Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 departed New York for Miami on December 29, 1972. The Lockheed L-1011 crashed into the Florida Everglades. Both pilots and the flight engineer died, along with 2 out of 10 flight attendants and 96 of the 163 passengers on board. There were 75 survivors.
While the crew dealt with an inoperative landing gear indicator light, the plane’s auto-pilot was accidentally disconnected. Flight crew didn’t realize the plane was descending (“We’re still at 2000, right?”).
Most of the passengers who died in the crash were in the midsection of the aircraft. Crashing into the Everglades, much of the force of impact was absorbed and the mud from the swamp helped prevent injured passengers from bleeding out though it also caused infections in many of the survivors.
Equipment salvaged from the wreckage was reportedly used in other Eastern Air Lines L-1011 aircraft, and John Fuller’s 1976 book The Ghost of Flight 401 recounts stories of paranormal activity on board airframes that received those parts.
L-1011 N310EA Crashed Into The Florida Everglades, credit: Jon Proctor via Wikimedia Commons
According to lore, one flight was cancelled after the ghost of Captain Bob Loft appeared and disappeared in front a three members of the flight’s crew. Another flight’s captain reported seeing flight engineer Don Repo in his cockpit. Repo told him there would never be another crash of an L-1011. (This was not to be the case.) Repo was also reported spotted in the avionics bay of another L-1011 ,the same place he’d been – checking on the landing gear – when flight 401 went down.
A TV movie was made from the book in 1978, the full video of which is available online:
The ghosts of Eastern 401 were reportedly seen just a few years ago as well, so sightings certainly do continue.
The control column and yoke were reportedly later used in the L1011 flight simulator Eastern had. Also stories of haunting.
The December 29, 1972 crash of Eastern L1011 Flight 401 into the watery Florida Everglades. After the crash investigation review, the FAA stated that the flight crew had been distracted by some indicator lights that were not working properly. Along with the lights, the Captain had bumped the yoke, which disconnected the auto pilot. With the auto pilot disconnected, the Eastern 1011 crashed into the glades.
Paul Anderson History in Aviation:
Pratt & Whitney Aircraft East Hartford Conn.
Engineering Research & Development
Projects Development & Flight Certification Of The JT-9D Series of Engines
For The Boeing 747 Clipper Ship Young America
General Dynamics F-111 / The TF-30 Engine & After Burners
Pilot & A&E
A great book.
Is that normal? To salvage parts of a downed plane? Hey, this barf bag looks unused, that saves us $.02
Perhaps they meant never a crash of another ‘Eastern’ L-1011. I’m sure they (ghosts) weren’t concerned about Delta Dallas 1985.
People should stop using LSD.
The flight where the crew were so distracted they forgot to fly the aircraft, and over 100 people died. Had a similar situation myself at night in Africa but I flew the aircraft and an engineer on board tackled the nose gear problem successfully.
See “Did he say camels on the runway?” on Amazon books.