"It banked to the left and those engines roared to take off power and we hit. One of the worst air disasters in South Florida history happened exactly 50 years ago Thursday, when Eastern Airlines Flight 401 slammed into the Florida Everglades, killing more than 100. A short time later, the plane was cleared to turn back to MIA and that's when a crewmember noticed something was amiss. "The priest came over and asked me what my religion was," he remembers. But today, for Infantino, is about Lilly and the other lost lives. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 was one of South Floridas deadliest airline disasters. "Ah, tower this is Eastern, ah, four zero one, it looks like we're gonna have to circle, we don't have a light on our nose gear yet," the pilot told the control tower at MIA. They were joined in the cockpit by an Eastern. Pieces of the aircraft scattered across the sawgrass. Raposa was one of 75 survivors. He called the airline from his hospital room and explained that he had survived the recent crash and was still recovering. Anyone interested in attending should email flt401memorial@gmail.com. However, the indicator light failed to show that the landing gear was locked down. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. RSS. The air traffic controller had his hands full dealing with this emergency and was paying little attention to Eastern 401. Fourteen people suffered burns, while 17 had only minor injuries and didn't need to be hospitalized, the NTSB report said. Also, the Director of The Americas Collection Gallery, Velia Larcinese, Bernice Steinbaum of Bernice Steinbaum Gallery, our 12 artists listed above, along with our Project Curator/Artist, George Rodez. "We now dedicate this memorial to the 101 souls who perished that night. One of them was Ron Infantino, an Air Force veteran in Vietnam and aviation aficianado. On Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022, survivors, family members, and friends gathered for the. Alright, leave it there, said Loft, giving up on the matter altogether. ", "We're still at two thousand right?" Three zero zero, Eastern 401., Captain Loft decided that they had wasted enough time messing with the bulb. In the hospital, Infantino barely survived. The flight path of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 in its final moments. One of them spotted the cockpit, where he was astonished to find Captain Loft, still alive and conscious, albeit terribly injured, and convinced he was going to die. However, two survivors soon died of their injuries, including Flight Engineer Don Repo. As he and his new bride entered their sparkling-clean room at a Miami hotel, one they hadnt told anyone theyd chosen, they opened the empty closet. Raposa had found her. The systems first entered service in 1977 and were installed at major airports across the United States by the end of the 1980s. In some respects the L-1011 surpassed not just every airplane that came before it, but all those which have come after it as well. said Stockstill. The scene they discovered was hellish beyond all imagination. Flight, How An Older Man Steps Up To School Her Is Perfect. Finally, the NTSB examined whether the controller could have prevented the crash. Shortly before midnight on December 29, 1972, the Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar crashed into the Florida Everglades, [1] [2] [3] causing 101 total fatalities. Its a new species, study says, Verdict means Miami voters are paying millions for the stupidity of electing Carollo. Loft caught sight of their altitude rapidly ticking down toward zero and exclaimed, Hey, whats happening here?. Were gonna wake up.. These findings would eventually place Eastern 401 among the most studied crashes of all time, becoming the seed which blossomed into a revolution in the way we fly airplanes. If you do not want us and our partners to use cookies and personal data for these additional purposes, click 'Reject all'. Large altitude deviations were sometimes displayed for up to three sweeps of the radar before returning to normal. Okay, going up to two thousand, one twenty-eight six, he said, reading back the command. Mercedes was thrown from the aircraft, still trapped in her jump seat with injuries to her head and a broken pelvis. From this accident, crew resource management was brought into pilot and cabin crew training to improve communication onboard. Others found themselves still strapped into their seats, upright and attached to the cabin floor, but with the walls and roof ripped away around them. Eastern 401, turn heading one eight zero, he said. Our artists, listed here along with the sponsors who stepped up to the plate to graciously purchase and donate their models for this cause are: Ana Maria Sarlat Sponsor: Benny F. Benitez of 94th AeroClaims-Aviation Consultant Group Aurora Molina Sponsor: Raiden Solutions, Jaqueline Roch Sponsor: Paramount Residential Mortgage Group, Connie Llovera Sponsor: Sean Gallagan, PhD., former principal of George T. Baker Aviation School and former Associate Dean of Broward College, Evelyn Valdirio Sponsor: Broward College, ASANDRA Sponsor: George T. Baker Aviation Technical College, Martin Casuso Sponsor: Banyan Air Services FBO, Esteban Blanco Sponsor: Conquest Air Cargo, Carlos Manuel Cardenes Sponsor: Ron Infantino (EAL Flight 401 survivor) Antonio Gonzalez-Nuez Sponsor: Kurt Kamrad, former CEO of Miami Air Armando Perez Aleman Sponsor: South Florida Aviation Maintenance Council George Rodez Sponsor: Atlantic-Models, Inc. (Created all the L-1011 models). Beneath the cockpit floor was the avionics bay, a cramped room colloquially known as the hellhole, which could be accessed via a hatch in the cockpit floor. To hell with it, to hell with this, he said. Hjs wife was not with him. The captain, in his role as commander, is expected to delegate tasks to the other crewmembers to ensure that everyone has a clearly defined role and that all necessary duties are accounted for. Upon inquiring, my mother who was a teacher gave her usual reply, look it up.Of course, the World Book Encyclopedia did not have any reference thereto. Among the general public, Eastern Air Lines flight 401 is best known not for its safety lessons, but for an alleged haunting which became one of the most widely shared urban legends to emerge from the aviation industry. There were 75 survivors. Amid the mayhem, it took 64 minutes for the first survivors to be airlifted from the crash site, and the last werent evacuated until well after 3:00 in the morning. A few seconds later, Lofts frustration boiled over. In loving memory so they will never, ever be forgotten," she said unveiling the stone monument with the names of those who died engraved in the granite. The owner of this site is not an investment advisor, financial planner, nor legal or tax professional and articles here are of an opinion and general nature and should not be relied upon for individual circumstances. They were Stanich and Ghyssels, the two flight attendants who died in the crash. Right, gear, said First Officer Stockstill. Employees would not come forward for fear theyd be sent to the nuthouse. Amid the confusion, the distracted crew didnt notice the auto pilot button was switched off. Updated Dec 14, 2022 A look at some of the strange tales that emerged after the accident. Beverly remembers when the flight went down. The recommendation to develop aids for controllers to detect when planes are too low eventually led to the development of the Minimum Safe Altitude Warning system, or MSAW, a set of equipment which sounds an alarm in the control tower if a plane descends below the minimum safe altitude. When I asked each artist to participate in the project, after sharing Flight 401s story and the purpose behind the exhibition, all 12 artists jumped on board even though they knew they would not be compensated for their time and effort.. She was six feet above the swamp but released her harness. The crash killed 101 people, destroyed a state-of-the-art airliner, and baffled the airline industry. My arm was hanging there. That-a boy! said Captain Loft. Thirty-five years after Eastern Airlines Flight 401 plummeted into the Florida Everglades, airboat pilot Bud Marquis is finally being recognized for his actions that night that saved. (Photo by Steve Starr/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images), Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. Yeah, and Elvis sat next to me on my last flight to Vegas. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters. Waves of fuel washed through the cabin, followed by the searing heat of flames. An Eastern Airlines jet heading from New York to Miami crashed in the Everglades 50 years ago. That also gave me an impression like the two girls were marked, Ruiz said. Ultimately, the probable cause was determined to be "the failure of the flight crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final 4 minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground," the NTSB report said. In the hospital he learned just how bad off he was. We did something to the altitude? he said, sounding confused. Although the flames quickly died down, they managed to pinpoint the location of the crash and rushed to the scene in their airboat, realizing that they had arrived only when their bow bumped up against a dark mass of wreckage. So I'll never forget it, I brought it to my chest and held it.". Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. "My god, you're here, please don't leave me," he remembers telling them. You got it sideways, then.. "It felt so good. He said 401 needs a memorial not only for those who died but for its importance in airline safety. Go down and see if its lined up with the red line. Seconds later, the plane crashed into the ground at 227 mph. The group wanted to balance their pose, so they stood in two lines of four with one of the flight attendants stretching out over the top of a closet. "We did something to the altitude," the first officer remarked, and the captain's reply was "What? "Hey, what's happening here?" They were exhausted. The rescue proved chaotic, as the plane had crashed nearly 13 kilometers from the nearest road, but emergency vehicles were eventually able to get within 100 meters of the site by driving in single file down the flood control levee, which doubled as a helicopter landing pad. For example, a roll input with about 7 kilograms of force would be sufficient to cause the autopilot to stop controlling the aircrafts heading. Call 305.669.7030 or view our Media Kit. The 12 model airplanes will be displayed along with 20 photographs from the crash site, images of the crew members taken hours before the fatal flight, and a video presentation that documents the fate of Flight 401 and the genesis of the exhibition. She found Beverly and commented 'it's a bad dream, we are going to wake up.' I try to do that but I'm human so it doesn't always work out.". "And then. One of the worst air disasters in South Florida history happened exactly 50 years ago Thursday, when Eastern Airlines Flight 401 slammed into the Florida Everglades, killing more than 100 people and leading to the implementation of several aviation safety measures. View from the Wing is a project of Miles and Points Consulting, LLC. Find out more about how we use your personal data in our privacy policy and cookie policy. She has served as cabin crew on flights from economy-class to private jets. The wide body tri-jet was built with a revolutionary philosophy: that only the best on-board technology was acceptable, and if that technology didnt exist, Lockheed would invent it. This site is for entertainment purpose only. You too can submit a story. According to the lore associated with the crash, from the paranormal he conveyed that an L-1011 would never crash and he is floating around to ensure that prophesy.at least until another one did crash. But what was inside was the real prize: a Kodak Instamatic camera and rolls of film. Infantino and other survivors have for years tried to create one but have been unable to raise the money needed to build it. 14, 2022, survivors, family members, and eastern air lines flight 401 survivors Captain 's reply was `` what exclaimed,,. Live events, and the eastern air lines flight 401 survivors 's reply was `` what us and our partners to cookies... 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