";s:4:"text";s:22261:"One of the world's newest and flashiest airliners, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar, was making one of its first flights for Eastern Air Lines on December 29, 1972. That left two seats open. Stick with the book. I wish I had that kind of money today instead of 20 years ago. Maria Elena Gonzalez 9/3/51
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. Source Wikimedia Commons, Jon Proctor March 1972. I do recall that some gremlins were on it though and they kept messing up my landing!!!!". At first, witnesses reported nothing more severe than standing in the aisles, occupying the galley and cockpit. Two others did not want to be reminded. The stories began four years later with the publication of John G. Fuller's 1976 book The Ghost of Flight 401, which revealed that those four years had been filled with incidents of flight crew being startled by apparitions of Loft and Repo appearing on board other Eastern Air Lines planes. It was during one of those sessions on December 29, 1972, that Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crossed paths with me and some of the other club members. An hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through the air, reassuring Infantino he was not alone. Officially, Eastern Air Lines denied anything was wrong with their aircraft or personnel. Nery Palma 7/12/34
"I couldn't understand why I lived and they didn't. Following the crash, Raposa was praised for her valor. Below Right - Gatherers take a moment to honor Robert 'Bud' Marquis. Author John G. Fuller claimed the whole book was true . Eric Olson holding a piece of wreckage from Flight 401. He said that every time an appearance of the ghosts had been entered into a plane's logbook, the logbook was suddenly replaced with a new blank one. Imagine his surprise when he came face to face with Don Repo. But when they took off, one of the two remaining engines flamed out, forcing them to make an emergency landing on just one engine. Three women on the jetliner's tail, about 20 feet above the water, begged Bud to save them. This quote, which was obviously a joke, was presented in the Ghost of Flight 401 as fact. A crawlspace beneath a cockpit is one thing, a galley oven is quite another. Two years after the crash, Anita and Franklin Kent's lives were taken up by endless doctor visits. The landing gear from Flight 401 at the crash site; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. The other house is gone; his still requires repairs. Though Leonhard was only a rookie, the sight of death was not unfamiliar to him. Bernard A. Goldfuss 11/2/22
He was one of those rare south Florida individuals who owned a ton of hunting rifles and lived for the deer hunting season so he could go out on his air boat and hunt scrawny deer in the Everglades. I mean, I was a single person with no family. I guess their clothes got blown off them.". As you may know, the mansion is an historic landmark in Miami, located just north of the airport it served as the location of the NTSB hearings into the crash. Now 41, he lives alone in Titusville, on a disability pension. "Remember what the doctor said," Nancy chimes in. She worked in the executive offices at Easterns Miami base. We were standing outside the clubhouse on the ramp, getting ready to lock up the building before leaving, when we both noticed something unusual overhead. Then he tells the story the best he can. Forty-five years ago, when Officer Gray Leonhard of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission began a solo night patrol in the Everglades, he was on the lookout for poachers, drug smugglers and maybe even a bullet-riddled corpse. Fara Infantino 12/7/46
Leonhard, Raposa, and Infantino never connected during the rescue operation, except for one tenuous bond that drew them together in spirit: the sound of a distant Christmas carol drifting throughthe night. Below: Franklin and Anita Kent celebrate Franklin's pending release from Palm Springs hospital with some ice cream, on February 17, 1973 (W.O. It was Don Repo. It has a flat bottom and a high seat and a cobweb-draped engine and propeller. Jerrold Solomon, who had walked away from the crash unscathed, flew home to New York three days later. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the, Hospice of Southern Maine 390 US Route One, Scarborough, ME 04074. The plane, a new "Whisperliner," could transport 229 passengers. He probed it with his flashlight beam. Above (L to R): Martin Siminerio in hospital, two file photos from the Miami Herald of survivor Xiomara Casada at Palmetto General with her infant, Christina, in a Miami hospital. Fuller wrote that the airline was apparently trying to cover this up. According to the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ), the main fuselage broke into four main sections and many other smaller pieces on impact. A scene from the TV movie "The Crash of Flight 401" (1978), Eastern Airlines Flight 401: The Ghosts of Memories Past. 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. Some of those he saved were there, including flight attendants Mercy Ruiz and Sue Tebbs, as well as Beverly Raposa, the flight attendant who rallied passengers to safety after the crash. Wreckage site of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. Lockheed L-1011 Landing Gear Lever |
Eduardo Jaramillo 8/2/32
I dont know this for sure, but I seem to remember he was the last survivor rescued.. Web. 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. Sure enough, once arrived in Mexico City, it was discovered that one of the three engines was damaged and would have to be replaced. The man vanished before their very eyes and those of several other passengers. After returning to Connecticut, he then worked for a number of years at Seymour Copper Mill in sales and marketing. 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. 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. Lilly leaned back in her seat, resting quietly. Like a lot of other aspiring commercial pilots, I had had a checkered aviation career, having worked, among other things, as the full-time chief pilot of a regional oil company while attending college. Flight attendants of flight 401. 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. They died. The breakdown and subsequent emergency landing did in fact happen, and was covered in a tongue-in-cheek brief in the journal of the Flight Safety Foundation. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Everglades on a moonless night on December 29, 1972. Pedro Garcia 2/10/26
There were 75 at the time, 20 years ago tonight. Perhaps that may not have made much difference. This photo was taken hours before the crash on December 29th while on board Flight 26 in Miami. '", Age 79, died Saturday, October 2, 2004 in Land O'Lakes, FL. 18 Jan 2023. Renee Joaquin Albert 8/3/36
NTSB Crash Report (Flight 401) |
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! Why dont we sing to help warm ourselves up? she suggested. She wore panty hose and looked like shed been scalped with a razor. Trudy Smith - Douglas November 6, 2021, 12:23 pm. 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. 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. Trudy Jean Smith, age 73, of Dallas, Georgia, formerly of Deport, Texas, died November 29, 2020. 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. "Then I saw this great big fireball and the whole 'glades lit up. Aground. Le dimanche 26 janvier 2020, l'hlicoptre Sikorsky S-76 de Kobe Bryant s'crase prs de Calabasas, en Californie (tats-Unis).Les neuf occupants de l'appareil sont tus sur le coup. Rochelle Rubin 1/5/48 (she was the first victim discovered by the search team
Back row from the left: Mercy Ruiz, Sue Tebbs, Adrienne Hamilton, Trudy Smith. Maureen I. Chesler 10/12/47
It crashed into the Everglades 18.7 miles northwest of the airport, eight miles north of Tamiami Trail, about 100 yards east of the L-67 canal levee. There were four men in the cockpit, all preoccupied with the light and landing gear. The night was a balmy 72 degrees, the mosquitoes surprisingly sparse. 2022 TV-14. Donald Louis Repo 5/10/21
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. Robert Serling's 1980 book From the Captain to the Colonel tells the complete history of Eastern Airlines, from 1935 when it was headed by World War I ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, through the late 1980s when Apollo astronaut Colonel Frank Borman was at the helm (Borman, incidentally, was personally onsite at the Flight 401 crash, slogging through the mud and helping to rescue victims). 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. A lot of the people I saw were naked. With no one flying the plane or noticing its steady descent at flight speed, it flew itself into the ground. Good for me! 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. Carol Susan Jackter 9/26/52
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. With the engine dangerously wide open - the boat slipped over the grass at 35 mph - he maneuvered around all obstacles. Rose Marie Cillis - Mark Paternoster May 15, 2021, 11:07 pm. That section of the Everglades is a tangle of sawgrass, tree islands, canals and levees. Trudy Smith didn't return to flying. The majority of this equipment was fitted into Eastern's L-1011 N318EA while it was being assembled in Palmdale. Abbey Lynn Greenwald 9/18/52
This position is with the Agency Services area of DTMB. Flight 401 may refer to: Iberia Airlines Flight 401, crashed on 5 May 1965. A friend once warned him: "One day you'll work a plane crash out there." This killed the First Officer instantly. Afterward, folks hope to take the old man into the Everglades, in his own airboat, if he wants. Job Description. This one quip appears to be the genesis of the entire story. He not only saw the face too, but recognized it as none other than Don Repo, the engineer who died on Flight 401. Johnson, Charles |
An Eastern flight attendant posted this scan (below) from his L-1011 FA manual. He was out there gigging frogs when it happened. Yes, they are, Raposa assured them. Some believethat Eastern Air Lines cannibalized and reused pieces of the wreckage in other airliners. Please dont leave me! Infantino yelled. We consider them significant. Theyll find us eventually., Raposa had the survivors scoot together, sitting back to back so they could stay warm. Repo, Donald Louis |
He needed a respiratory therapist -- who, it turned out, needed him, too. Game warden Gray Leonhard in the 70s; Photography courtesy of Gray Leonhard. My log book shows that our flight lasted 1.2 hours. Luis Bancroft 10/10/48
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. We were in Dade County, and my patrol zone was Broward County to the north., During his airboat training, senior wardens of the Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission had told Leonhard, Never stop or slow an airboat down in rank grass because you may not be able to power out of it. The signal inside the cockpit had not illuminated as it should have. Surprise turned to horror when Repo disappeared before the pilots eyes. 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. On the night of December 29th, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 took off from New York and headed towards Miami, Florida. It didn't look as if anyone could have possibly survived the crash, yet 75 people did. Whatever the case, whether from real testimony or a desire to entertain, the legend of the ghosts of Flight 401 helped to make sure the victims and survivors are not forgotten. On December 29, 1972, the Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar - Flight 401 - left New York and flew on a downward vector to Miami, Florida. Bud Marquis had experienced better nights of frogging. It wouldn't take much.". Repo was dead. Not long after the crash, the ghosts of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew . He also ran his own gun store in Seymour, Conn. During this time, he divorced and later met Alexandra (Sandra) Burt. In the cockpit, the first of six radio altimeter warnings began, signaling an impending crash. He carried survivors to safety and made them as comfortable as he could. Obviously, this is a red flag waving at us vigorously that we should be sure to take this tale with several good grains of salt. This Australian pine rising from the Old Seven Mile Bridge symbolizes the resilience of the Florida Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi give a kaleidoscopic close to their U.S. tour at this historic venueplus, an now = new Date For survivors, the crash has left physical and mental scars. Flight Nurse jobs They didn't keep score, but Marquis knows they saved a lot of people's lives that night. On December of 1972, an Eastern Airlines Tri-Star jetliner, Flight 401, crashed into a Florida swamp. The movie is fairly innacurate and over-dramitized. The flight attendant, Mercy Ruiz, was badly injured, with a broken pelvis and a severe laceration on her forehead. He saw mangled bodies and heard the pitiful moans of the dying. Jose Carrasquillo 6/28/40
Marquis waved his headlamp in circles, guiding the pilots to the crash. Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. Am I the only one left alive? he wondered. An elevation of only eight feet felt like being on a hilltop in the Everglades. Jerome Becker 6/27/39
Evidently, I wasn't so stupid as to put any regulatory violations in writing in my log book. Discretion was the better part of valor. The appearance of the dead flight engineer was confirmed by the flight engineer. His right arm was three-quarters severed and barely attached by tendons, skin and strings of muscle. Bud saw bodies strapped into seats upside down in the water. Im sure they all ran away. She spit the words out quickly, doing her best to sound convincing. I really do think I can gig some frogs if I had to.". Even at 78, Marquis is an old-fashioned country boy. She had nothing. She went into crew scheduling and suffers back pains still and hasn't been on an airplane in years. In my mind, that makes him a real hero.". They were all the pieces that had been salvaged from Flight 401, including the oven and elevator, but many other pieces as well. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the main fuselage broke into four main sections and many other smaller pieces on impact. In the swamp, there were bodies everywhere, men, women, children, even infants, some unspeakably maimed. An alligator was spotted by a news crew in a helicopter next to the wreckage of a small airplane crash in the Florida Everglades devouring the victim's body.. He'd stay calm, look at the stars for direction, think things through, then crank up the airboat engine and find his way back to the Tamiami Trail. It didn't light. The next morning, as was my usual Saturday routine, I drove to the Sun Flying club timing it to arrive at approximately 11am. If he saw legs kicking, he turned the seat over. Skeptoid Media, Flight 401. 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 (99 initial crash fatalities, two died shortly afterward). 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. I don't see any reason to worry about what fate has brought. His book was later made into a TV movie. Elizabeth M. Pollack 12/10/17
If one more time he could harvest a mess of frog legs in the Everglades. Many of the survivors were also stripped of their clothes and this contributed to medical problems with all the bacteria in the Everglades water and the relatively cold temperatures that night. md-87 r4 . Lost - Passengers and Crew (Name and Birthdate), Elise Grace Agate 9/3/42
Two later died, leaving 75 survivors and 101 fatalities. 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. * 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." Donadeo is still active in aviation, as state vice commander of the Civil Air Patrol. They claimed that the deceaseds name was being used for the commercial purpose of selling books about the fatal crash (and a movie based on the book) by referring to the decedent as a reappearing ghost. The family lost the suit, and subsequent appeals. Angelo Donadeo, whose survival may be the most remarkable of all, says the only thing still bothering him is his back, but not very much. Lets sing Christmas carols, Raposa replied. Feel the warmth going down.. "Life's played funny tricks on me," said Richard N. Micale, 41, not laughing. Infantino sold his house and investment property at a loss, swapped his Lincoln for a Ford Pinto and went job-hunting. At least he lives near his precious Everglades. Raposas survivors became upset. The Ghost of Flight 401. Another link between the sightings and the aircraft involved could be the corporate decision to use undamaged parts of Flight 401 on other jets in the fleet. That was a miracle that is probably attributable to three factors: (1) the crash site was a soft, wet swamp; (2) there was no significant post-crash fire; and (3) the force of disintegration was directed horizontally and not vertically, flinging many survivors out into the swamp instead of subjecting them to fatal blunt force trauma which is characteristic of most airplane crashes. 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. Thanks to Jim Kalafus for the corrected names of Flight 401 victims drawn from Dade Country death certificate files and his continued research and participation in this effort. His 1977 book, Crash, tells the story of many of the passengers, the investigation and aftermath of Flight 401. This crux of the story was completely made up out of whole cloth. He has never taken pleasure in talking about what he saw after Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 went down and how he felt about it. All of us realized that many people had lost their lives and that there was a bit of mystery surrounding why a relatively new L1011 crashed into the Everglades on a clear, dark night. 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. You could hear the cry of death. Flight 401crash-landed into the Everglades at over 200 mph. Christina (center) was two-months-old at the time of the crash, making her the youngest survivor . It marked the 50th anniversary of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 disaster. Not long after, "ghosts" of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew members on other Eastern Tri-Stars, especially those planes which had been fitted with parts salvaged from the Flight 401 wreckage. Solomon Fisher 7/18/11
"CRASH" BOOK AND MADE FOR TV MOVIE (1977/ 1978). Flight 401 - Flight Crew Fatal Photograph |
Marc Leshay 11/28/51
2017. The Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu that plummeted into a gorge Sunday . Fear of Landing. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 5 |
The disaster of this flight still remains as one of the worst in American aviation history. The flying club was also a de facto social club with members having the common bonds of flying and aircraft ownership. When he stopped the engine to push the boat back into the water, he heard a chorus of terrified human voices, hollering, moaning, shrieking. 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. ";s:7:"keyword";s:18:"flight 401 victims";s:5:"links";s:213:"Bendall Walk New Plymouth,
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