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Eastern Air Lines Flight 401

CG render of N310EA as it enters the swamp
Accident summary
Date	December 29, 1972
Type	Pilot error/Controlled Flight Into Terrain
Site	Florida Everglades
Passengers	163
Crew	13
Injuries	75
Fatalities	101
Survivors	75 (77 initially, 2 later died)
Aircraft type	Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1
Operator	Eastern Air Lines
Tail number	N310EA
Flight origin	John F. Kennedy International Airport
Destination	Miami International Airport

Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011 jet that crashed into the Florida Everglades on the night of December 29, 1972, causing 101 fatalities (77 initial crash survivors, two died shortly afterward). The crash was a result of the flight crew's failure to monitor the flight instruments during a malfunction of the landing gear position indicator system. It was the first crash of a wide-body aircraft in the US, and, at the time, the deadliest crash in the United States.^[1] It is also known for reported paranormal activities, supposedly stemming from the salvage of aircraft parts; Eastern Airlines later removed the Flight 401 parts.^[1]

Crash

The airliner's path, as shown in the NTSB report

Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, operated by a four-month-old Lockheed L-1011 carrying 163 passengers and 13 crewmembers, left New York's JFK on Friday, December 29, 1972 at 9:20 pm, en route to Miami International Airport. The flight was under the command of Captain Robert Loft, 55, a veteran Eastern Air Lines pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern. His flight crew included First Officer Albert Stockstill and Second Officer (flight engineer) Donald Repo.

The flight was routine until 11:32 pm, when the flight began its approach into Miami International Airport. After lowering the gear, First Officer Stockstill noticed that the landing gear indicator, a green light identifying that the nose gear is properly locked in the "down" position, did not illuminate. The cause, discovered after much investigation, was due to a burned-out lightbulb. The landing gear could have been manually lowered either way. The pilots cycled the landing gear but still failed to get the confirmation light.

Loft, who was working the radio during this leg of the flight, told the tower that they would abort their landing and asked for instructions to circle the airport. The tower cleared the flight to pull out of its descent, climb to two thousand feet (610 m), and then fly west over the darkness of the Everglades.

The cockpit crew removed the light assembly and the flight engineer, Don Repo, was dispatched into the avionics bay beneath the flight deck to check visually if the gear was down through a small viewing window. Fifty seconds after reaching their assigned altitude, the captain, Robert Loft, instructed Stockstill to put the L-1011 on autopilot. For the next eighty seconds the plane maintained level flight. Then it dropped one hundred feet (30 m), and then again flew level for two more minutes, after which it began a descent so gradual it could not be perceived by the crew. In the next seventy seconds, the plane lost only 250 feet (76 m), but this was enough to trigger the altitude warning C-chord chime located under the engineer's workstation. The engineer, Don Repo, had gone below, and there was no indication by the pilot's voices recorded on the CVR that they heard the chime. In another fifty seconds, the plane was at half its assigned altitude.

As Stockstill started another turn, onto 180 degrees, he noticed the discrepancy.

The airplane crashed at 25°51′53″N 80°35′43″W / 25.86472°N 80.59528°W / 25.86472; -80.59528Coordinates: 25°51′53″N 80°35′43″W / 25.86472°N 80.59528°W / 25.86472; -80.59528. The location was west-northwest of Miami, 18.7 miles (30.1 km) from the end of runway Eight Left (8L). The plane was traveling at 227 miles per hour when it flew into the ground. The left wingtip hit first, then the left engine and the left landing gear, making three trails through the sawgrass, each five feet wide and more than 100 feet (30 m) long. When the main part of the fuselage hit the ground it continued to move through the grass and water, breaking up as it went.

Rescue

Robert "Bud" Marquis, an airboat pilot, was out frog gigging with Ray Dickinsin when they witnessed the crash. They rushed in to rescue survivors. Marquis received burns to his face, arms and legs, but continued shuttling people into and out of the crash site that night and the next day. For his efforts, he received the Humanitarian Award from the National Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation and the "Alumitec – Airboat Hero Award", from the American Airboat Search and Rescue Association. In 2007, the Homestead, Florida resident was given an award plaque.^[2] He died on November 21, 2008, from complications stemming from injuries he sustained in a fall a month earlier.^[3]

In all, 69 of the 163 passengers and 8 of the 13 crew survived the crash, with 99 initial fatalities.^[4] Two of the rescued survivors, Robert Loft and Don Repo, survived the initial crash but later died from their injuries, bringing the accident's death toll to 101. The swamp absorbed much of the energy of the crash, lessening the impact on the aircraft. The swamp itself saved many lives as mud blocked many wounds sustained by survivors, preventing them from bleeding to death. However, it also complicated the survivors' recuperation, as organisms in the swamp caused infection, with the potential for gas gangrene. Eight passengers became infected; doctors used hyperbaric chambers to treat the passengers and kill the infections.^[1] All of the survivors were injured; 16 received minor injuries and did not require hospitalization. The most common injuries were fractures of ribs, spines, pelvises, and lower extremities. 14 survivors had various degrees of burns. The NTSB classified the injuries of one non-revenue passenger and one other passenger as nonfatal as their deaths occurred more than 7 days after the accident, so it has 99 as the death count in the final accident report.^[5]

Cause of the crash

The NTSB investigation discovered that the autopilot had been inadvertently switched from altitude hold to CWS (Control Wheel Steering) mode in pitch. In this mode once the pilot releases pressure on the yoke the autopilot will maintain the pitch attitude selected by the pilot until he moves the yoke again. Investigators believe the autopilot switched modes when the captain accidentally leaned against the yoke while turning to speak to the flight engineer, who was sitting behind and to the right of him. The slight forward pressure on the stick would have caused the aircraft to enter a slow descent, maintained by the CWS system.

Investigation into the aircraft's autopilot showed that the force required to switch to CWS mode was different between the A and B channels (15 vs 20 pounds respectively). Thus it was possible that the switching to CWS in channel A did not occur in channel B thus depriving the First Officer of any indication the mode had changed (Channel A provides the Captain's instruments with data, whilst channel B provides the First Officer's).^[6]

After descending 250 feet from the selected altitude of 2000 feet a C-chord sounded from the rear speaker. This altitude alert, designed to warn the pilots of an inadvertent deviation from the selected altitude, went unnoticed by the fatigued and frustrated crew. Investigators believe this was due to the crew being distracted by the nose gear light, and because the flight engineer was not in his seat when it sounded and so would not have been able to hear it. Visually, since it was nighttime and the aircraft was flying over the darkened terrain of the Everglades, there were no ground lights or other visual indications that the TriStar was slowly descending into the swamp. It was also discovered that Captain Loft had an undetected tumor in his brain, although this was later found to be in an area controlling vision.^[1]

The final NTSB report cited the cause of the crash as pilot error, specifically: "the failure of the flight crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final four minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed."

Portions of the aircraft were discovered at the crash site in September 2009 by members of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 Tribute Group.^[7]

The Ghosts of Flight 401

The story of the crash and its aftermath was documented in John G. Fuller's book The Ghost of Flight 401 (ISBN 0-425-06234-1).

Over the following months and years, employees of Eastern Air Lines began reporting sightings of the dead crew members on board another L-1011 (N318EA). The story was that parts of Flight 401 were salvaged after the crash investigation and refitted into the other L-1011. "Sightings" of the spirits of Don Repo and Bob Loft spread throughout Eastern Air Lines to the point where Eastern's management warned employees that they could face dismissal if caught spreading ghost stories. Eastern Air Lines CEO Frank Borman called it "garbage" and considered suing the producers of the 1978 made-for-TV movie The Ghost of Flight 401 for libel.

Musician Bob Welch recorded a song on his 1979 album Three Hearts titled "The Ghost of Flight 401."

The crash inspired two made-for-television movies. Crash of Flight 401, based on Rob and Sarah Elder's 1977 book detailing the incident, dramatized the crash, rescue efforts and NTSB investigation, while The Ghost of Flight 401 was based on Fuller's book. The crash also appeared in a Season 5 episode of Mayday (also known as Air Crash Investigation). The episode was entitled "Who's at the Controls?" (or "Fatal Distraction" in some countries). The "Ghost of 401" is referenced in Season 1, episode 4 of the television series Supernatural after a plane crashes under paranormal circumstances.

The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar aircraft involved in the accident (N310EA) was damaged beyond repair and was written off.^[8]

See also

• Scandinavian Airlines Flight 933
• United Airlines Flight 173
• Aeroflot Flight 593
• ValuJet Flight 592
• Controlled Flight Into Terrain
• Terrain awareness and warning system
• Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners

References

• Air Disaster Volume 1, Macarthur Job, ISBN 1-875671-11-0, p98-101
• Crash, Rob and Sarah Elder, 1977, Atheneum, New York ISBN 0-689-107587
• From the Captain to the Colonel: An Informal History of Eastern Airlines, Robert J. Serling, Doubleday 1980, ISBN 0-38527047X

External links

• NTSB Summary
• Flight 401 Survivors
• Flight 401 Survivors Tribute Fund
• The Black Box Story of Eastern Flight 401
• CVR transcript
• The Crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401
• Multimedia presentation on flight 401
• Crash at the Internet Movie Database
• The Ghost of Flight 401 at the Internet Movie Database

← 1971 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1972 1973→ JAT Yugoslav Flight 367 (January 26) — Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 (March 3) — EgyptAir Flight 763 (March 19) — Alitalia Flight 112 (May 5) — Delta Air Lines Flight 9570 (May 30) — American Airlines Flight 96 (June 12) — Cathay Pacific Flight 700Z (June 15) — British European Airways Flight 548 (June 18) — Prinair Flight 191 (June 24) — Japan Airlines Flight 472 (September 24) — Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 (October 13) — United Airlines Flight 553 (December 8) — Braathens Flight 239 (December 23) — Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (December 29) Bold blue indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths — Red indicates the deadliest incident in 1972