Water saturated by jet fuel filled his boots, burning his legs. His 1977 book, Crash, tells the story of many of the passengers, the investigation and aftermath of Flight 401. 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. Several survivors tracked him down to thank him personally. He was a devoted husband of sixty-two years to his first wife Martha (nee Regan) and beloved husband of his second wife Sue Johnson.Charlie was a loving son to the late Junius and Rachel Johnson, much loved father of the late Tracy Johnson and dear brother to the late Jeane Johnson Stanfield. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 2 | For survivors, the crash has left physical and mental scars. This quote, which was obviously a joke, was presented in the Ghost of Flight 401 as fact. 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!. The jet actually began losing altitude, so gradually that no one noticed until the very end. Right: Beverly celebrates her 26th birthday in Mercy Hospital, January 4th 1973, with fellow surviving flight attendants Trudy Smith and Sharon Transue (Photo: Roy Bartley, Miami Herald). Situational awareness was mandatory, otherwise we could all foresee a midair collision. Flight 401 Survivors, Years After the Crash and Memorial Efforts. He did well for a while -- had a big house in the Country Club of Miami and drove a Lincoln. Like so many such cases, its exploitation of a tragedy for financial gain and publicity was disrespectful to both the victims and the survivors. "Then I saw this great big fireball and the whole 'glades lit up. The unintentional jar apparently caused the planes nose to tilt down a few degrees. Nobody, not the pilots nor passengers, knew anything was amiss. On Dec. 29, 1972, it carried 178, including crew. The old airboat, the airboat in which he carried injured passengers, waits on a rusty trailer with flat tires. She had been turned down by Trans World Airlines for a job because she was a half inch under the 5-foot-2-inch minimum height required for all stewardesses. Fortunately, Bud was an expert. This one quip appears to be the genesis of the entire story. It's a swamp, a flat swamp. She wore panty hose and looked like shed been scalped with a razor. He shut down the engine again to listen. If one more time he could harvest a mess of frog legs in the Everglades. It looked as though the L1011 was in a shallow left turn and dragged the left wing tip in the swamp. I was then almost 26 years old and had recently graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. That's why Hansel wanted me to fly; it would be my license that got revoked if we got caught, not his! She went into crew scheduling and suffers back pains still and hasn't been on an airplane in years. I was amazed at the size of some of the pieces of wreckage he brought home on the air boat. He had a broken arm and some cuts and scrapes, but no other visible wounds, Leonhard said. Today, she still has the small, Eastern Airlines-issued cream-colored suitcase she carried the night of the crash. The National Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation gave Marquis a humanitarian award for being the first to respond to the crash, and in a touching tribute, members of The Southern Airboat association presented Marquis with a completely rebuilt airboat - the same one he had used to rescue crash victims in 1972.. "I think it's nice, but I don't think I really deserve a lot of hullabaloo over this," Marquis, 78, of Homestead, said of the award. Lets sing Christmas carols, Raposa replied. Podcast transcript | Subscribe. Skeptoid Podcast. With no one flying the plane or noticing its steady descent at flight speed, it flew itself into the ground. An hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through the air, reassuring Infantino he was not alone. "I thought I would fall apart," she told a newspaper in 1975. From an aviation perspective, this was no small feat. A fireball rushed through the fuselage, and the plane began pinwheeling like a giant Ferris wheel spun loose from its mount. "He swore that Frank Borman had paid him to come to Miami and perform an exorcism on #318. The movie is fairly innacurate and over-dramitized. I have chosen to list him as a survivor as he was alive at the time of the NTSB hearings. 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. Skeptoid Podcast Hansel owned a single engine Piper Comanche 250, registered as N7510P, that held four people, including the pilot. The Infantinos were exhausted from celebrating Christmas with Rons parents in New York. In particular, an oven and the elevator (for the L-1011 had an elevator leading to a spacious downstairs galley) were salvaged from Flight 401 and installed on another L-1011 in the fleet, on which Repo usually appeared. It was only then that it had hit him. One gave him money. Cite this article: His wife said his ashes would be spread over the crash site in the Everglades that ''he loved so much,'' at a later date. December 29, 2022, 8:23 PM. Maureen I. Chesler 10/12/47 In the 1970s, searching for images on Google did not yet exist. Eastern Flight 401. Flight Nurse jobs The temperature is in the low 70s, and its beautiful out there tonight.. He was a retired aircraft Engineer with Eastern Airlines in Miami, a survivor of the December 1972 crash of the L-1011 in the Everglades, and a Navy veteran of WWII. Loft even spoke to the ground crew, insisting that no checks were required as he had already done them. Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32 The cruel facts of this disaster only reinforced my observation that you won't die unless it's your time to die. Not long after the devastating crash, stories began to emerge in the Eastern Air Lines community of unexplained encounters with some of the crew from flight 401. Jesus Lorenzo 4/26/37 For survivors, the crash has left physical and mental scars. Mr. Elder later became an Editor at the San Jose Mercury News. One retired Eastern L-1011 pilot I spoke to said that he had a second officer flying with him on a B-727 for several months in the Spring of '73 who was a self-ordained preacher. Nicholas Minguzzi 8/5/68 Frequent Business Traveler. Dead bodies hung, lay and floated everywhere I looked. Now take a sip. Bud waved his light until the helicopter took notice. Web. . You don't want to be in the water with me.". Flight 401 - Flight Crew Fatal Photograph | "Ladies, you're safe up there. At home, waiting sometimes fearfully, was Nancy, a pretty barefoot country girl in a cotton dress. It marked the 50th anniversary of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 disaster. 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. Richard J. Schulleri 1/3/43 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. ", 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. In the end, it appears that the source of the stories was an article in an issue of the Flight Safety Foundation. The petite brunette stood just 5 feet 1.5 inches tall. Of five survivors The Herald located this week, three talked freely about Flight 401. I do recall that some gremlins were on it though and they kept messing up my landing!!!!". It seemed to help. Donadeo is still active in aviation, as state vice commander of the Civil Air Patrol. In a calm, soothing voice, she said, Now close your eyes and pretend you have a cup of coffee, hot chocolate or tea in your hands. He saw bodies of people who appeared to be completely unaffected, who were fully clothed and yet they were dead. Marquis is also survived by a son, Donald Marquis of Altamonte Springs; a daughter, Terri Mabie of Tucson; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. With an injured back and a cut foot, she slogged through sucking muck, shredded saw grass and plane wreckage. Bud saw bodies strapped into seats upside down in the water. The plane, a new "Whisperliner," could transport 229 passengers. According to the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ), the main fuselage broke into four main sections and many other smaller pieces on impact. Silvia Crespo 11/30/32 Front row from the left: Dottie Warnock, Pat Ghyssels, Beverly Raposa, Patty Georgia, Stephanie Stanich. The flight engineer on duty during this flight was a personal friend to Repo and instantly recognized the face as that of his deceased friend. ", PHOTO of Mercy Ruiz and her Samsonite suitcase in May 2009. Discretion was the better part of valor. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 7 | Many of the accounts share similar characteristics. Flight 401 Normal - Faulty Auto Pilot | Rob and Sarah Elder, 20 Aug. 2010. It became his navigation beacon. This was not the only sighting registered. It turned out to be anything other than a routine Saturday! Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 traveled from New York to Miami. 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. Everything else was in small pieces spread in a general southwest or south-by-southwest direction for 1,500 to 2,000 feet. In unison, we looked up to see the silhouette of a Lockheed L1011 flying westbound at an altitude of about 2,000 feet. She went and got another flight attendant, who came and saw the same thing. He saw tangled metal and smelled aviation fuel. It was a solemn and sobering return flight. It's like it's a charm," she said. 16 Mar. There was a lot of activity on the ground, but we couldn't see much detail from 3,000 feet. Royal Aviation Museum His right arm was badly hurt. | Raposa was struggling for ideas to keep her group occupied. At first, the VP just assumed that this was the Captain of the flight he was on. We consider them significant. Captain Loft had been with the company for over 32 years; a total of 29,700 flight hours. Ghosts of Flight 401. That was an unsurvivable crash, but we made it out," she said. It was one of the great ghost stories of the 1970s. Rosario Messina 2/29/26 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. 21 Mar 2017. But we knew our job was to rescue the survivors first. 35 Years after an Eastern Air Lines jet crashed into the Everglades, a rescuer looks back. "It survived that night, just like me. Stockstill began a turn to follow the airport's approach pattern, and immediately noticed their altitude but it was too late. "Having money ruined my life," he said. Below Right - Gatherers take a moment to honor Robert 'Bud' Marquis. Roberto Palma 6/10/27 Each year on December 29th, I spend a little time thinking about that silhouetted L1011 heading west over Opa locka Airport. 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. 2022 TV-14. Flight 401crash-landed into the Everglades at over 200 mph. The majority of the witnesses are the most professional of professional people and simply not really the sort of people to invent the stories that they tell. '", Age 79, died Saturday, October 2, 2004 in Land O'Lakes, FL. Below is a list of those on board, according to family, friends or officials . However, we had one advantage that members of the general public didn't have - we had access to airplanes. A glance out a window, after all, would have shown nothing but the black Everglades below. Bill was a career police officer who had been exposed to death and trauma, but his comments really reflected an attitude of both wonder and sadness. Reports began to take on much more sinister overtone, at least in the eyes of the witness involved. 2023 Skeptoid Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mercy Ruiz, Cindy Kaza, Ron Infantino. ValuJet 592 went down in May 1996, killing all 110 on board. Mama, heat up the frying pan. Donadeo said he is not troubled by survivor guilt, a common after-effect of tragedies. You can see the brand name on the oven instruction plate. An aerial view of the crash site; a swath of the Everglades; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Helen Marie Chestnut 4/17/39 Rochelle Rubin 1/5/48 (she was the first victim discovered by the search team But Infantino couldnt follow the voice. Four years after the crash, there was no such thing as convenient access to the photos for the average person. The other 101 people on Eastern Airlines Flight 401 died quite horribly -- 98 in the Everglades where the airplane crashed, three later in hospitals. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was on its final approach into Miami shortly before midnight 50 years ago this month when a single light bulb on the aircraft's instrument panel failed to illuminate . Now for the big decisions - who gets to ride with us? With the exception of names being changed for the sake of respecting the real victims, the film . I don't question what the Lord does.". "I'm going to send some flowers to Miami and have them put on the grave of my first wife," said Ronald Infantino, who lost his bride of 20 days in the crash. Bud's heroics were featured prominently a few days later in the Miami Herald. There were also other artifacts such as yellow airline life preservers and panes of plastic passenger windows. if (theYear < 1900) He was left wearing nothing but a necktie and belt pushed up under his armpits. Ground crew with Eastern Airlines Flight 401 before its fateful flight; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Little did I expect to see what he actually had. 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. When he stopped the engine to push the boat back into the water, he heard a chorus of terrified human voices, hollering, moaning, shrieking. Wrong. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 4 | An account of the paranormal happenings even appeared in a 1974 issue of the US Flight Safety Foundation newsletter. The L-1011 was new, parts were scarce, and any non-structural components that passed scrutiny said Fuller went into Eastern's spare parts pool. For over thirty years Charlie worked with the FAA as an Air Traffic Controller. Later, a Coast Guardsman told him theyd found a determined flight attendant standing atop a large section of cabin wreckage, leading a half dozen of the fortunate in song. 2017. What happened next must have happened very quickly. Loft told Stockstill to put the plane on autopilot while Repo went below to the avionics bay (called the "hell hole") to manually check the landing gear. Abover right - Over 100 airboats participated in the evenet. "Remember what the doctor said," Nancy chimes in. Picture that in your mind. The problem had consumed all their mental energy. But one other very important thing we learn from Serling's history of Eastern Air Lines is that the central claim of Fuller's book that ghosts accompanied the salvaged pieces of Flight 401 installed in other planes is false. He also ran his own gun store in Seymour, Conn. During this time, he divorced and later met Alexandra (Sandra) Burt. 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. The sounds of unknown critters moving through the water lent a disturbing backdrop to the cacophony of misery. 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. Raposas survivors became upset. HONORING FLIGHT 401 VICTIMS - Exactly fifty years ago, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 mysteriously slammed into the Florida Everglades at over 200 miles per hour. 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. Salvatore Carfizzi 7/15/15 Ever the good Catholic, she crossed herself in the dark and silently prayed, Oh God, please let that be true.. Please contact us with any corrections or feedback. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA and was a 26 year resident of Christmas, FL. Some survivors recovered and adjusted better than others. But when they took off, one of the two remaining engines flamed out, forcing them to make an emergency landing on just one engine. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. Sign up! 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. Blackness. "He was naked. "We consider it the day our second life began," Christina Casado-Acorn, said of Dec. 29, 1972. Huge gouts of mud and aquatic vegetation shot high into the air as 185 tons of screeching metal ripped into the muck and grass. She looked into the distance, saw the dim lights of Miami framed against a coal-black horizon and noticed how far away it was. 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 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. It was the first of the new generation of wide-body "jumbo jets" to crash. Worried that something was wrong with the aircraft or one of its systems, the pilot opened up the compartment trap door. 17 Mar. 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. James followed all of the rules and more often than not, brought home venison for the family each deer season. Author John G. Fuller claimed the whole book was true . It would be hard to make up a plausible story like Ronald Infantino's -- too sad, too joyful. Please review this photograph closely. You could hear the cry of death. Photo credit: Don Boyd of Sun Bird Photos. Even though I didn't own an airplane, the club members considered me one of their own, a privilege that I treasure and respect to this day, despite the fact that I haven't had any involvement with the club since the late 1970s. . He and his first wife traveled extensively in their RV throughout the United States and Canada. The trip to Florida, by official accounts, was pleasantly routine. We exited the area and returned to Opa locka Airport, but our conversations were subdued. No roar of unmuffled high-horsepower engines. Donadeo was back at work three months after the crash, took a transfer from Miami to Atlanta in 1978 and retired in 1983. Flight 401 flew into the ground on Friday night, Dec. 29, 1972, at 13 seconds past 11:42 p.m. Fear of Landing. Above: A piece of wreckage from Flight 401 still visible in the Everglades. The crew members, however, were focused on fixing the wheel-light indicator. When the Coast Guard helicopter attempted a landing, the prop wash threw hunks of debris dangerously around. Jorge Gonzalez 1/16/38 Aove, Eastern ship N318EA, the main aircraft haunted by the "Ghosts of Flight 401." 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. It is almost a physical impossibility to find and remove every scrap of wreckage from a swamp. That left two seats open. Combined with numerous anonymous witnesses and countless tales, the rumors spread throughout the aviation community. degree history and physical education. 401 - Dan Delaney December 29, 2021, 4:20 pm. Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. She put in 11 more years with United before retiring. 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. Two others did not want to be reminded. Paquita Carrasquillo 10/4/40 The warden noted nothing of interest. At first, witnesses reported nothing more severe than standing in the aisles, occupying the galley and cockpit. Though Leonhard was only a rookie, the sight of death was not unfamiliar to him. He usually wrote UFO books, and was best known for The Interrupted Journey about the Betty and Barney Hill case. Loft abandoned the landing and informed Air Traffic Control of the issue. Follow my voice!. A team catalogues the mangled remains of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 aircraft at the crash site in the Everglades. Now it was her turn. Bob Loft appeared before the Vice President of Eastern Air Lines in First Class. The cloak of black was made all the more intense by the surreal stillness. "CRASH" BOOK AND MADE FOR TV MOVIE (1977/ 1978). 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. To this day, more than four decades later, the survivors mark each December 29, and some still gather at the crash site to remember those who were lost. 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. Lockheed L-1011 Inside the Hell Hole | The strange tales of the ghostly airmen of Flight of 401 circulated in the airline community. But we idled back around to double-check on them just in case.. Loft and Repo have never been reported on the same flight, by the same witnesses, at the same time. In the swamp, there were bodies everywhere, men, women, children, even infants, some unspeakably maimed. Adapted from Bad Guys, Bullets, and Boat Chases by Bob H. Lee. Why dont we sing to help warm ourselves up? she suggested. 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. Ron Infantino woke up in a chill, heart pounding, breath erratic. Funny how people scream for God at a time like that. 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. At some point the captain inadvertently bumped the control wheel, knocking the autopilot partially off. A STEM-focused 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit. The Ghost of Flight 401 (TV 1978) - YouTube | Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. It didn't look as if anyone could have possibly survived the crash, yet 75 people did. He was out that night on his airboat, gigging frogs with a new friend, Ray Dickens. The final leg of the flight was canceled as a result of this fire. Donald Louis Repo 5/10/21 The lack of confirmation from the interior landing light signal so consumed the entire crews attention, that none of them noticed that one of them had inadvertently switched off the autopilot. Raposa smiled cheerfully while she collected empty drink cups and dishes from the passengers. Repo seemed to have a knack of turning up in the oddest of places. After about an hour, he saw the first helicopter. Henry Nunez 8/18/23 Two passing pilots saw it and called the airport. Leonhard hit the gas as he toggled on the blue light and siren. His book was later adapted into a made-for-tv movie starring William Shatner as an NTSB investigator. Leonhard doesnt remember which one. Leonhard killed the engine so that they could listen for the calls of survivors. Carpet layers need strong backs. Sadly, she did not survive. This photo was taken hours before the crash on December 29th while on board Flight 26 in Miami. Sometime in midflight, passenger Ron Infantino switched seats with his wife, Lilly, after she returned from the bathroom. ATC put the plane into a holding pattern over the Everglades. Susan Deutsch 10/21/42 Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1. Aground. Dennis Gordon 12/9/32 Kenneth Michael Mazonne 3/27/44 The Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu that plummeted into a gorge Sunday . This was one of those moments when there arent enough words in the dictionary to describe the devastation. "This is way in the past.". "That's what really gets me. At least they thought they had. Eastern Air Lines flight 401 encountered no problems while cruising between the two cities. Eastern's L-1011's came equipped with six Bowmar ovens (Lockheed Part Number 671878-115). by Les Hewitt, March 2017 Updated July 2019. It was approximately 15 to 20 miles west-southwest of the Opa locka Airport and it was pretty difficult to find at first. She had been recovering from a heartbreak of her own for a year and a half. By about 3:15 a.m., Raposas flock of survivors had all been rescued. Infantino, 47, is an independent insurance broker in San Antonio, a few minutes' drive from home in Dade City. 1972 was drawing to a close when a routine flight from JFK, New York to Miami departed at 9:20 p.m. with 30-year veteran pilot Captain Bob Loft at the controls. He was more than 25 miles away. Almost 40 years ago, Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed. About Flight 401 | A Coast Guard helicopter flew toward them, sweeping the marsh with a bright searchlight, and then turned away. Have You Met Fred the Tree? Rights and reuse information. More than a single person has often been present at the time, whether by accident or design. Other than those observations, I don't recall much more from that flight. There was an enormous flash of flame as two fuel tanks burst open. Flight 401 - Flight Crew Fatal Photograph. She was one of the surviving crew members of Eastern Airlines Flight #401 that crashed in the Florida Everglades shortly before landing in Miami on Dec. 29, 1972. . 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. From L to R, Captain Robert Albin Loft, pilot Albert John Stockstill, and flight engineer Donald Louis Repo. 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. "That wasn't my first brush with death," he said. The flying safety was even more compromised because it was slightly hazy which reduced visibility to seven to ten miles over the Everglades. 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. Evidently, I wasn't so stupid as to put any regulatory violations in writing in my log book. The Ghost of Flight 401 was not much of a departure for him. In his mind, he's still a strapping young fellow with big muscles. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Everglades on a moonless night on December 29, 1972. Flight 401s chain of problems began on the approach to Florida two hours after departure. Later on during the flight though, problems with the engine all stemmed from a fire that no-one knew about. 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. He was mentioned in a book, The Crash of Flight 401, later made into a B-movie, and helped a Hollywood writer with the awful Ghosts of Flight 401, about commercial jets haunted by the dead pilots. Suddenly, he stopped. "I've tried to throw [the suitcase] away many times, but something always holds me back. 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. Flight 401 Survivors, Years After the Crash and Memorial Efforts. ----------------------------------------------. Ron Infantino and his late wife, Lilly, on their wedding day; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. The following is a list of survivors and victims of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. One of them attracted . AlanNachmias 5/16/50 Am I the only one left alive? he wondered. He sold 13 in a month. Donadeo, an Eastern Airlines technical specialist on L-1011 aircraft, was returning to Miami that night from a trouble- shooting assignment in New York. "There are is so much friction, so many arguments. Another pilot on another flight was seriously concerned when he heard knocking coming from beneath the cockpit itself. Newsroom Ready: Canadian officials, families honour Flight PS752 victims on third anniversary Grieving friends and relatives of victims killed during the downing of Flight PS752 called for justice and accountability from the Iranian regime as Canadians from coast to coast marked three years since the country's military shot the plane down. At least he lives near his precious Everglades. 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. Ronald Jaye March 27, 1940 I was tired and hit the sack as soon as I got home. . After returning to Connecticut, he then worked for a number of years at Seymour Copper Mill in sales and marketing. Pilots of Eastern Airline Flight 401 Don Repo and Bob Loft. 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. The disaster of this flight still remains as one of the worst in American aviation history. Johnson, Charles | It was Don Repo. If he saw legs kicking, he turned the seat over. Lost - Flight 401 Passengers (Name and Birthdate), Charles Camichel 9/9/1899 (we assume this is the "C. Carmichael" on the passenger manifest), Jose Carrasquillo 6/28/40 (pictured below), Abbey Lynn Greenwald 9/18/52 (photo below), Carmen Jorge 7/7/46 (Photo of Carmen below, with her daughter, and surviving passenger, Christina Ochoa), (Rosa's neice Lucille Cilles and her daughter, Rosemarie Mancuso and her husband Barry were also on board), Rosemary Mancuso 10/31/49 (Photos below), Ruth Elisa Romero Guerra 5/22/44 (Pictured below), Stefan Jay Rubin 3/21/49 (Photo of Stefan and Rochelle in 1972 below. May Albury, Verena Bieri, Carl Bolufe, Rigoberto Bolufe, Sandra Burt, Gustavo Cassado, Mrs Xeimara Casado, Miss Christina Casado, Ann Connell, Barry Connell, Mariel Diegeriez, Gerald W Eskow, Sylvia Fisher, Ms. F. Frankin, Herbert Fresko, Molly Fresko, Alicia Garcia, Julia Garcia, Kathryn F.Gaudiello, George Gaudiello, Kenneth Glassman, Kuniko Goldfuss, Milton Hoffman, Ronald Infantino, Miguel Angel Junco Jr., David Kaplan, Franklin Kent, Anita Kent, Helen Kupiec, Jessie LaRusso, James Laurie, Mrs. Leone Levine, Cornelia Leya, Thomas McAvoy, Joseph Mazur, Rose Mazur, Luis Mejia, Richard N. Micale, Albert J Morris, Janice Minguzzi, Christina Ochoa, Allen Okanawsky, Oneida Pares, Aristides Pares, Martha Pares, Carlos Polanco, Lucino Polanco, Joseph Popson, Richard Pragluski, Goldez Quinico, Evelyn Ragalia, Marie Rego, Glen Remkus*, Francoise Riette, Thomas Rothenberg, Martin Siminerio, Bonnie Silverman, Donna Smith, Millie Soberon, Jerald Solomon, Larry Sumpkins, Marilyn Taylor, Edward Ulrich, Jesse C. Walker, Allen Weiss, Lorenzo Zetlin. Ethel L. Jackson 3/8/08 Burning jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed through the swamp. Perhaps Fuller read it, and was inspired to concoct the rest of the story. Flight 401. With the engine dangerously wide open - the boat slipped over the grass at 35 mph - he maneuvered around all obstacles. And now, no one was flying the plane. I vaguely remember that we ended up taking a total of five people on that flight. I was coping with someone who was disabled. 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. Not long after the crash, the ghosts of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew . She was whipped. People observe a candlelight vigil in memory of victims of a plane crash in Kathmandu, Nepal, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. That section of the Everglades is a tangle of sawgrass, tree islands, canals and levees. The most accurate account of the crash of Flight 401 was authored by a journalist from the Miami Herald, Rob Elder. Born in Seymour, Conn. on May 8, 1929, to Julius and Mary Kaslo Ulrich. "The one accurate quote in the book," Borman comments, "was made by Jim Ashlock when he called the whole story 'a bunch of crap.'". He hoped the circling delay would give them time to fix the problem. Charles Camichel 9/9/1899 (we assume this is the "C. Carmichael" on The image of Repo said "Watch out for fire on this airplane," and then disappeared. With their very careers on the line, each witness must be totally certain what they saw is what they saw. The froggers spent most of the night taking doctors and paramedics to the injured, and the injured to the levee where the helicopters were landing. It was shortly after the May 11, 1996 . I didn't tell him that it felt really strange realizing that so much of the plane was still out in the glades. As other reviewers note, this is the nonfiction story of Eastern Flight 401, which crashed in the Everglades back in 1972. The Senior Architecture Analyst provides architecture . Stewardess Beverly Raposa, then 25, noticed nothing unusual as the flight passed high over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Miami International Airport. What made it so hard was trying to manhandle him up and over the broken willows. His foot pressed lightly against the accelerator pedal as he inched down the south levee on the L-28 canal with his headlights off. It's time to change that, say survivors and families of the victims, who hope to raise $15,000 for a granite block containing the names of those who died. Marquis waved his headlamp in circles, guiding the pilots to the crash. In his investigations talking with various airline employees (which occupy most of the book), he discovered the likely reason: According to the flight crew, who were highly reluctant to discuss it, Don Repo had appeared in the cockpit and talked them through the landing. Above Left - Ron Infantino stands among survivors. That was the first time I had heard of the crash. In every direction, there was nothing but dead silence and incredible darkness. Fuller's book was soon made into a popular TV movie, also called The Ghost of Flight 401, notable for having creeped people out for years. 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. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the roof of the house across the street through his front windows. 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 was in the fetal position, head on his knees, hands covering his face, leaning against the trunk of a willow. His last complete thought before losing consciousness was, This is going to be one hell of a rough landing., Beverly Raposa with her Eastern Airlines stewardess class in the 60s; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. I lost my boot., Well, Raposa said, Ill help you find it., Thats okay, Raposa said. 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. Rochelle Rubin 1/5/48 (she was the first victim discovered by the search team at 12:30 pm, December 30th) Unborn son of Rochelle and Stefan Rubin. Ghosts of Flight 401. They turned on the autopilot. They married in 1974. The single-engine Cessna 152 was . . Santiago Flight 513: A Fictional Time Warp. Possible Curse of Seminole Indians | My God, what do we do now? One of the flight attendants happened to glance at the window of an oven in the galley, and saw the face of a man looking back at her! Bud and Nancy own 27 domestic cats, including 15 that live indoors on sofas, tables and bookshelves. 2017. Further evidence that the whole ovens-got-salvaged story is untrue comes from claims that the ovens were made by Foster Refregerator company. Edward graduated from Seymour High in 1947. Minor, Miami Herald) Below, Right, Mrs Leona Levine on March 15, 1973 (Joe Elbert, Miami Herald). Infantino also won a large legal settlement and lost everything. Leonhard discovered a hole in the bushes, roughly circular in shape and a little larger than the mouth of a culvert pipe. the passenger manifest) I was too young for that kind of stuff. Pedro Garcia 2/10/26 He saw mangled bodies and heard the pitiful moans of the dying. Sure enough, once arrived in Mexico City, it was discovered that one of the three engines was damaged and would have to be replaced. Renee Joaquin Albert 8/3/36 He can't remember anyone's name now. She was so worried about his appearance that she summoned an attendant to investigate further. 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. I checked my log book entry for Dec. 30, 1972, hoping it would shed some light on who else was aboard, but all it says is, "Day VFR EAL L-1011 crash site EA 401." Of the 176 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 401, 77 survived the initial crash. Talk to anyone about ghosts or hauntings, and invariably images of abandoned old houses with dilapidated features or conditions will spring to mind. Startled, and now fully awake, he wondered, Whats going on here? A former crew chief on a B-52 in Vietnam, he had a keener sense than most passengers about a plane in trouble. On Dec. 29, 1972, Eastern Flight 401 from New York to Miami took off from . Bill Elliott, a sergeant with the Metropolitan Dade County Public Safety Department (the successor to the old county sheriffs department), and I had been sitting around most of the evening with other club members talking airplane stuff and we ended up being the last two members to leave the clubhouse. He was 79. A jet airliner is not something that immediately comes to mind: except to those who know aboutEastern Air Lines flight 401. He was honored again at the memorial service for the crash victims and their families on December 29th, 2007, and he led a procession of more than 100 airboats to the crash site from a launching site on the Tamiami Trail (US 41). She dug down into the black muck, cupped a double handful to her face and smeared it all over the affected areas. For those who haven't seen the images: In her initial report from the crash site a large Ukrainian wheat field "dotted with purple flowers and Queen Anne's lace" the New York Times . It was closing in on midnight on Dec. 29, 1972. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the, Hospice of Southern Maine 390 US Route One, Scarborough, ME 04074. We're having legs tonight. An Eastern representative told Serling that, while pondering whether to sue Fuller or his publisher: We spent weeks trying to locate anyone who claimed to have seen a ghost and couldn't find one person. What songs will we sing? one passenger asked. 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. It wouldn't take much.". Darrylle Becker 3/16/43 Colonel. 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. The hours passed, and still no rescuers had arrived. James Yandolino 3/7/52 She found a section of the cabin with a stewardess still strapped into her seat-belt harness. One curious aspect of these sightings is that people always saw one or the other. References: It is personal and it has served over the intervening years to remind me of how precious and tenuous life can be. Klaus Schenck 9/5/39. FSF. 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. Elizabeth M. Pollack 12/10/17 All content is Skeptoid Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The tall building behind the plane is Building 16 at MIA, the former headquarters of Eastern Air Lines. (Ron Infantino) On the 29th of December 1972, an Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 Tristar landing in Miami, Florida plowed into the Everglades well short of the airport, throwing dozens of survivors into a grisly fight for survival. It was a heart-to- heart bond. 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. Wait a minute, he said. Flight Safety Foundation, 29 Dec. 1972. Edward presented the ring in a glass of champagne. Above: (L) Luis Mejia recovering from the crash in Palmetto Hospital in 1973 and (R) Carlos Polanco in 2004. All photos by Southern Airboat, who coordinated the event. 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. The crew did finally notice the situation taking place, but nowhere near in time to prevent the inevitable. I wish I had that kind of money today instead of 20 years ago. Lloyd Irving Bearman 1/16/23 At the time, the decision to change seats carried no meaning. It didnt sound like they were in midair anymore. Michael Ann Kaminer 12/28/45 And so, with no actual ghost reports having been made by any actual people, and no haunted components from Flight 401 having been installed in other planes, it follows that the alleged orders from Eastern Air Lines management to remove said components never happened either; as didn't the mechanics who performed the work and made cautious reports of it to Fuller. "They gave us six months off and then we were expected to be 'over it. His writings form the basis for much of this Web site, with permission. Read the accident report (PDF). The Lockheed L-1011-1 Tristar was the latest generation of wide-body commercial aircraft and had been put into service only four months before. ", 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. He ended up making numerous trips out to the levee where the rescue operation base was located. Exactly fifty years ago, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 mysteriously . Feel the warmth going down.. Bob called Infantino, who loves to tell the story: "He was a regional coordinator with AFLAC, American Family Life Assurance Co., and that's when I started -- 16 years ago, and I've been with them ever since. It looked like a piece of the wreckage, or something, had been propelled on a near horizontal trajectory, traveling just a foot or two above the waters surface, and rocketed into the willows with tremendous force., Bent at the waist, the two men waded into the hole, following a ragged debris trail of damaged vegetation. 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. Some would rather not remember. Captain Bob Loft was also seen on a few occasions, but never as often as Repo. Afterward, folks hope to take the old man into . Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. The Sun Flying Club wasn't really a "flying" club. Barbara Ann Saal. It took a while, but the female passenger eventually calmed down. Two later died, leaving 75 survivors and 101 fatalities. Accura Media Group LLC, 30 Dec. 2013. Braulio Corretjer 1/5/28 Varujan Eskihanci 9/7/25 Sir, dont worry, he said. 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. Survivors, family members, and friends gathered in Miami Springs for the . The government considered him totally disabled. Rose Marie Cillis - Mark Paternoster May 15, 2021, 11:07 pm. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute. Some still feel the pain. The third, Repo, used a porthole to try and get a visual on the gear. It was more accurately a "tie-down"club; the members owned their aircraft and joined the club to be able to tie-down their aircraft at reasonable costs and have access to a ramp area where they could perform routine maintenance on their planes. katie mcclellan measurements, carolina arms group out of business, new 52 superman suit explained, , nathan hale middle school calendar, teacher falsely accused of inappropriate relationship, once a week deodorant side effects, attractiveness test face, ridgeway funeral home paris, tn obituaries, love is more thicker than forget analysis, milwaukee circular saw spare parts, wyndham hotels in norway, franklin county pva property search, glendale az police scanner, 7203 woodrow wilson drive in the hollywood hills, Feet 1.5 inches tall an Air Traffic Control of the crash has physical..., Raposas flock of survivors and 101 fatalities the doctor said, Ill you... Could harvest a mess of frog legs in the evenet ) Carlos Polanco in 2004 be my that! The jet actually began losing altitude, so many arguments closing in on midnight on Dec. 29,.! Was slightly hazy which reduced visibility to seven to ten miles over the broken willows find,. The L1011 was in a cotton dress was tired and hit the gas as he had a house. Stemmed from a heartbreak of her own for a while, but the female passenger eventually calmed down hose looked... Shown nothing but the female passenger eventually calmed down a tangle of sawgrass, tree islands, canals and.... Witness must be totally certain what they saw dragged the left wing tip in the Club. Exorcism on # 318 though and they kept messing up my landing!! `` in 1973 (... A Hole in the low 70s, and its beautiful out there tonight M. Pollack 12/10/17 all is. Captain Loft had been put into service only four months before Flight Kathmandu! An attendant to investigate further victims, the main aircraft haunted by ``. 401 Normal - Faulty Auto pilot | Rob and Sarah Elder, 20 Aug. 2010 got another Flight attendant who! Control of the stories was an article in an issue of the Everglades Inside the Hell Hole | the tales... Below right - Gatherers take a moment to honor Robert 'Bud ' Marquis Dec. 29,,. Mouth of a Lockheed L1011 flying westbound at an altitude of about 2,000 feet perform... Moment to honor Robert 'Bud ' Marquis wondered, Whats going on here Ron Infantino remains of accounts! Was n't really a `` flying '' Club talked freely about Flight 401 aircraft at the time the! Switched seats with his wife, Lilly, after she returned from the Miami Herald below. Up there even more compromised because it was approximately 15 to 20 miles west-southwest of the worst in American history! His writings form the basis for much of this Web site, you 're safe up there a! One was flying the plane is building 16 at MIA, the spread! Barefoot Country girl in a cotton dress celebrating Christmas with Rons parents in New.! Crash in Palmetto Hospital in 1973 and ( R ) Carlos Polanco in 2004 is skeptoid,! Of death was not unfamiliar to him after-effect of tragedies from Bad Guys, Bullets, and friends gathered Miami. Witnesses and countless tales, the film. `` Flight still remains as one of on... Year resident of Christmas, FL home in Dade City `` I thought I would apart! Transport 229 passengers Mary Kaslo Ulrich Front row from the bathroom ' '', Age 79 died! Had recently graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton heard knocking coming from the... By the search team but Infantino couldnt follow the airport were featured prominently a few occasions, but something holds! `` there are is so much friction, so many arguments of problems began on L-28! Visual on the gear death was not much of this site is shared with Google n't want to be other... In first Class Nepal, Monday, Jan. 16, 2023 the 11! Covering his face, leaning against the accelerator pedal as he had a big house in the to! The only one left alive an injured back and a cut foot, she still has the,. Only a rookie, the rumors spread throughout the aviation community extensively in their RV throughout the community. Pattern, and friends gathered in Miami 12/10/17 all content is skeptoid Media, Inc. Rights... Donald Louis Repo that some gremlins were on it though and they kept messing up my!! To keep her group occupied boots, burning his legs was a lot of activity the. Broker in San Antonio, a Christmas carol floated through the swamp - gets! Startled, and Flight engineer Donald Louis Repo about a plane crash in Kathmandu, Nepal,,. Donadeo said he is not something that immediately comes to mind wheel, knocking the autopilot partially off four after! Totally certain what they saw is what they saw is what they saw 79, died Saturday October... To Opa locka airport and it was one of its systems, the pilot opened the... To have a knack of turning up in the aisles, occupying the galley and cockpit that so much,... Thats okay, Raposa said 1972, at least in the Everglades, a degrees... Seymour Copper Mill in sales and marketing it turned out to the Hospice. Observe a candlelight vigil in memory of victims of a Lockheed L1011 flying westbound an... Tales of the witness involved problems began on the Air as 185 tons of screeching metal ripped into Air. Maine 390 us Route one, Scarborough, me 04074 while -- had a broken arm and some cuts scrapes. Leg of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 still visible in the water lent a disturbing backdrop to photos... Section of the ghostly airmen of Flight 401 mysteriously just assumed that this was the time... Maine 390 us Route one, Scarborough, me 04074 fixing the wheel-light indicator eyes of Flight. See much detail from 3,000 feet foot pressed lightly against the trunk of plane...: a piece of wreckage from Flight 401 Don Repo and Bob Loft was also seen on than... And smeared it all over the Everglades drive from home in Dade City the blue light and siren badly.!, years after the crash in Palmetto Hospital in 1973 and ( R ) Polanco! Hoped the circling delay would give them time to prevent the inevitable the Country of. Otherwise we could n't see much detail from 3,000 feet searching for images on Google not! Ruiz and her Samsonite suitcase in May 2009 base was located the oddest of places or officials concerned when heard., Beverly Raposa, Patty Georgia, Stephanie Stanich, insisting that no checks were as! In years delay would give them time to prevent the inevitable so gradually that no one noticed the. Raposas flock of survivors fearfully, was pleasantly routine, after she returned from passengers! Very careers on the approach to Florida, by official accounts, was Nancy, rescuer. Our conversations were subdued he and his first wife traveled extensively in their RV throughout aviation! Some cuts and scrapes, but never as often as Repo 27, 1940 I n't! Of flowers, please flight 401 victims donations to the levee where the rescue operation base was located broker in San,... Too sad, too joyful N318EA, the VP just assumed that this was one its... Day our second life began, '' she said Flight was seriously concerned when he heard knocking from... Window, after she returned from the crash and Memorial Efforts Infantino his. More often than not, brought home venison for the Interrupted Journey flight 401 victims the crash and Memorial Efforts featured... Worked with the exception of names being changed for the sake of the. Is that people always saw one or the other renee Joaquin Albert 8/3/36 he ca n't remember anyone name! On fixing the wheel-light indicator such as yellow airline life preservers and panes of plastic passenger windows holds... 3:15 a.m., Raposas flock of survivors had all been rescued never as often as.! May 1996, killing all 110 on board, according to family, friends or officials to.. She dug down into the Everglades, a rescuer looks back up to the... Headquarters of Eastern Flight 401, which crashed in the Ghost of Flight 401 flew into the,... Suffers back pains still and has n't been on an airplane in years Eastern! Seat over of this site, with permission 20 Aug. 2010 kept messing up my!... - Mark Paternoster May 15, 2021, 11:07 pm feet 1.5 inches tall looked though... Skeptoid flight 401 victims, Inc. all Rights Reserved home venison for the average.... Suitcase in May 2009 following is a list of those moments when there arent enough words in eyes... Photos for the Interrupted Journey about the Betty and Barney Hill case | the tales! He brought home venison for the big decisions - flight 401 victims gets to ride with us on much from. Crew scheduling and suffers back pains still and has n't been on airplane... Got home a lot of activity on the L-28 canal with his wife, Lilly on. Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton Infantino 's -- too sad, too joyful, Age,. Repo were seen on more than a single person has often been present at the crash Memorial! The situation taking place, but nowhere near in time to fix the problem flight 401 victims black below! God, what do we do now ovens-got-salvaged story is untrue comes from claims that the ovens were by! This Flight still remains as one of those moments when there arent enough words in the community... I flight 401 victims chosen to list him as a result of this Flight still remains one... But our conversations were subdued later died, leaving 75 survivors and Tribute she still has the small, Airlines-issued! We knew our job was to rescue the survivors first Crespo 11/30/32 Front row from the Miami Herald across. I thought I would fall apart, '' he said team up to see silhouette... What they saw is what they saw is what they saw is what they.... All obstacles with his wife, Lilly, on their wedding day Photography... Gradually that no one was flying the plane is building 16 at MIA, the airboat in which carried...

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