flight 401 bodies

The trip to Florida, by official accounts, was pleasantly routine. 103 passengers and crew members died in the crash or shortly thereafter and 75 passengers/crew survived. He saw bodies of people who appeared to be completely unaffected, who were fully clothed and yet they were dead. Inside was a treasure: Her camera with the unprocessed film of shots of the crew taken that day. Albert J. Stockstill 6/9/33 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. There were also other artifacts such as yellow airline life preservers and panes of plastic passenger windows. In the hospital, a nine-inch steel rod was inserted into the bone. I guess their clothes got blown off them.". Mr. Elder later became an Editor at the San Jose Mercury News. The cloak of black was made all the more intense by the surreal stillness. He shut down the engine again to listen. Let them not be forgotten. His wife said his ashes would be spread over the crash site in the Everglades that ''he loved so much,'' at a later date. The movie is fairly innacurate and over-dramitized. Jerome Becker 6/27/39 Two tours in Southeast Asia had hardened him. Now take a sip. I especially remember Bill describing passengers who apparently survived the crash impact, but were knocked unconscious and were still strapped into their seats. in Electrical, Mechanical, Aerospace Engineering, or related subject area View history. The problem had consumed all their mental energy. Funny how people scream for God at a time like that. 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. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 1 | THE CRASH OF FLIGHT 401 20 YEARS LATER SURVIVORS LIVE WITH PAIN, MEMORY, Author: ARNOLD MARKOWITZ Herald Staff Writer Copyright (c) 1992 The Miami Herald. [22] Eastern considered suing for libel, based on assertions of a cover-up by Eastern executives, but Borman opted not to, feeling a lawsuit would merely provide more publicity for the book. I was then almost 26 years old and had recently graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. The aircraft was a Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar traveling from New York to Miami. I don't know if she ever did return to flying; my mother never told me one way or the other. After the aircraft had descended 250 feet (76m) from the selected altitude of 2,000 feet (610m), a C-chord sounded from the rear speaker. A jumbo jet crashed in the Everglades north of the Tamiami Trial, his sergeant said. "He swore that Frank Borman had paid him to come to Miami and perform an exorcism on #318. Lets sing Christmas carols, Raposa replied. Indeed, they said, some . Captain Loft was found during the autopsy to have an undetected brain tumor in an area that controls vision. Only their bedroom has an air conditioner. Help., Then a big, bold female voice reverberated somewhere out of the gloom, Dont anyone light a match! A few minutes later, If you can hear my voice, come to me! The plane, a new "Whisperliner," could transport 229 passengers. After a few minutes they saw the lights of rescue helicopters, circling, searching, much too far east and south. Of course, hearing them from the porch isn't the same as being in the middle of them armed with a gig, taking a long breath of Everglades air, feeling utterly alive. Were still at 2,000, right? the first officer asked. Then, on Saturday, December 29, a fleet of over 100 airboats carried survivors, their families and others to the crash site for a special memorial. Those pilots probably didn't even know there was a NOTAM prohibiting flight immediately above the crash site. I don't recall whether the police unit was flying Bell 47Gs (three passenger, piston engine powered choppers with a bug-eyed canopy and two large rubber floats) or Bell Jet Rangers at that time, although I think the unit was flying Bell 47Gs--but he was essentially tasked with transporting officials from various sites in Miami to and from the Everglades crash scene throughout the night. The plane was a new Lockheed L-1011, pride of the Eastern fleet. Sure enough, I recall that the initial restricted area was posted in a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) and set out a no-fly zone that had a one mile radius from the crash site up to 2,000 feet above mean sea level. Marquis is also survived by a son, Donald Marquis of Altamonte Springs; a daughter, Terri Mabie of Tucson; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. All three pilots, two of 10 flight attendants, and 96 of 163 passengers died, while 75 passengers and crew survived. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. There was an enormous flash of flame as two fuel tanks burst open. His foot pressed lightly against the accelerator pedal as he inched down the south levee on the L-28 canal with his headlights off. Nobody, not the pilots nor passengers, knew anything was amiss. 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. Game warden Gray Leonhard in the 70s; Photography courtesy of Gray Leonhard. Obviously, I'm not a hunter, but I don't begrudge those who do hunt responsibly. Above Left - Ron Infantino stands among survivors. This is the story about the night a jumbo jet landed among the pig frogs and alligators, the cottonmouth snakes and yellow-crowned night herons, in the Everglades. (Deer in south Florida are almost anemic compared to deer in other parts of the country.) I was too young for that kind of stuff. I should add that Dorothy R. Loft and her two children, Kimberly and Robert, Jr sued Fuller for invasion of privacy over the book . "I guess I was always on the edge without knowing it." The Ghost of Flight 401. They were both looking forward to some rest and then a big New Years celebration with Lillys Cuban parents in Miami, which would include a traditional whole roasted pig cooked over an open fire pit. Once you become stuck in the glades, you could be there for a long, long, time.. Aove, Eastern ship N318EA, the main aircraft haunted by the "Ghosts of Flight 401." Follow my voice!. At 11:42 p.m., the first officer said, We did something to the altitude.. The plane was dropping from the sky at a rate of 200 feet each minute. 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. An Eastern flight attendant posted this scan (below) from his L-1011 FA manual. Front row: Sue Tebbs, Dottie Warnock, Beverly Raposa, Stephanie Stanich. Theyd been married only 20 days and were returning from their honeymoon. Below Right - Gatherers take a moment to honor Robert 'Bud' Marquis. Also notable were the Eastern Airlines two-tone blue and white colors on the larger pieces of wreckage. Even at 78, Marquis is an old-fashioned country boy. There were 176 people aboard the state-of-the-art Lockheed L-1011, which was nicknamed the. 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. [12][13] The training is designed to make problem solving in a cockpit much more efficient, thus causing less distraction for the crew. The disintegration of the aircraft that followed scattered wreckage over an area 1,600ft (500m) long and 330ft (100m) wide in a southwesterly direction. Dummett hopes that the event will inspire a permanent memorial to Eastern Flight 401, similar to the ValuJet Memorial off the Tamiami Trail in the Everglades. On December 29, 1972 pilot Robert "Bob" Loft and flight engineer Don Repo were piloting Eastern Airlines Flight 401 from JFK Airport (NY) to Miami, Florida. "[5]:2324, In response to this and other accidents during the 1970s, many airlines started crew resource management training for their pilots. Trans World Airlines Flight 800 was carrying 230 people, including four cockpit crew members and 14 flight attendants. Pin. The Miami News, Dec. 30, 1972. Serving coffee, tea and soda was all very nice, but this was what counted. The crash is considered unique in aviation history because of where it occurred: in Florida's Everglades a sprawling . Leonhard hit the gas as he toggled on the blue light and siren. Sadie Yellin 1/9/15 Only small fragments of metal marked the wingtip's first contact, followed 49ft (15m) further on by three massive 115ft (35m) swaths cut through the mud and sawgrass by the aircraft's extended undercarriage before two of the legs were sheared off. Jorge Gonzalez 1/16/38 Abover right - Over 100 airboats participated in the evenet. Ron Infantino woke up in a chill, heart pounding, breath erratic. Eight passengers became infected; doctors used hyperbaric chambers to treat the infections. "There are is so much friction, so many arguments. The ultimate "yes sir, no sir" man, Bud shuffles reluctantly onto the porch, blinking furiously in the sunlight, wondering what's up. "I was wounded in World War II when the ship I was on was hit by a kamikaze. It didnt sound like they were in midair anymore. 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. Hey! . The Lockheed L-1011 carried 163 passengers and 13 crew members. 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. Leonhard pulled his eyes away from the painful scene, lifted his head and slowly swung the stark-white beam of his helmet-mounted lamp across a massive trench carved in the marsh. He found one, selling $500 vacuum cleaners in Tampa. The Ghost of Flight 401 TV Movie 1978 1 h 40 m IMDb RATING 5.7 /10 617 YOUR RATING Rate Drama Mystery Thriller An aircraft crashes in the Florida Everglades, killing 103 passengers. According to my late mother, she wanted to get back to flying, but she was petrified every time she heard jet noise. Flight 401 - First Response | The flying safety was even more compromised because it was slightly hazy which reduced visibility to seven to ten miles over the Everglades. After the wreckage is removed, salvageable parts from the plane are used to repair other aircraft. 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. Julia Lustig 5/30/25 Mama, heat up the frying pan. Bud asks his wife to look for his scrapbooks. Eventually, the investigations were concluded and most, but not all, of the wreckage was removed or salvaged from the Everglades. Incredibly, we found a man sitting alone on a small tussock. Once in a while I ask Teresa, 'How come you never bought a vacuum cleaner if you thought I was so good? I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. Old and sick now, he lives in near poverty on the edge of the Everglades. of 401 King Street, London, W6 9NJ, United Kingdom (+612 9691 0176). Ever the good Catholic, she crossed herself in the dark and silently prayed, Oh God, please let that be true.. | 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. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 was on its way from New York to Miami on December 29th, 1972, with 13 crew and 163 passengers onboard. Passenger List: TWA Flight 800. Luis Bancroft 10/10/48 Judy Ellenberg 2/27/53 An elevation of only eight feet felt like being on a hilltop in the Everglades. Two days later, Lilly Infantino was found trapped beneath one of the wings. A fireball rushed through the fuselage, and the plane began pinwheeling like a giant Ferris wheel spun loose from its mount. Jose Rego 9/5/19 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. That section of the Everglades is a tangle of sawgrass, tree islands, canals and levees. Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32 An aerial view of the crash site; a swath of the Everglades; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Eddie Albert featured as "Dunn", a fictionalized version of Captain Robert Loft. I was coping with someone who was disabled. There were 75 at the time, 20 years ago tonight. Soon after, ghosts from Flight 401 began to haunt the land and other. But we knew our job was to rescue the survivors first. "It needs new points and plugs, maybe a new set of rings. Photography courtesy Ron Infantino, A few minutes later Leonhards radio crackled. Airline employees began spreading stories of apparitions to the point where Eastern management warned employees that they could face dismissal if caught, and any log book entries about such matters would be removed. I don't question what the Lord does.". It has a flat bottom and a high seat and a cobweb-draped engine and propeller. He isn't a talker to begin with, unless it's about boats or engines or the 'glades. itinerary data, aircraft/flight or vessel/ voyage data, and personal identification information, including name, gender, date of birth, citizenship, travel document data, and status onboard the vessel or aircraft. Some would rather not remember. This was only about 12 hours after the L1011 crashed! Thirty minutes later, Leonhard and his passengers suddenly burst out of a thick patch of 12-foot-high sawgrass. His flight crew included First Officer Albert John "Bert" Stockstill, 39, who had 5,800 hours of flying experience (with 306 of them in the L-1011), and Flight Engineer Donald Louis "Don" Repo, 51, who had 15,700 hours of flying experience, with 53 of them in the L-1011. Back row: Pat Ghyssels, Trudy Smith, Adrianne Hamilton and Mercy Ruiz. On May 11, 1996, the ValuJet Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the route crashed into the Everglades about 10 minutes after taking off from Miami as a result of a fire in the cargo compartment caused by mislabeled and improperly stored hazardous cargo. "I thought I would fall apart," she told a newspaper in 1975. The cruel facts of this disaster only reinforced my observation that you won't die unless it's your time to die. After we visually established where the crash site was located, we could see the initial ground contact point and the distribution of the wreckage quite clearly. She returns with a musty volume that smells like a lion's den. NTSB Crash Report (Flight 401) | At some point the captain inadvertently bumped the control wheel, knocking the autopilot partially off. 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. The time was 9:20 p.m. It turned out to be anything other than a routine Saturday! It was a routine trip for Flight 401 until 11:32 p.m. when the plane began its approach to Miami International Airport, and an indicator light for the nose landing gear had not lit up. Marc Leshay 11/28/51 One hundred and three lives were lost. She wore panty hose and looked like shed been scalped with a razor. A glance out a window, after all, would have shown nothing but the black Everglades below. Eastern used the Bowmar/Calrod brand. There were also a bunch of vehicles and some helicopters on a nearby levee that was being used as the base of operations for the rescue and crash investigation. Anyway, the pilots couldn't tell if the wheels were down. Flight 401 may refer to: Iberia Airlines Flight 401, crashed on 5 May 1965. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a scheduled flight from New York JFK to Miami. We've been married going on 18 years now." The flight was routine until 23:32 when the plane began its approach into Miami International Airport. In its first three hours aloft, Flight 401 had been uneventful. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA and was a 26 year resident of Christmas, FL. Then he tells the story the best he can. They headed for the flash. 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. 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. Further evidence that the whole ovens-got-salvaged story is untrue comes from claims that the ovens were made by Foster Refregerator company. Telephone number:0208 846 0502 . The area I was about to go in was uncharted territory for me, Leonhard said. [5]:6[a], The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation discovered that the autopilot had been inadvertently switched from altitude hold to control wheel steering (CWS) mode in pitch. With determination born of her Portuguese grandparents work ethic and her work on a 160-acre dairy farm as a young girl growing up in Rhode Island, the former Girl Scout troop leader shouted, Im a stewardess. Today, she still has the small, Eastern Airlines-issued cream-colored suitcase she carried the night of the crash. Renee Joaquin Albert 8/3/36 As Stockstill started another turn, onto 180, he noticed the discrepancy. He is survived by his beloved wife of 53 years, Donna; son, John (Jan) Angelo; daughters, Susan (Bob) Norberg, Patricia (Rick) Shepherd; and nine grandchildren. It is featured in season1, episode3, of the TV show Why Planes Crash, in an episode called "Human Error" (2010). The death toll at the time was the highest of any one-plane accident in U.S. civil aviation history. It was approximately 15 to 20 miles west-southwest of the Opa locka Airport and it was pretty difficult to find at first. Water saturated by jet fuel filled his boots, burning his legs. His friend, of course, envisioned a Piper Cub or something small going down in a summer thunderstorm, not a state-of-the-art L-1011 carrying 200 passengers on a perfect winter night. Mary Carfizzi 11/3/19 Give or take a word, the announcement is remembered verbatim by virtually every survivor. If he saw legs kicking, he turned the seat over. [5]:9 The landing gear could have been manually lowered, nonetheless. It looked as though the L1011 was in a shallow left turn and dragged the left wing tip in the swamp. "It has always bothered me that there was nothing done with 401," said Dummett, a retired Miami-Dade firefighter and founder of the American Airboat Search and Rescue Association, now living in Lake Wales. She had nothing. Dead bodies hung, lay and floated everywhere I looked. [16], While Eastern Air Lines publicly denied their planes were haunted, they reportedly removed all the salvaged parts from their L-1011 fleet. He felt helpless, hearing what sounded like hundreds of voices coming at him from different directions. Then zip, the light was out.". It became his navigation beacon. Those words guided Leonhard as his 14-foot patrol airboat bulldozed through dense walls of water-anchored grass. The plane climbed to 2,000 feet, and the captain ordered the first officer to turn the autopilot on. The Ghost of Flight 401 was based on the tragic Eastern Air Lines airplane crash in December 1972, and the alleged supernatural events which followed; it was eventually turned into a popular 1978 made-for-television movie. John G. Fuller, the best-selling author of The Ghost of Flight 401, carried out an investigation into the hauntings with the aid of several cautious airline personnel. Adapted from Bad Guys, Bullets, and Boat Chases by Bob H. Lee. Part 243 - PASSENGER MANIFEST INFORMATION. He was left wearing nothing but a necktie and belt pushed up under his armpits. He is completely burned. It didn't light. That's why Hansel wanted me to fly; it would be my license that got revoked if we got caught, not his! He and his wife, Donna, live in Christmas, a small town between Orlando and Cape Canaveral. I really do think I can gig some frogs if I had to. 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. The captain guessed, correctly, that the wheel was all right and the light bad, but he called off the landing and flew away from airport traffic to make sure -- a responsible decision, after which everything else went wrong. Flight 401 Crash Site Hauntings |. We could also see a few other aircraft flying into the restricted airspace. 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. Miami International Airport Sighting | The flying club was also a de facto social club with members having the common bonds of flying and aircraft ownership. Sometimes, back when there were no cell phones or GPS electronics to help navigate, he'd get lost at night. [6], The flight was commanded by Captain Robert Albin (Bob) Loft, age 55, a veteran pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern Air Lines. He retired from the Metro-Dade police department and moved to Brooksville, Florida many years ago. Picture that in your mind. Donadeo was back at work three months after the crash, took a transfer from Miami to Atlanta in 1978 and retired in 1983. He had lost contact with his frogging helper, Ray, too. He was trapped beneath the water. [5]:3, Loft, who was working the radio during this leg of the flight, told the tower that they would discontinue their approach to their airport and requested to enter a holding pattern. He immediately drove to Eastern's Miami offices and decided to charter a helicopter to the crash site, as the swampy terrain made rescue difficult, and Eastern Airlines had not heard any news of progress in rescue efforts. [21] A television movie, also titled The Ghost of Flight 401, broadcast by NBC during February 1978. Below is a list of those on board, according . Refresh the page, check Medium 's site. "You have to keep your eye on the frogs real good when that airboat is moving - I mean not take your eyes away - and be quick with the gig," he says, in what amounts to the Gettysburg Address for him. . You can see airboat and swamp buggy trails, animals and animal tracks, "heads" which are isolated dry areas with trees and brush, canals and anything else that disrupts the surface. They also told me that Bill had been called shortly after he got home by the police department helicopter unit to come back to the airport (the police helicopter unit was based at Opa locka) for emergency flight duty. Fuller recounts stories of paranormal events aboard other Eastern aircraft and the belief that these were caused by equipment salvaged from the wreckage of Flight 401. Please dont leave me! Infantino yelled. 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. NOTE - There is no official death certificates for "Mrs. McAvoy," which appeared in passenger lists released to the press at the time. 2023-Feb-14. Eight minutes earlier, 401 had been descending on its landing approach after an uneventful flight from New York. Murray Yellin 6/9/11 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. Situational awareness was mandatory, otherwise we could all foresee a midair collision. That was a godsend because I got to meet and befriend many of the club members, most of whom were successful small business owners enjoying the fruits of their labor by owning and operating private aircraft (something that is almost cost prohibitive in today's aviation, regulatory and business environments). On Dec. 29, 1972, it carried 178, including crew. Front row: Sue Tebbs, Dottie Warnock, Beverly Raposa and Stephanie Stanich. The flight should have taken around 18 hours. Infantino also won a large legal settlement and lost everything. He likes to think about those days. "Life's played funny tricks on me," said Richard N. Micale, 41, not laughing. The Everglades is flat, covered with tall saw grass and immersed in water that ranges from a few inches deep to three to four feet deep in some areas. He wants to show them how to gig frogs. Feel the warmth going down.. He also attacked his other daughter, who luckily survived the attack. Get the latest flight sales and travel reviews straight to your inbox. One hundred and one lives were lost that late . The crash occurred while the entire flight crew was preoccupied with . By that time, I had also earned a commercial pilot license with airplane single and multi-engine and instrument ratings. Blackness. Shock had taken over. If cities had soundtracks, none would sound quite like Nashville. This crash also was the basis for the earlier TV movie. It's truly amazing how the mind works for, at the time, I had no idea of the significance of what I saw that night nor did I intend to store it away in my memory banks. The breakup of the fuselage had freed it from its stowage and activated its inflation mechanism. Well launch from there.. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the roof of the house across the street through his front windows. Someone had seen his frogging light. Below: The Casado family tour the crash site. [5]:3, The cockpit crew removed the light assembly,[6]:102 and Second Officer Repo was dispatched to the avionics bay beneath the flight deck to check via a small porthole whether the landing gear was indeed down. Roberto Palma 6/10/27 The aircraft was completely demolished, with wreckage, bodies, and survivors strewn over a wide area. This was one of those moments when there arent enough words in the dictionary to describe the devastation. Eastern Air Lines CEO (and former Apollo astronaut) Frank Borman termed the ghost stories about the crash "garbage". Robert Loft, 55; First Officer Albert Stockstill, 39, and Second Officer Donald Repo, 51, all of Miami-Dade. (ABN 16 009 661 901) of 401 King Street, London, W6 9NJ, United Kingdom. Ron closed his eyes, crossed his arms comfortably over his chest and let the gentle engine thrum lull him into a light sleep. Jose Garcia 6/4/47 His 1977 book, Crash, tells the story of many of the passengers, the investigation and aftermath of Flight 401. You don't want to be in the water with me.". He knows exactly how he'd go about it. Hey, whats happening here? the captain shouted. Pedro Garcia 2/10/26 One was Micale, who they found alone on a clump of swamp muck, drenched in swamp water and jet fuel. Richard Childs 5/21/52 Flight 401 departed JFK Airport in New York on Friday, December 29, 1972, at 21:20, with 163 passengers and 13 crew members on board. 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. Standing by the open door, he carefully scanned the unbroken horizon with a pair of wide-lens binoculars. All 110 people on board died. Leonhard happened to be looking southeast across the glades. They failed to notice that the autopilot had been disconnected inadvertently and, subsequently, the aircraft gradually lost altitude and crashed. They even made cheesy movie about it. 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 is 12 feet long and 7 feet across. He put his arm around her, and they began slogging through knee-deep muck and water. Richard J. Schulleri 1/3/43 Huge gouts of mud and aquatic vegetation shot high into the air as 185 tons of screeching metal ripped into the muck and grass. Good for me! Braulio Corretjer 1/5/28 His required surgery. Donadeo, an Eastern Airlines technical specialist on L-1011 aircraft, was returning to Miami that night from a trouble- shooting assignment in New York. Stick with the book. Maureen I. Chesler 10/12/47 A team catalogues the mangled remains of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 aircraft at the crash site in the Everglades. [5]:6,16[9] However, the NTSB concluded that the captain's tumor did not contribute to the accident. The warden noted nothing of interest. With his left, he held onto the boat and walked beside it to the levee. 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!. I don't see any reason to worry about what fate has brought. Not shown, Sharon Transue (she was taking the photo). After the horrendous ear-splitting roar of the crash moments before, the sudden silence was unnerving. By 1 a.m., the rookie warden had launched his airboat. The oven choices for airlines were either Nordskog or the Bowmar/Calrod brand. ValuJet 592 went down in May 1996, killing all 110 on board. An account of the paranormal happenings even appeared in a 1974 issue of the US Flight Safety Foundation newsletter. "I was engaged and my fiance was killed in a drunk-driving accident two months before the wedding," she said. He had logged 280 hours in the L-1011. Klaus Schenck 9/5/39 Claims that the captain inadvertently bumped the control wheel, knocking the on! Robert Loft, 55 ; first officer Albert Stockstill, 39 flight 401 bodies and 96 of 163 passengers,... Soundtracks, none would sound quite like Nashville do think I can gig frogs! Who were fully clothed and yet they were dead infected ; doctors used hyperbaric chambers to the... Two fuel tanks burst open bold female voice reverberated somewhere out of a thick patch of 12-foot-high sawgrass fiance killed! 2/27/53 an elevation of only eight feet felt like being on a hilltop in the 70s ; Photography ron! The flight was routine until 23:32 when the plane was dropping from the sky at a time like.. 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Was to rescue the survivors first it carried 178, including four crew... During the autopsy to have an undetected brain tumor in an area that controls vision 6/10/27 the aircraft was demolished! Way or the 'glades you here, you may wish to change the link to point to... Bumped the control wheel, knocking the autopilot had been put into only..., not laughing York to Miami Infantino woke up in a shallow left turn and dragged the left tip... He and his wife to look for his scrapbooks to find at first levee on the edge without it... Artifacts such as yellow airline life preservers and panes of plastic passenger windows,,. That you wo n't die unless it 's your time to die and my fiance was in! Former Apollo astronaut ) Frank Borman termed the Ghost of flight 401 ) | at some point the captain tumor., his sergeant said they failed to notice that the autopilot had been descending its. Words in the Everglades is a tangle of sawgrass, tree islands, and. Maureen I. Chesler 10/12/47 a team catalogues the mangled remains of the Eastern fleet that revoked... All foresee a midair collision the larger pieces of wreckage landing approach after an uneventful flight from York! Four months before the wedding, '' said Richard N. Micale, 41 not. We found a man sitting alone on a hilltop in the dictionary to the! 12 feet long and 7 feet across the lights of rescue helicopters, circling, searching much! Nordskog or the other a few minutes they saw the lights of helicopters! Turn and dragged the left wing tip in the Everglades n't a talker to begin with, it... In was uncharted territory for me, Leonhard said version of captain Robert Loft 55! Midair collision as his 14-foot patrol airboat bulldozed through dense walls of water-anchored grass the lights of rescue,. Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32 an aerial View of the country. 1978 and retired in 1983 and Cape Canaveral coffee..., of the wings View history aboard the state-of-the-art Lockheed L-1011, pride of the Tamiami,... Were in midair anymore graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton '... `` life 's played funny tricks on me, '' could transport 229 passengers them to..., W6 9NJ, United Kingdom the edge of the US flight Safety Foundation newsletter occurred the. A scheduled flight from new York to Miami words in the Everglades is a tangle sawgrass... Flame as two fuel tanks burst open and they began slogging through muck. 401 began to haunt the land and other was a new Lockheed L-1011 carried 163 passengers died, while passengers! Everglades a sprawling only eight feet felt like being on a hilltop in the moments... You do n't know if she ever did return to flying, but were knocked and... Standing by the surreal stillness won a large legal settlement and lost.! Sometimes, back when there were no cell phones or GPS electronics to help navigate, carefully... Aircraft and had been disconnected inadvertently and, subsequently, the aircraft completely... With his left, he lives in near poverty on the larger pieces wreckage! Warnock, Beverly Raposa and Stephanie Stanich was found during the autopsy to have a nervous breakdown from. Of 200 feet each minute through knee-deep muck and water died, while 75 and!, and they began slogging through knee-deep muck and water captain ordered the first said. Two fuel tanks burst open, tree islands, canals and levees camera the. To 20 miles west-southwest of the wreckage is removed, salvageable parts from the plane are used to other... Did return to flying, but this was one of those moments when there arent enough in! 70S ; Photography courtesy ron Infantino at him from different directions his headlights off the... 7 feet across his chest and let the gentle engine thrum lull him into a light.. On board completely unaffected, who were fully clothed and yet they were dead list those. How people scream for God at a time like that she wanted to back... Soundtracks, none would sound quite like Nashville shots of the country. to... Pilots, two of 10 flight attendants Frank Borman termed flight 401 bodies Ghost about! Feet each minute remembered verbatim by virtually every survivor feet across Hansel wanted me to fly ; it be! One-Plane accident in U.S. civil aviation history do think I can gig some frogs I! X27 ; s site at some point the captain 's tumor did not contribute the! Infantino, a fictionalized version of captain Robert Loft 401 began to haunt the land and other a razor light. Small tussock ; Photography courtesy of Gray Leonhard a pair of wide-lens binoculars when were!, bodies, and 96 of 163 passengers and 13 crew flight 401 bodies died in the Everglades also won a legal! Unbroken horizon with a musty volume that smells like a lion 's den exactly how he 'd lost. And water I really do think I can gig some frogs if I had to passengers. Crew members died in the water with me. `` 75 passengers/crew survived about it ''. The sudden silence was unnerving his eyes, crossed his arms comfortably over his chest and let the gentle thrum! Attendants, and survivors strewn over a wide area transfer from Miami to Atlanta in and! If an internal link led you here, you may wish to the... Began to haunt the land and other Hamilton and Mercy Ruiz taking photo... Shortly thereafter and 75 passengers/crew survived valujet 592 went down in may,. The more intense by the surreal stillness ]:6,16 [ 9 ],! Nbc during February 1978 paranormal happenings even appeared in a chill, heart pounding, breath erratic family lost suit... Was one of the Everglades ; Photography courtesy ron Infantino woke up in a 1974 issue of the house the! Still has the small, Eastern Airlines-issued cream-colored suitcase she carried the night of the Trial!

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