, Elder, R. "Flight 401 Survivors, Years After the Crash and Memorial Efforts." Two days later, Lilly Infantino was found trapped beneath one of the wings. They go deep into the heart of the Florida Everglades to contact the victims' ghosts and find out what really happened that fateful night in 1972. Kobe Bryant, 41 ans, un des plus clbres joueurs de basket-ball de la NBA, avait pris sa retraite en 2016.. bord de l'hlicoptre se trouvaient galement sa fille de treize ans, Gianna, qui jouait . I probably did too, I'm sure." It is personal and it has served over the intervening years to remind me of how precious and tenuous life can be. (none / Historical Museum of Southern Fl . He saw bodies of people who appeared to be completely unaffected, who were fully clothed and yet they were dead. Suddenly, he stopped. 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). In late 1972 the two were passengers in a plane crash that left both with debilitating painful injuries. Bud helped the man into the airboat and poured him coffee from the thermos. He was trapped beneath the water. Ernest F. Bloodgood 4/1/16
She described him as dazed and unresponsive. Soon after, ghosts from Flight 401 began to haunt the land and other airplanes. I don't know if she ever did return to flying; my mother never told me one way or the other. 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. What songs will we sing? one passenger asked. Clutching his walking stick, Bud shuffles past a mango tree into the backyard. Later on during the flight though, problems with the engine all stemmed from a fire that no-one knew about. After retiring he volunteered with the Civil Air Patrol, his last rank was Lt. I vaguely remember that we ended up taking a total of five people on that flight. Speeding across the 'glades in his airboat, Bud was the first rescuer on the scene. 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. Below: Christina Casada-Acorn, now 35, standing at the crash site in 2007 while holding the dress she was wearing the night of the crash. 35 Years after an Eastern Air Lines jet crashed into the Everglades, a rescuer looks back. 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. Some still feel the pain. In a weak voice, one of them asked, What about the alligators?, Raposa didnt hesitate: We made such a loud noise when we hit. Flight 401 Survivors, Years After the Crash and Memorial Efforts. 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). Darrylle Becker 3/16/43
He and his wife, Donna, live in Christmas, a small town between Orlando and Cape Canaveral. Braulio Corretjer 1/5/28
He saw mangled bodies and heard the pitiful moans of the dying. With the $250,000 legal settlement, Micale thought he had it made. 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. Fara Infantino 12/7/46
He felt a sense of mission as he looked out into the black swamp, knowing that his job required cunning and stealth. The other 101 people on Eastern Airlines Flight 401 died quite horribly -- 98 in the Everglades where the airplane crashed, three later in hospitals. The Infantinos were exhausted from celebrating Christmas with Rons parents in New York. The sightings apparently stopped once this was all done. It was the first of the new generation of wide-body "jumbo jets" to crash. The night was a balmy 72 degrees, the mosquitoes surprisingly sparse. With his left, he held onto the boat and walked beside it to the levee. On Dec. 29, 1972, Eastern Flight 401 from New York to Miami took off from . Unborn son of Rochelle and Stefan Rubin
Like so many such cases, its exploitation of a tragedy for financial gain and publicity was disrespectful to both the victims and the survivors. Caridad Fermina Hernandez 10/11/32
Salvatore Carfizzi 7/15/15
Flight 401 - Flight Crew Fatal Photograph |
Bud waved his light until the helicopter took notice. It's broken, just like him. Adelaide Geneve Bearman 9/21/22
It was broken in the crash and he avoids putting any strain on it -- good advice for anyone his age, 67. His required surgery. Lucille Cilles 1/30/24
Undeterred, the pilot investigated further and did find a problem that may have caused a serious accident if it went unnoticed. 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. The Ghost of Flight 401 was not much of a departure for him. 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). The government considered him totally disabled. 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. When he stopped the engine to push the boat back into the water, he heard a chorus of terrified human voices, hollering, moaning, shrieking. 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. Follow my voice. Within minutes, six to eight passengers crawled out of the dark and were seated on the scrap of flooring, shivering, afraid and in shock. They were heading his way. Donadeo, an Eastern Airlines technical specialist on L-1011 aircraft, was returning to Miami that night from a trouble- shooting assignment in New York. We had him out by 5:30 in the morning. Leonhard hit the gas as he toggled on the blue light and siren. Riding with him were two Federal Aviation Administration officials. One was Micale, who they found alone on a clump of swamp muck, drenched in swamp water and jet fuel. Then zip, the light was out.". Fear of Landing. Repo, Donald Louis |
The cloak of black was made all the more intense by the surreal stillness. Edward graduated from Seymour High in 1947. He had promised to show a slight acquaintance, Ray Dickinson, how to gig frogs. 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. 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. Source Wikimedia Commons, Jon Proctor March 1972. A Florida plane crash scene became even more disturbing when an alligator was spotted devouring the victim's body. Beverly Raposa doesn't mind flying. She was whipped. As in other reports, the flight attendant selected Repos photo from a choice offered to her. The following is a list of survivors and victims of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. Feel the warmth going down.. Only their bedroom has an air conditioner. 17 Mar. "There are is so much friction, so many arguments. Flight 401crash-landed into the Everglades at over 200 mph. Edward presented the ring in a glass of champagne. Around 4:30 a.m., Leonhard waded up to a willow heada thick tangle of weepy trees with brittle limbs draping into the water. She went and got another flight attendant, who came and saw the same thing. The flying safety was even more compromised because it was slightly hazy which reduced visibility to seven to ten miles over the Everglades. "I was engaged and my fiance was killed in a drunk-driving accident two months before the wedding," she said. We also offer excellent benefits and perks, including medical, dental, vision, a 401(k)-retirement plan, holiday pay, paid time off . Eastern Air Lines Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1. Flight 401 - Autopilot indicator |
His 1977 book, Crash, tells the story of many of the passengers, the investigation and aftermath of Flight 401. Now take a sip. Loft accidentally nudged the control yoke, perhaps with his knee, while turning around to speak to Repo, and the autopilot mode was one which followed whatever pitch the pilot set with the yoke. 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. This killed the First Officer instantly. Marquis waved his headlamp in circles, guiding the pilots to the crash. Read the accident report (PDF). 401 - Dan Delaney December 29, 2021, 4:20 pm. Photo credit: Don Boyd of Sun Bird Photos. At least he lives near his precious Everglades. Whenever either Loft or Repo make an appearance, they tend to be life-like and look like just another person. 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. Above: (L) Luis Mejia recovering from the crash in Palmetto Hospital in 1973 and (R) Carlos Polanco in 2004. It is almost a physical impossibility to find and remove every scrap of wreckage from a swamp. Flight 401 Survivors, Years After the Crash and Memorial Efforts. 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. Also in attendance was Ron Infantino, David Kaplan and the Casado family. 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.. His hunting escapades on his air boat meant that he was very familiar with the area where Flight 401 crashed in the Everglades. 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. The City of Miami Springs hosted a Beautiful Memorial Ceremony on Thursday, December 29, 2022. It became his navigation beacon. At first, witnesses reported nothing more severe than standing in the aisles, occupying the galley and cockpit. 2017. He not only saw the face too, but recognized it as none other than Don Repo, the engineer who died on Flight 401. Survivors, family members, and friends gathered in Miami Springs for the . Susana Luna 8/29/29
The third, Repo, used a porthole to try and get a visual on the gear. Three women on the jetliner's tail, about 20 feet above the water, begged Bud to save them. On December 29th, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401, a widebody L1011 jet, crashed into the Everglades while attempting to land at Miami International Airport. You can see the brand name on the oven instruction plate. 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. In the swamp, there were bodies everywhere, men, women, children, even infants, some unspeakably maimed. The majority of this equipment was fitted into Eastern's L-1011 N318EA while it was being assembled in Palmdale. Documentary, Unscripted. Born in Arkansas, he grew up in South Florida when everybody seemed to be poor. Exactly fifty years ago, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 mysteriously . Let them not be forgotten. At 11:42 p.m., the first officer said, We did something to the altitude.. 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. His writings form the basis for much of this Web site, with permission. 200110850. That's where the helicopters, one after another, landed that night, and where ambulances arrived to load the dead and injured. Im sure they all ran away. She spit the words out quickly, doing her best to sound convincing. There was just one problem: Bob Loft had been dead for months. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401. Bud wants to. 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. 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. The oven choices for airlines were either Nordskog or the Bowmar/Calrod brand. Author John G. Fuller claimed the whole book was true . In the days and weeks following the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401, recovery efforts captivated the nation, and perhaps because of its iconic, unforgiving, alligator-riddled crash site, the event has remained seared in the memories of Floridians for decades. Richard J. Schulleri 1/3/43
Charles Camichel 9/9/1899 (we assume this is the "C. Carmichael" on
"That's what really gets me. The harrowing tale of three survivors of the 1972 crash of Eastern Airlines flight 401 into the Everglades. But we idled back around to double-check on them just in case.. Please contact us with any corrections or feedback. By 1 a.m., the rookie warden had launched his airboat. I saw people burned in agony. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 6 |
They didn't find each other until morning. 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. The jet bounced once, then hit again. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the main fuselage broke into four main sections and many other smaller pieces on impact. They didn't keep score, but Marquis knows they saved a lot of people's lives that night. Hansel Meighen died on April 15, 1999, and is buried in Ft. Pierce, Florida. If this was true, then perhaps they recycled more than just aircraft parts. It's a swamp, a flat swamp. 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. "Having money ruined my life," he said. 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. '," she says now. Podcast transcript | Subscribe. Surprise turned to horror when Repo disappeared before the pilots eyes. Yetta Cohn 3/17/16
In every direction, there was nothing but dead silence and incredible darkness. She put in 11 more years with United before retiring. He knows exactly how he'd go about it. Photography courtesy Ron Infantino, A few minutes later Leonhards radio crackled. Below Left - In red, stewardess Beverly Raposa at the memorial. The movie is fairly innacurate and over-dramitized. Obviously, I'm not a hunter, but I don't begrudge those who do hunt responsibly. "The three of us toast to life on that day every year.". With almost twice the area of Rhode Island, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States has some of the most formidable terrain on Earth. Hey! Eastern Flight 401. Miami International Airport Sighting |
My mother never told me the flight attendant's name, but she did say that she had suffered a broken back in the crash. One time, a working flight attendant insisted that she saw an engineer working to repair an oven. Books and TV movies frightened audiences, and this ghost story that had it all became a permanent fixture in great American tales of the paranormal. The unintentional jar apparently caused the planes nose to tilt down a few degrees. Flight 401 flew into the ground on Friday night, Dec. 29, 1972, at 13 seconds past 11:42 p.m. My former brother-in-law, James Anderson, was an avid air boat owner and hunting enthusiast. Exactly fifty years ago, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 mysteriously slammed into the Florida Everglades at over 200 miles per hour. Samuel J. Prager 12/23/03
HistoryMiami. Patricia A. Ghyssels 3/31/45
A jumbo jet crashed in the Everglades north of the Tamiami Trial, his sergeant said. . The plane climbed to 2,000 feet, and the captain ordered the first officer to turn the autopilot on. Please email corrections, additions, photos or any other information you would like to have posted here. They married in 1974. She wore panty hose and looked like shed been scalped with a razor. It didn't look as if anyone could have possibly survived the crash, yet 75 people did. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 2 |
The bronze plaques are being donated as well as the granite base. One other witness has also come forward with a similar story that adds validity to the others simply because of who he was at the time. No flicker from an air boaters headlamp. For a minute I thought [Don] Repo's ghost was on the plane.". Viewers who enter The Ghost of Flight 401 looking for shivers and thrills might be disappointed. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, crashed on 29 December 1972. Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. Everything else was in small pieces spread in a general southwest or south-by-southwest direction for 1,500 to 2,000 feet. 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. 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. He and his first wife traveled extensively in their RV throughout the United States and Canada. With the engine dangerously wide open - the boat slipped over the grass at 35 mph - he maneuvered around all obstacles. Ron Infantino woke up in a chill, heart pounding, breath erratic. Bud's heroics were featured prominently a few days later in the Miami Herald. They were both 26 years old. They turned on the autopilot. "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. Lockheed L-1011 Landing Gear Lever |
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. . Bud saw bodies strapped into seats upside down in the water. Eight minutes earlier, 401 had been descending on its landing approach after an uneventful flight from New York. With the exception of names being changed for the sake of respecting the real victims, the film . Mom apparently worked closely with that flight attendant. He usually wrote UFO books, and was best known for The Interrupted Journey about the Betty and Barney Hill case. by Les Hewitt, March 2017 Updated July 2019. The captain, along with one of two flight crew members, two of 10 flight attendants, and 97 of 163 passengers, died; 75 . 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. A glance out a window, after all, would have shown nothing but the black Everglades below. We were like five bobbing bubble-head dolls because there were a lot - and I mean a lot - of other aircraft up in the air doing the same thing we set out to do. Anne Ponte 1/7/16
Eastern used the Bowmar/Calrod brand. A scene from the TV movie "The Crash of Flight 401" (1978), Eastern Airlines Flight 401: The Ghosts of Memories Past. Rose Lina Zollo 7/13/43. This crux of the story was completely made up out of whole cloth. The wreckage of Eastern Air Lines flight 401 lies in the Florida Everglades after the crash. Michael Ann Kaminer 12/28/45
Rosa Losano 11/1/01
Flight 401s chain of problems began on the approach to Florida two hours after departure. Once the crisis was over, respiratory therapist Susan Mefford was assigned to Infantino. Two passing pilots saw it and called the airport. Mr. Elder later became an Editor at the San Jose Mercury News. at Highland Cemetery in Deport, Texas. He can't remember anyone's name now. Old and sick now, he lives in near poverty on the edge of the Everglades. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute |
We've been married going on 18 years now." Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute. Another flight was being subjected to pre-flight checks when Bob Loft was spotted wandering around the undercarriage. No roar of unmuffled high-horsepower engines. "I still love to fly; I get on planes and fall asleep like a baby," jokes Raposa. No thanks Eastern Airlines Flight #401 (L1011 N310EA) . According to my late mother, she wanted to get back to flying, but she was petrified every time she heard jet noise. Rose Marie Cillis - Mark Paternoster May 15, 2021, 11:07 pm. Raposa popped the release buckle and fell into the marsh, landing on her hands and knees. "You couldn't even say goodbye to each . 1 of 37. Ghosts of Flight 401. She left Eastern and worked in the travel agency industry. That alone adds credibility to their accounts. Dunning, B. Then wham! 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. 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 . Flight 401 - First Response |
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. He'd launch his airboat at the Miccosukee Indian Reservation on the Tamiami Trail and race north into the river of grass. He'd cruise up on the frog, spear the frog with the 3-pronged gig, knock the frog off the gig into a sack, all the while moving forward in the airboat while getting ready to gig another frog. New York: Dial Press, 1980. Flight 401. Imagine his surprise when he came face to face with Don Repo. They headed for the flash. Several survivors tracked him down to thank him personally. A Web forum, Southern Airboat, which attracts thousands of worldwide participants, plans to take care of the repairs. 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. He needed a respiratory therapist -- who, it turned out, needed him, too. Two years after the crash, a book called The Ghost of Flight 401 was published, claiming that there were many reported sightings of the pilot, who had most likely accidentally switched off the autopilot, and the flight engineer, who had missed the warning chime because he left his seat to investigate the issue with the landing gear light. Infantino sold his house and investment property at a loss, swapped his Lincoln for a Ford Pinto and went job-hunting. He carried survivors to safety and made them as comfortable as he could. Some survivors recovered and adjusted better than others. Four years after the crash, there was no such thing as convenient access to the photos for the average person. Some would rather not remember. Eric Olson holding a piece of wreckage from Flight 401. Below is a list of those on board, according to family, friends or officials . About Flight 401 |
Below: The Casado family tour the crash site. 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 cruel facts of this disaster only reinforced my observation that you won't die unless it's your time to die. She was born on August 24, 1947, to Jefferson Truett Smith and S. Margeria Jeffus in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Jose Garcia 6/4/47
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