"We consider it the day our second life began," Christina Casado-Acorn, said of Dec. 29, 1972. I was tired and hit the sack as soon as I got home. Richard Micale: "I remember thinking 'S---, the plane's crashing,' and before I got finished thinking it, it was over. [6]:101 The pilots cycled the landing gear, but still failed to get the confirmation light. 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. Renee Joaquin Albert 8/3/36 On Dec. 3, Southern Airboat and other organizations also plan to honor Bud and the victims and survivors of Eastern Flight 401 with a service and a barbecue in Miami. A Coast Guard helicopter flew toward them, sweeping the marsh with a bright searchlight, and then turned away. A square green light on the control panel was supposed to signal that the wheel was in position. Flight 401 soared above a primordial swampland filled with poisonous snakes and alligators crawling through razor-sharp sawgrass and open-water sloughs. Ron Infantino woke up in a chill, heart pounding, breath erratic. Eight passengers became infected; doctors used hyperbaric chambers to treat the infections. When the Coast Guard helicopter attempted a landing, the prop wash threw hunks of debris dangerously around. Klaus Schenck 9/5/39 Richard L. Marquis, a carpet-layer, saw it too. Fourteen survivors had various degrees of burns. Fortunately, Bud was an expert. Evelyn De Salazar 11/6/08 Christina (center) was two-months-old at the time of the crash, making her the youngest survivor . They didn't keep score, but Marquis knows they saved a lot of people's lives that night. Eddie Albert featured as "Dunn", a fictionalized version of Captain Robert Loft. At 11:32 p.m., Capt. Off I went to check with the FAA Flight Service Station. Bill and I left for our respective homes after securing the clubhouse. Most of what we talked about on the return to the airport was speculation on our part as to how the plane crashed, not why it crashed. Lockheed L-1011 Landing Gear Lever | Eric Olson holding a piece of wreckage from Flight 401. What made it so hard was trying to manhandle him up and over the broken willows. One day, late in 1973, I got a phone call from James telling me to come over to his house; he had something for me. You can see the brand name on the oven instruction plate. 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. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 3 | It was broken in the crash and he avoids putting any strain on it -- good advice for anyone his age, 67. It is featured in season1, episode3, of the TV show Why Planes Crash, in an episode called "Human Error" (2010). After lowering the gear, First Officer Stockstill noticed that the landing gear indicator, a green light identifying that the nose gear is properly locked in the "down" position, had not illuminated. [5]:6,16[9] However, the NTSB concluded that the captain's tumor did not contribute to the accident. Abbey Lynn Greenwald 9/18/52 Two later died, leaving 75 survivors and 101 fatalities. Sometime in midflight, passenger Ron Infantino switched seats with his wife, Lilly, after she returned from the bathroom. It's like it's a charm," she said. But we knew our job was to rescue the survivors first. Murray Yellin 6/9/11 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. At least they thought they had. Theyre not going to find us, an anxious passenger whispered. They turned on the autopilot. An original floor board from Flight 401 remains in the archives at History Miami in South Florida. "[5]:2324, In response to this and other accidents during the 1970s, many airlines started crew resource management training for their pilots. With his left, he held onto the boat and walked beside it to the levee. 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. Officially, 103 passengers and crew died. The only piece of wreckage I did keep, and which I still have in my possession, is one of the plastic passenger window panes. I diplomatically told James that I couldn't take possession of the large pieces of wreckage. Title 14 - Aeronautics and Space. 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. Selma Karpen 6/16/21 Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 traveled from New York to Miami. Incredibly, we found a man sitting alone on a small tussock. And now, no one was flying the plane. What happened next must have happened very quickly. I don't know if she ever did return to flying; my mother never told me one way or the other. That left two seats open. Nery Palma 7/12/34 Then a sudden jolt rattled the aircraft. Stewardess Beverly Raposa, then 25, noticed nothing unusual as the flight passed high over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Miami International Airport. In his mind, he's still a strapping young fellow with big muscles. Eastern Airlines Flight #401 (L1011 N310EA) crashed in the Everglades on December 29, 1972. Five hours after the crash, the welcome sounds of voices and legs sloshing through water, labored breathing and flashlight beams probing the dark broke the silence. It was an easy way to break the monotony of intense study, tour the good old USA and also earn a few bucks and I must emphasize the aspect of the earnings. Leonhard hit the gas as he toggled on the blue light and siren. "There are is so much friction, so many arguments. In the cockpit, the first of six radio altimeter warnings began, signaling an impending crash. On a moonless night, in the beam of his head lamp, the frog eyes would glow like rubies. Eastern Air Lines CEO (and former Apollo astronaut) Frank Borman termed the ghost stories about the crash "garbage". What songs will we sing? one passenger asked. Of five survivors The Herald located this week, three talked freely about Flight 401. 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. Roberto Palma 6/10/27 Follow my voice. Within minutes, six to eight passengers crawled out of the dark and were seated on the scrap of flooring, shivering, afraid and in shock. 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. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute - Investigation Investigation Later that morning the world woke to news of the tragedy. 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. There were 176 people aboard the state-of-the-art Lockheed L-1011, which was nicknamed the. All three pilots, two of 10 flight attendants, and 96 of 163 passengers died, while 75 passengers and crew survived. The flight should have taken around 18 hours. [6]:110 Visually, since it was nighttime and the aircraft was flying over the darkened terrain of the Everglades, no ground lights or other visual signs indicated the TriStar was slowly descending. Wrong. Then he tells the story the best he can. Song - The Ghost of Flight 401 - Lyrics | 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. Three of the four cockpit crew members, two of the 10 flight attendants, and 96 of the 163 passengers were killed; 75 people survived. On September 4, 1954, Santiago Airlines Flight 513 departed from Aachen, West Germany, destined for Porto Alegre, Brazil. Raposa smiled cheerfully while she collected empty drink cups and dishes from the passengers. Several survivors tracked him down to thank him personally. Lloyd Irving Bearman 1/16/23 Survivors - Crew and Eastern Employees Folks from South Florida's sporting community, mostly hunters, fishers and airboaters, heard, many for the first time, about Bud. With almost twice the area of Rhode Island, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States has some of the most formidable terrain on Earth. Carpet layers need strong backs. The cloak of black was made all the more intense by the surreal stillness. From his vantage point atop the levee, Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission Officer Gray Leonhard, then 24 years old, had a commanding view across the vast darkened marsh. Ruiz, 63, of West Miami-Dade, still has aches and pains but returned to flying until Eastern folded in 1991. "Having money ruined my life," he said. Part 243 - PASSENGER MANIFEST INFORMATION. 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. 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. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA and was a 26 year resident of Christmas, FL. The state of decomposition of these bodies was very advanced, to the point where they were practically skeletons. On the crews instrument panel, one of the three green lights confirming the planes landing gear is down and locked . 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. Late in the evening of Friday, December 29, 1972, I was at the old Sun Flying Club tie-down area located on the east side of Opa locka Airport in metropolitan Miami, Florida. Only their bedroom has an air conditioner. But Infantino couldnt follow the voice. The largest recognizable pieces of wreckage were the cockpit section and the center engine intake and attached fuselage section. After dark he moonlighted as a commercial frogger. [5]:5 The airplane was traveling at 227 miles per hour (197kn; 365km/h) when it hit the ground. NOTE - There is no official death certificates for "Mrs. McAvoy," which appeared in passenger lists released to the press at the time. Bud waved his light until the helicopter took notice. Donadeo is still active in aviation, as state vice commander of the Civil Air Patrol. Eastern used the Bowmar/Calrod brand. its related bodies corporate and their respective officers, employees, contractors and agents (Promotion Parties) will not . Although there is no factual evidence to support the claim, legend has it that after the crash investigation, surviving avionics and galley equipment was salvaged from the crash site, returned to the manufacturers and overhauled to help relieve equipment shortages on Lockheed's growing production line. [8], In all, 75 survived the crash67 of the 163 passengers and eight of the 10 flight attendants. My direct and indirect contact with Eastern Flight 401 didn't end on December 30, 1972. 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. [9] All the survivors were injured; 60 received serious injuries and 17 suffered minor injuries that did not require hospitalization. However, it also complicated the survivors' recuperation, as organisms in the swamp caused infection, with the potential for gas gangrene. Flight 401 - Possible Explanation | I'm pretty sure that Tom Roche and Bob Crews were two of the "lucky" ones that got aboard, but I couldn't swear to it now. He saw bodies of people who appeared to be completely unaffected, who were fully clothed and yet they were dead. Tuesday. Entry . Flipping through the pages, Bud smiles for the first time in hours. From a half mile above, it's like an artist's canvas. The rescuers are picking people up from the nose section of the plane first. He received a $250,000 settlement in a lawsuit, blew it all, got into drug trouble, went back to work and fell off a truck. Silence. The memories don't. He isn't a talker to begin with, unless it's about boats or engines or the 'glades. 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