats with his wife, Lilly, after she returned from the bathroom. On December 29, 1972 pilot Robert "Bob" Loft and flight engineer Don Repo were piloting Eastern Airlines Flight 401 from JFK Airport (NY) to Miami, Florida. Eugene Schenker 6/24/30 Donadeo is still active in aviation, as state vice commander of the Civil Air Patrol. Mary Carfizzi 11/3/19 On December 29, 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was the first jumbo jet to crash and the second worst single-plane disaster in America up to that time. [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. Evidently, I wasn't so stupid as to put any regulatory violations in writing in my log book. Join FlightAware View more flight history Purchase entire flight history for AAL401. My mother never told me the flight attendant's name, but she did say that she had suffered a broken back in the crash. Bound for Miami, Flight 401 took off from New York's JFK at 9:20 p.m. I had initially intended to fly a little above 2,000 feet to avoid the restrictions, but I ended up closer to 3,000 feet to avoid the other aircraft. Kenneth Michael Mazonne 3/27/44 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. 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. Trans World Airlines Flight 800 was carrying 230 people, including four cockpit crew members and 14 flight attendants. Meanwhile, 1,100 miles to the north, an Eastern Airlines jumbo jet lifted off in bitter cold weather from New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport. Ethel L. Jackson 3/8/08 They also told me that Bill had been called shortly after he got home by the police department helicopter unit to come back to the airport (the police helicopter unit was based at Opa locka) for emergency flight duty. Some survivors recovered and adjusted better than others. Jesus Lorenzo 4/26/37 "They gave us six months off and then we were expected to be 'over it. [10], Most of the dead were passengers in the aircraft's midsection. "I consider the survivors 75 miracles. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011-1 Tristar jet that crashed into the Florida Everglades at 11:42 pm December 29, 1972, causing 101 fatalities. [4] It was also the first hull loss and fatal crash of a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. Then an alarm chimed, signaling a 250-foot drop. Diane Carol Greenblatt 5/5/52 Hey, whats happening here? the captain shouted. "I was wounded in World War II when the ship I was on was hit by a kamikaze. Photography courtesy Ron Infantino, A few minutes later Leonhards radio crackled. Two survivors died later as a result of . If he saw legs kicking, he turned the seat over. Old and sick now, he lives in near poverty on the edge of the Everglades. He was trapped beneath the water. It is personal and it has served over the intervening years to remind me of how precious and tenuous life can be. She had nothing. Flight 401 may refer to: Iberia Airlines Flight 401, crashed on 5 May 1965. You could hear the cry of death. This photo taken in September 2009. He is survived by his beloved wife of 53 years, Donna; son, John (Jan) Angelo; daughters, Susan (Bob) Norberg, Patricia (Rick) Shepherd; and nine grandchildren. Yetta Cohn 3/17/16 That left two seats open. Albert J. Stockstill 6/9/33 the passenger manifest) Further evidence that the whole ovens-got-salvaged story is untrue comes from claims that the ovens were made by Foster Refregerator company. His fishing and hunting skills helped put supper on the family table. [6], The flight was commanded by Captain Robert Albin (Bob) Loft, age 55, a veteran pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern Air Lines. Leonhard doesnt remember which one. "Nobody paid him to go out there and try to rescue people," says Ken Pine, who recently fixed Bud's roof. Marquis is also survived by a son, Donald Marquis of Altamonte Springs; a daughter, Terri Mabie of Tucson; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. 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. Two later died, leaving 75 survivors and 101 fatalities. Eastern management must have taken the stories somewhat seriously, however. In its first three hours aloft, Flight 401 had been uneventful. (Deer in south Florida are almost anemic compared to deer in other parts of the country.) in Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering, or related subject area It was only then that it had hit him. The crew members, however, were focused on fixing the wheel-light indicator. Folks from South Florida's sporting community, mostly hunters, fishers and airboaters, heard, many for the first time, about Bud. I really do think I can gig some frogs if I had to. Flight 401 - First Response | Photos: AL DIAZ | MIAMI HERALD. An hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through the air, reassuring Infantino he was not alone. He saw tangled metal and smelled aviation fuel. Charles Camichel 9/9/1899 (we assume this is the "C. Carmichael" on The accident and the subsequent ghost story were mentioned by Dan Aykroyd during his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on June 6, 1984. That's why Hansel wanted me to fly; it would be my license that got revoked if we got caught, not his! Contained Within. Stefan Jay Rubin 3/21/49 HONOLULU, FEB. 25 -- As investigators questioned the pilots and ground crew today, Coast Guard and Navy rescue workers recovered from the Pacific two seats and a 4-by-6-foot . As Stockstill started another turn, onto 180, he noticed the discrepancy. Walker's body is still fairly intact. Speculation at the club was rampant which is to be expected from a bunch of pilots. Interment will follow at 2pm at Florida National Cemetery. The death toll at the time was the highest of any one-plane accident in U.S. civil aviation history. The crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 41 years ago Sunday, the first crash of a widebody aircraft and, at the time, the second deadliest single-aircraft disaster in the U.S., led to wide-ranging changes in on board safety that continue to positively affect air travel today. Instead, he would witness the first jumbo jet crash in U.S. history. A pale glow lightened the sky above Miami more than 40 miles away. Wrong. The Ghosts of Eastern Flight 401. The silence was broken only by the intermittent croaking of bullfrogs and the occasional rustle of tall reeds as an unseen creature passed through them. She screamed for help, but no one answered, and she wondered whether she was the only one left alive. It was a heart-to- heart bond. Rose Kashman 9/22/15 Angelo was a friend to all who know him, generous with his time to anyone who needed him and a devoted husband and father. Bud revved up the engine and headed northwest. After we visually established where the crash site was located, we could see the initial ground contact point and the distribution of the wreckage quite clearly. I should add that Dorothy R. Loft and her two children, Kimberly and Robert, Jr sued Fuller for invasion of privacy over the book . 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. Let them not be forgotten. Elisa Ruth Romero 5/28/44 Serving coffee, tea and soda was all very nice, but this was what counted. Chapter II - OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (AVIATION PROCEEDINGS) Subchapter A - ECONOMIC REGULATIONS. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 is coming in for a landing in Miami. After the crash, a . Those pilots probably didn't even know there was a NOTAM prohibiting flight immediately above the crash site. 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. On his 1979 album Three Hearts, musician Bob Welch also recorded a song titled "The Ghost of Flight 401". The landing gear from Flight 401 at the crash site; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Marquis, Robert | She had no first-aid kit. She looked into the distance, saw the dim lights of Miami framed against a coal-black horizon and noticed how far away it was. Off I went to check with the FAA Flight Service Station. 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. In 1985, his years as a manual laborer caught up with him. His book was later adapted into a made-for-tv movie starring William Shatner as an NTSB investigator. Flight 401 left John F. Kennedy at 9:20 p.m. His wife said his ashes would be spread over the crash site in the Everglades that ''he loved so much,'' at a later date. It looked as though the L1011 was in a shallow left turn and dragged the left wing tip in the swamp. '", Age 79, died Saturday, October 2, 2004 in Land O'Lakes, FL. [11] The swamp absorbed much of the energy of the crash, lessening the impact on the aircraft. At 11:32, they aborted the landing, climbed to 2,000 feet and swung west over the Everglades to work out the problem. "It's 100 degrees in the house, honey," Nancy says, joining him on the porch. Rochelle Rubin 1/5/48 (she was the first victim discovered by the search team Raposa was struggling for ideas to keep her group occupied. Below: The Casado family tour the crash site. Murray Yellin 6/9/11 "Remember what the doctor said," Nancy chimes in. What caused Flight 401 crash? 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. Renee Joaquin Albert 8/3/36 "Hey! Stephanie Rae Stanich 11/10/48 I didn't tell him that it felt really strange realizing that so much of the plane was still out in the glades. James Yandolino 3/7/52 [5]:4 For the next 80 seconds, the airplane maintained level flight. Dr. Aftabuddin Chowdhury 1/1/43 No gunshots. Henry Nunez 8/18/23 "He's an airboater.". 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. The majority of this equipment was fitted into Eastern's L-1011 N318EA while it was being assembled in Palmdale. A team catalogues the mangled remains of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 aircraft at the crash site in the Everglades. The tall building behind the plane is Building 16 at MIA, the former headquarters of Eastern Air Lines. The bent, white-haired man in the mirror has a bad heart and breathes from an oxygen machine, hasn't been frogging in a coon's age, and hasn't been in his airboat since, well, he can't remember. An account of the paranormal happenings even appeared in a 1974 issue of the US Flight Safety Foundation newsletter. Lockheed L-1011 Cockpit | 103 passengers and crew members died in the crash or shortly thereafter and 75 passengers/crew survived. Sadly, she did not survive. 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 saw bodies of people who appeared to be completely unaffected, who were fully clothed and yet they were dead. About a year after the crash of Flight 401, she told me that one of the flight attendants who had survived the crash had come back to work at Eastern, but was assigned to the executive secretarial pool while she recovered from her physical injuries and tried to cope with her mental anguish. The aircraft impacted the Everglades at 227 mph at 25.51'53"N, 80.35'43"W, almost 7 miles due north of Tamiami Trail (US 41), slightly over 7 miles . Once in a while I ask Teresa, 'How come you never bought a vacuum cleaner if you thought I was so good? Lets sing Christmas carols, Raposa replied. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 left New York's JFK airport, bound for Miami International Airport, on December 29, 1972. He wants to show them how to gig frogs. Christina (center) was two-months-old at the time of the crash, making her the youngest survivor . of 401 King Street, London, W6 9NJ, United Kingdom (+612 9691 0176). "There are is so much friction, so many arguments. My log book shows that our flight lasted 1.2 hours. Also in attendance was Ron Infantino, David Kaplan and the Casado family. The altimeter showed a decrease in altitude, but none of the crew noticed. The area I was about to go in was uncharted territory for me, Leonhard said. Anyway, the statute of limitations has long since passed. A yellow flash. She had been recovering from a heartbreak of her own for a year and a half. Refresh the page, check Medium 's site. Bud no longer worked as a game warden - his day job was laying carpet. The plane climbed to 2,000 feet, and the captain ordered the first officer to turn the autopilot on. "That wasn't my first brush with death," he said. From this point on, the breakup of the fuselage became more extensive, scattering metal fragments, cabin fittings, and passenger seats widely. The two girls in the photograph that are having the bunny ears (Patricia Ghyssels) and the one jokingly being choked (Stephanie Stanich) were the only two flight attendants who did not survive the crash. When I was learning to fly in the mid-1960s at Sun Line Helicopters, one of the fixed base operators (FBO) tied into the Miami-Dade Junior College aviation program at the Opa locka Airport, I worked as a line boy refueling aircraft and doing minor line maintenance. Eastern used the Bowmar/Calrod brand. 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. The time was 9:20 p.m. Salvatore Carfizzi 7/15/15 Now take a sip. Thomas Ponte 10/24/11 ----------------------------------------------. It is now known that "Mrs. McAvoy" was Donna Smith, Thomas McAvoy's traveling companion. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute | 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. "That's what really gets me. Bud helped the man into the airboat and poured him coffee from the thermos. It turns out that the area I was flying over is the well-known stomping grounds for the crew of Eastern Airlines Flight 401: A plane that crashed in 1972 over the Everglades. Jerry stopped seeing the girl in Miami he had been dating, married a different woman a year later and quit his job at Gimbel's. When she came to, she was still belted into her seat, tipped to one side, hanging six feet above the swamp. "I still love to fly; I get on planes and fall asleep like a baby," jokes Raposa. Less than three hours later the aircraft reached Florida. It seemed to be miles off course. The plane was a new Lockheed L-1011, pride of the Eastern fleet. Janice Testa 9/12/52 However, it also complicated the survivors' recuperation, as organisms in the swamp caused infection, with the potential for gas gangrene. 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. Former headquarters of Eastern Air Lines was uncharted territory for me, Leonhard said highest of any one-plane in... Anemic compared to Deer in south Florida are almost anemic compared to Deer in south Florida are almost compared. At 9:20 p.m was broadcast in October 1978 helped put supper on the family table | 103 and. 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