They married in 1974. At 11:42 p.m., the first officer said, We did something to the altitude.. Burning jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed through the swamp. He was left wearing nothing but a necktie and belt pushed up under his armpits. The image of Repo said "Watch out for fire on this airplane," and then disappeared. This witness, a female passenger, described an ashen looking person sitting in one of the seats. 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). Captain Bob Loft was also seen on a few occasions, but never as often as Repo. Late in the evening of Friday, December 29, 1972, I was at the old Sun Flying Club tie-down area located on the east side of Opa locka Airport in metropolitan Miami, Florida. An hour or so later, a Christmas carol floated through the air, reassuring Infantino he was not alone. 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. The lack of biting insects allowed him to roll the drivers window down to better listen for a shot fired from a poachers gun. The disaster took the lives Colonel. The death toll at the time was the highest of any one-plane accident in U.S. civil aviation history. victims, and the general public. Captain Bob Loft survived the impact but was so severely injured that he died during the rescue efforts. My former brother-in-law, James Anderson, was an avid air boat owner and hunting enthusiast. 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. The trip to Florida, by official accounts, was pleasantly routine. Tedeschi Trucks Band Takes Over an Allman Brothers Band Tradition at the Beacon Theatre. From an aviation perspective, this was no small feat. One of them attracted . The unexpected facts behind this famous ghost story from the 1970s. Kenneth Michael Mazonne 3/27/44 Two days later, Lilly Infantino was found trapped beneath one of the wings. Perhaps that may not have made much difference. In fact we all were troubled because, by the luck of the draw or fate, some passengers survived while others in similar situations who looked as though they should have survived, were killed. Charles Camichel 9/9/1899 (we assume this is the "C. Carmichael" on Evelyn De Salazar 11/6/08 He was in the fetal position, head on his knees, hands covering his face, leaning against the trunk of a willow. Officially, Eastern Air Lines denied anything was wrong with their aircraft or personnel. Two later died, leaving 75 survivors and 101 fatalities. Something was wrong with the landing gear or the landing-gear light on the control panel. Like so many such cases, its exploitation of a tragedy for financial gain and publicity was disrespectful to both the victims and the survivors. Of the 176 passengers and crew members aboard Flight 401, 77 survived the initial crash. Repo seemed to have a knack of turning up in the oddest of places. Above: A piece of wreckage from Flight 401 still visible in the Everglades. 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. Mama, heat up the frying pan. 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. To those who survived, the scene must have had an eerie end-of-the-earth feel, with wisps of gray mist swirling, a baby wailing, the groans from the injured and the dying. She went and got another flight attendant, who came and saw the same thing. Solomon Fisher 7/18/11 Flight 401 - Autopilot indicator | However, the high point was the couple became engaged on the plane before takeoff. On the night of December 29th, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 took off from New York and headed towards Miami, Florida. 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. The landing gear from Flight 401 at the crash site; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. 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 guess their clothes got blown off them.". Fortunately, Bud was an expert. She was the first victim, along with her unborn son, discovered by the search team at 12:30 pm, December 30th), Patricia Renee Shackelford 12/9/52 (Pictured below). "I thought I would fall apart," she told a newspaper in 1975. A pale glow lightened the sky above Miami more than 40 miles away. She left Eastern and worked in the travel agency industry. Flight 401 left John F. Kennedy at 9:20 p.m. On December 29th, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401, a widebody L1011 jet, crashed into the Everglades while attempting to land at Miami International Airport. A graveside service will take place on Friday, December 4, at 10:30 AM. The first time Walter Simonton saw the Everglades, the desolation overwhelmed him as he grieved for his mother, whose plane was swallowed up by the wetlands. I have lost contact with Bill Elliott. The only piece of wreckage I did keep, and which I still have in my possession, is one of the plastic passenger window panes. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the roof of the house across the street through his front windows. Air crews reported seeing apparitions of their dead coworkers on board the planes that had Flight 401's spare parts. Whenever either Loft or Repo make an appearance, they tend to be life-like and look like just another person. 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. But we idled back around to double-check on them just in case.. There was a lot of activity on the ground, but we couldn't see much detail from 3,000 feet. 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. We've been married going on 18 years now." Two tours in Southeast Asia had hardened him. 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. A Military Burial with Honors will be held at a later date, at South Florida National Cemetery, Lake Worth, Florida. Fuller could have said whatever he wanted about the condition of the wreckage, and nobody would have any reason to doubt him. Back to the clubhouse and armed with the airspace restrictions, I was ready to fly. As I sit writing this 34 years later in December 2006, I can still visualize the events of that night just as if they had occurred yesterday. This photo was taken hours before the crash on December 29th while on board Flight 26 in Miami. Eventually, the investigations were concluded and most, but not all, of the wreckage was removed or salvaged from the Everglades. Anyway, the pilots couldn't tell if the wheels were down. At no time would officials of the company allow or condone any attempt to investigate the reports. Mildred Katz 1/8/34 Good for me! Miguel Junco, being carried into a hospital by an attendant. Below: Franklin and Anita Kent celebrate Franklin's pending release from Palm Springs hospital with some ice cream, on February 17, 1973 (W.O. He can't remember anyone's name now. They never met again, never talked again, and never will: Ray died years ago in Arcadia. Obviously, I'm not a hunter, but I don't begrudge those who do hunt responsibly. Edward was also sent to Florida to build Trap and Skeet gun clubs in some southern states, he always maintained that the clubs were 20 years ahead of their time. The harrowing tale of three survivors of the 1972 crash of Eastern Airlines flight 401 into the Everglades. I vaguely remember that we ended up taking a total of five people on that flight. You don't want to be in the water with me.". Old and sick now, he lives in near poverty on the edge of the 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. 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. He carried survivors to safety and made them as comfortable as he could. But the passengers were her peopleher responsibilityand it was still her job to help them. Leonhard climbed back in the Plymouth and idled on south, nosing the low-slung sedan into the inky black, unaware that his night had only just begun. 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. Huge gouts of mud and aquatic vegetation shot high into the air as 185 tons of screeching metal ripped into the muck and grass. "Hey, what's happening here?" The flying club tie-down area and ramp were immediately adjacent to the Sun Line operation and I often was called upon to fuel aircraft on the Sun Flying Club property. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. . Then zip, the light was out.". Exactly fifty years ago, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 mysteriously . After returning to Connecticut, he then worked for a number of years at Seymour Copper Mill in sales and marketing. The petite brunette stood just 5 feet 1.5 inches tall. After graduation, he hitchhiked to Oregon and California to visit relatives, returning to Connecticut a couple of years later. Silvia Crespo 11/30/32 The flying club was also a de facto social club with members having the common bonds of flying and aircraft ownership. Rochelle Rubin 1/5/48 (she was the first victim discovered by the search team The idea that a large, boxy, relatively delicate component like an oven or an elevator could have survived undamaged is immediately ludicrous at face value. Surely, pilots and air crew would never make up such stories, would they? We could also see a few other aircraft flying into the restricted airspace. Starring. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Everglades on a moonless night on December 29, 1972. After about an hour, he saw the first helicopter. I lost my boot., Well, Raposa said, Ill help you find it., Thats okay, Raposa said. "I've tried to throw [the suitcase] away many times, but something always holds me back. How about we start with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?. Survivors described a flash or spark that exploded through the cabin as the jet ripped apart. My mother never told me the flight attendant's name, but she did say that she had suffered a broken back in the crash. Her face burned from the jet fuel. Marc Leshay 11/28/51 Above Left - Ron Infantino stands among survivors. By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. Photography courtesy Ron Infantino, A few minutes later Leonhards radio crackled. Loft, Robert Albin | The Ghost of Flight 401. Ever the good Catholic, she crossed herself in the dark and silently prayed, Oh God, please let that be true.. The Ghost of Flight 401: Mystery Files | But it kept jamming. Those words guided Leonhard as his 14-foot patrol airboat bulldozed through dense walls of water-anchored grass. There was just one problem: Bob Loft had been dead for months. Bill, ironically, as well as being the proud owner of a pristine Cessna 180 was one of the helicopter pilots for the Metro-Dade police department. They had drowned because their seats landed with their heads tilted down into the swamp water. 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. Then the commuter airline folded. Pilots and flight attendants frequently saw Don Repo after that, and always he gave them some valuable maintenance note about the aircraft. Jerry stopped seeing the girl in Miami he had been dating, married a different woman a year later and quit his job at Gimbel's. Loretta E. Bloodgood 10/13/15 On Thursday the victims of that crash were honored with a memorial in Miami Springs. 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. It didn't look as if anyone could have possibly survived the crash, yet 75 people did. It was an easy way to break the monotony of intense study, tour the good old USA and also earn a few bucks and I must emphasize the aspect of the earnings. Work toward erecting a permanent memorial for Flight 401 at the Curtiss Mansion in Miami continues under the leadership of survivors Ron Infantino and Beverly Raposa. Frightened, they called the flight deck, and the flight engineer came down to have a look for himself. He was 79. "Having money ruined my life," he said. This photo taken in September 2009. The unintentional jar apparently caused the planes nose to tilt down a few degrees. Murray Yellin 6/9/11 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. Information about your use of this site is shared with Google. Delta pilot pay varies depending on schedule, aircraft and other factors, but current flight pay can range from an average of $75,000 a year for a starting first officer to more than $300,000 a . There were 75 at the time, 20 years ago tonight. It was rare for commercial airliners to fly westbound directly overhead Opa locka Airport at such a relatively low altitude. Reports began to take on much more sinister overtone, at least in the eyes of the witness involved. Edward E. Ulrich died at home on May 25, 2021. 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. This site uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic. His required surgery. Photo was taken earlier while on the ground in Miami. 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. Serving coffee, tea and soda was all very nice, but this was what counted. Rowdy fans of Notre Dame and University of Nebraska, scheduled to play on New Year's Day at the Orange Bowl, were poised to take over the town. He saw a man standing, shocked, in knee-deep water. The memories don't. Patricia A. Ghyssels 3/31/45 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. Edward moved to Scarborough, Maine to expand Winchesters presence in Northern New England and the Maritime provinces. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute. His wife Nancy - they married when she was 15 - could always tell when it was on his mind, though. Hansel owned a single engine Piper Comanche 250, registered as N7510P, that held four people, including the pilot. Hey! Ron and Fara Infantino, married for 20 days, were coming home from their honeymoon when Flight 401 crashed. A glance out a window, after all, would have shown nothing but the black Everglades below. Pilots of Eastern Airline Flight 401 Don Repo and Bob Loft. It is now known that "Mrs. McAvoy" was Donna Smith, Thomas McAvoy's traveling companion. Thats what youre going to get when we get out of here. At night, when he sits on his porch, he can hear the wup-wup bellows of the pig frogs and the heh-heh-heh chatter of the leopard frogs beyond the trees. Lilly leaned back in her seat, resting quietly. Mysterious Universe Burning jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed through the swamp. Another flight was being subjected to pre-flight checks when Bob Loft was spotted wandering around the undercarriage. 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. May Albury, Verena Bieri, Carl Bolufe, Rigoberto Bolufe, Sandra Burt, Gustavo Cassado, Mrs Xeimara Casado, Miss Christina Casado, 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, Alan Weiss, Lorenzo Zetlin. The plane, a new "Whisperliner," could transport 229 passengers. Viewers who enter The Ghost of Flight 401 looking for shivers and thrills might be disappointed. What happened next must have happened very quickly. 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. 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. She was whipped. "Accident Description." Off I went to check with the FAA Flight Service Station. Cite this article: 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. It became his navigation beacon. 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