Ghosts of Flight 401 - 3 | It didn't look as if anyone could have possibly survived the crash, yet 75 people did. Hey!" It seemed to help. Perhaps that may not have made much difference. Witnesses include pilots, various other members of Eastern Air Lines staff and their passengers. Donadeo, an Eastern Airlines technical specialist on L-1011 aircraft, was returning to Miami that night from a trouble- shooting assignment in New York. 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. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. 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. Frank Borman called it all a bunch of "crap" and considered suing the producers of the 1978 made-for-TV movie about the ghost stories for libel. He isn't a talker to begin with, unless it's about boats or engines or the 'glades. She described him as dazed and unresponsive. Eric Olson holding a piece of wreckage from Flight 401. Some survivors recovered and adjusted better than others. The flying club tie-down area and ramp were immediately adjacent to the Sun Line operation and I often was called upon to fuel aircraft on the Sun Flying Club property. Jose Garcia 6/4/47 I didn't tell him that it felt really strange realizing that so much of the plane was still out in the glades. The final leg of the flight was canceled as a result of this fire. 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. March 21, 2017 Robert L. Marquis - "Bud" to friends - wanted to eat frogs' legs. While all this was very much in the public domain, reports circulated that aircraft engineers quietly removed any materials they had reused from the crash. Greta Foye 3/19/45 * 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." Flashlights became part of the standard equipment; flight attendants now have shoulder harnesses whether their seats face forward or backward; the acoustic alerts given to pilots to advise them of changes to the autopilot settings were dramatically improved; and the groundwork was laid for what later became the science of Cockpit Resource Management, which aims to minimize human error by codifying communication, leadership, and decision making in the cockpit. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 traveled from New York to Miami. My guess is that the L1011 essentially did a flat or horizontal cartwheel and tore itself apart. A Military Burial with Honors will be held at a later date, at South Florida National Cemetery, Lake Worth, Florida. He shut down the engine again to listen. Sometimes, back when there were no cell phones or GPS electronics to help navigate, he'd get lost at night. 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. 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. He did well for a while -- had a big house in the Country Club of Miami and drove a Lincoln. 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. His doctor warned him not to travel alone, not with his weak heart and lungs and aching back. I vaguely remember that we ended up taking a total of five people on that flight. Interment will follow at 2pm at Florida National Cemetery. Please contact us with any corrections or feedback. I don't recall any large scorched patches of saw grass, but I remember a few small burned areas. Edward graduated from Seymour High in 1947. Salvatore Carfizzi 7/15/15 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. The largest recognizable pieces of wreckage were the cockpit section and the center engine intake and attached fuselage section. He was left wearing nothing but a necktie and belt pushed up under his armpits. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the roof of the house across the street through his front windows. The story goes that parts from it were salvaged and installed in other L-1011s, and almost immediately, the ghost stories began. Bud waved his light until the helicopter took notice. I think all the survivors had been rescued by that time and taken to hospitals, but there were a lot of bodies still at the crash site. 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. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Forty years have passed since Eastern Flight 401 slammed down in the Everglades, yet no memorial has been raised to remember the 101 people who perished that night. 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. That was an unsurvivable crash, but we made it out," she said. We've been married going on 18 years now." It is almost a physical impossibility to find and remove every scrap of wreckage from a swamp. Not long after the crash, the ghosts of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew . Darrylle Becker 3/16/43 By the time I got to the clubhouse, there must have been 10 to 15 members milling about, all discussing the crash. ", This pilot added, however, that he "flew 318 several times in the late 80s and never saw any unnatural apparitions - some weird looking people, but no ghosts. Why dont we sing to help warm ourselves up? she suggested. It's like it's a charm," she said. James followed all of the rules and more often than not, brought home venison for the family each deer season. He found one, selling $500 vacuum cleaners in Tampa. At the time, not much notice was taken. Cite this article: The ultimate "yes sir, no sir" man, Bud shuffles reluctantly onto the porch, blinking furiously in the sunlight, wondering what's up. The Ghost of Flight 401 was a book of nearly pure fiction, as was the TV movie that followed it. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Everglades on a moonless night on December 29, 1972. Mom apparently worked closely with that flight attendant. New York: Dial Press, 1980. At the time, it was one of the worst civil aviation disasters the country had ever seen. All three of Loft, Stockstill, and Repo were among the unlucky majority who perished. Almost 40 years ago, Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed. An Eastern flight attendant posted this scan (below) from his L-1011 FA manual. A team catalogues the mangled remains of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 aircraft at the crash site in the Everglades. New York: Berkeley Publishing Corp, 1976. I wish I had that kind of money today instead of 20 years ago. DALLAS - December 29, 2022, will mark a half-century since the fatal crash of Eastern Air Lines (EA) Flight 401. Burning jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed through the swamp. Abbey Lynn Greenwald 9/18/52 Shock had taken over. The Infantinos were exhausted from celebrating Christmas with Rons parents in New York. "That's what really gets me. I was then almost 26 years old and had recently graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. At the time, the decision to change seats carried no meaning. Front row from the left: Dottie Warnock, Pat Ghyssels, Beverly Raposa, Patty Georgia, Stephanie Stanich. When the Coast Guard helicopter attempted a landing, the prop wash threw hunks of debris dangerously around. They married in 1974. "There are is so much friction, so many arguments. The following is a list of survivors and victims of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. 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. Rosemary Mancuso 10/31/49 He saw openings in the sawgrass created by sliding chunks of broken airplane. Viewers who enter The Ghost of Flight 401 looking for shivers and thrills might be disappointed. "They gave us six months off and then we were expected to be 'over it. Angelo was a friend to all who know him, generous with his time to anyone who needed him and a devoted husband and father. In the narrow beam of his head lamp he now saw enormous strips of torn metal. No thanks Even at 78, Marquis is an old-fashioned country boy. An aerial view of the crash site; a swath of the Everglades; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Rose Kashman 9/22/15 With their very careers on the line, each witness must be totally certain what they saw is what they saw. Flight 401crash-landed into the Everglades at over 200 mph. It was Don Repo. Two later died, leaving 75 survivors and 101 fatalities. He saw a man standing, shocked, in knee-deep water. Aground. With an injured back and a cut foot, she slogged through sucking muck, shredded saw grass and plane wreckage. By 1 a.m., the rookie warden had launched his airboat. Riding with him were two Federal Aviation Administration officials. Loft and Repo have never been reported on the same flight, by the same witnesses, at the same time. Leonhard doesnt remember which one. Stefan Jay Rubin 3/21/49 Michael Ann Kaminer 12/28/45 Then a sudden jolt rattled the aircraft. On Dec. 29, 1972, it carried 178, including crew. 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. 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