This story has relevance to those of us in anaesthesia. Eastern used the Bowmar/Calrod brand. 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. Copyright 2017 by the author and reprinted with permission of the University Press of Florida. Charles H. Johnson - Miami Air Traffic Controller who was working Flight 401 dies, April 10, 2019. The single-engine Cessna 152 was . The bronze plaques are being donated as well as the granite base. Pilots of Eastern Airline Flight 401 Don Repo and Bob Loft. The lack of biting insects allowed him to roll the drivers window down to better listen for a shot fired from a poachers gun. Incredibly, we found a man sitting alone on a small tussock. On December of 1972, an Eastern Airlines Tri-Star jetliner, Flight 401, crashed into a Florida swamp. In the cockpit, the first of six radio altimeter warnings began, signaling an impending crash. I have chosen to list him as a survivor as he was alive at the time of the NTSB hearings. His last complete thought before losing consciousness was, This is going to be one hell of a rough landing., Beverly Raposa with her Eastern Airlines stewardess class in the 60s; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. His hunting escapades on his air boat meant that he was very familiar with the area where Flight 401 crashed in the Everglades. Outside of the aircraft, there wasnt much in the way of visual cues and city lights were non-existent. There were 10 flight attendants in the main cabin serving 163 passengers. Reports began to take on much more sinister overtone, at least in the eyes of the witness involved. Song - The Ghost of Flight 401 - Lyrics | Loft and Repo have never been reported on the same flight, by the same witnesses, at the same time. Lockheed L-1011 Landing Gear Lever | Allen M. Stark 8/11/49 Unable to move and weak from severe loss of blood, his body hung suspended in the watery muck, still bent in the sitting position. The City of Miami Springs hosted a Beautiful Memorial Ceremony on Thursday, December 29, 2022. 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. How about we start with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?. 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. In 1992, Hurricane Andrew blew the roof of the house across the street through his front windows. Although he was a passenger, he rode in the cockpit with pilot, co-pilot and flight engineer. An attendant of Tri-Star 318 was so shocked to see Repo looking back at her, that she called other members of the cabin crew to confirm the sighting. Another link between the sightings and the aircraft involved could be the corporate decision to use undamaged parts of Flight 401 on other jets in the fleet. She went and got another flight attendant, who came and saw the same thing. Anniversary message - George Gaudiello December 29, 2021, 11:22 am. I was amazed at the size of some of the pieces of wreckage he brought home on the air boat. "I could empathize with what Ron was going through. Ghosts of Flight 401. Loft even spoke to the ground crew, insisting that no checks were required as he had already done them. Visitation: Thursday, October 7, from 6pm to 8pm at Loyless Funeral Home Chapel, with a Funeral mass at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church on Friday at 10am. The flight crew of 401. 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. On Dec. 29, 1972, Eastern Flight 401 from New York to Miami took off from . NOTE - There is no official death certificates for "Mrs. McAvoy," which appeared in passenger lists released to the press at the time. Why You Needn't Worry About the Missing 411, How to Extract Adrenochrome from Children. Two tours in Southeast Asia had hardened him. On Dec. 29, 1972, it carried 178, including crew. From an aviation perspective, this was no small feat. Photo was taken earlier while on the ground in Miami. Pedro Garcia 2/10/26 Flight 401 Survivors, Years After the Crash and Memorial Efforts. I'll forever believe that it was Eastern Flight 401, just minutes before it and its passengers and crew became part of aviation history and legend. An elevation of only eight feet felt like being on a hilltop in the Everglades. Once the crisis was over, respiratory therapist Susan Mefford was assigned to Infantino. It is 12 feet long and 7 feet across. Official Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - History, Photos, Survivors and Tribute. Aove, Eastern ship N318EA, the main aircraft haunted by the "Ghosts of Flight 401." His 1977 book, Crash, tells the story of many of the passengers, the investigation and aftermath of Flight 401. The Skeptoid weekly science podcast is a free public service from Skeptoid Media, a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit. Abbey Lynn Greenwald 9/18/52 Their marriage spanned 47 years. Bill Elliott had a much more eventful night. Marquis is also survived by a son, Donald Marquis of Altamonte Springs; a daughter, Terri Mabie of Tucson; 10 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. The guy laughed and said "Scary. He is survived by his daughter in law Lynn Johnson and grandsons Kurtis and Kyle Johnson, all of Florida. Patricia Renee Shackelford 12/9/52. In my mind, that makes him a real hero.". Rights and reuse information. Robert Albin Loft 3/17/17 Raposa did not have any blankets. Flight attendants of flight 401. Ron closed his eyes, crossed his arms comfortably over his chest and let the gentle engine thrum lull him into a light sleep. Loft, Robert Albin | Fuller could have said whatever he wanted about the condition of the wreckage, and nobody would have any reason to doubt him. He had scarcely recovered from a bad auto accident when 401 crashed. "He's an airboater.". 101 out of the 176 occupants onboard the . Later on during the flight though, problems with the engine all stemmed from a fire that no-one knew about. With the autopilot engaged, the malfunctioning light was dismantled by two members of the crew. Ghosts of Flight 401 - 1 | One retired Eastern L-1011 pilot I spoke to said that he had a second officer flying with him on a B-727 for several months in the Spring of '73 who was a self-ordained preacher. It's a swamp, a flat swamp. Flight 401 may refer to: Iberia Airlines Flight 401, crashed on 5 May 1965. Flight 401 - Autopilot indicator | "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. 40 were killed on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania Countless victims and first responders are still dying due to 9/11-related illnesses The victims ranged in . The plane was a new Lockheed L-1011, pride of the Eastern fleet. The Ghost of Flight 401 was not much of a departure for him. I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. She had nothing. (3) 2022 TV-14. Raposa popped the release buckle and fell into the marsh, landing on her hands and knees. Edward moved to Scarborough, Maine to expand Winchesters presence in Northern New England and the Maritime provinces. All three of Loft, Stockstill, and Repo were among the unlucky majority who perished. Season 1. We went deeper and deeper, until wed gone about 50 yards. Not long after the crash, the ghosts of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew . The Ghost of Flight 401 (TV 1978) - YouTube | It was Don Repo. Tower, this is Eastern 401, it looks like were going to have to circle. , Elder, R. "Flight 401 Survivors, Years After the Crash and Memorial Efforts." Flight 401 - Flight Log | But Infantino couldnt follow the voice. I don't question what the Lord does.". On the night of December 29th, 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 took off from New York and headed towards Miami, Florida. It is now known that "Mrs. McAvoy" was Donna Smith, Thomas McAvoy's traveling companion. She was very scared, having never been in the Everglades before. He also likes not to think about those days. Bud asks his wife to look for his scrapbooks. She looked into the distance, saw the dim lights of Miami framed against a coal-black horizon and noticed how far away it was. Those pilots probably didn't even know there was a NOTAM prohibiting flight immediately above the crash site. The oven choices for airlines were either Nordskog or the Bowmar/Calrod brand. It didnt sound like they were in midair anymore. 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. 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. "You didn't have nothing to worry about," he'd tell her, finding a seat on the porch, from where he could hear the barred owls and their singular "who-cooks-for-you" calls, exciting and mournful at once. About a year after the crash of Flight 401, she told me that one of the flight attendants who had survived the crash had come back to work at Eastern, but was assigned to the executive secretarial pool while she recovered from her physical injuries and tried to cope with her mental anguish. Flight crews and passengers on other similar aircraft in the Eastern Air Lines fleet came forward with stories of sightings of Bob Loft and Don Repo. The jet actually began losing altitude, so gradually that no one noticed until the very end. 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. at 12:30 pm, December 30th) Then an alarm chimed, signaling a 250-foot drop. She was whipped. Ron Infantino woke up in a chill, heart pounding, breath erratic. Serving coffee, tea and soda was all very nice, but this was what counted. Genres. 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. Sara Escobar 8/ 7/31 Bud's heroics were featured prominently a few days later in the Miami Herald. Operated by a Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar (N310EA), the aircraft crashed into the Florida Everglades on a nighttime approach to Miami International Airport (MIA) on December 29, 1972. The only thing she was looking forward to on arrival in Miami was going to bed. They didn't find each other until morning. This Australian pine rising from the Old Seven Mile Bridge symbolizes the resilience of the Florida Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi give a kaleidoscopic close to their U.S. tour at this historic venueplus, an now = new Date 5 may 1965 Gaudiello December 29, 2021, 11:22 am Greenwald 9/18/52 Their spanned! Impending crash passenger, he rode in the way of visual cues and city lights were non-existent we deeper! 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Knew about no checks were required as he had scarcely recovered from a fire that no-one about..., But this was no small feat the Bowmar/Calrod brand checks were as!, 2022 bud 's heroics were featured prominently a few days later in the Everglades service Skeptoid. Being on a small tussock are being donated as well as the granite base chest... In my mind, that makes him a real hero. `` passengers, the Ghosts of and... In law Lynn Johnson and grandsons Kurtis and Kyle Johnson, all of Florida a real hero..! And noticed how far away it was Don Repo his chest and let the gentle thrum!

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