flight 401 victims

Anyway, the statute of limitations has long since passed. Lilly leaned back in her seat, resting quietly. "There are is so much friction, so many arguments. The Skeptoid weekly science podcast is a free public service from Skeptoid Media, a 501(c)(3) educational nonprofit. victims, and the general public. at 12:30 pm, December 30th) Once you become stuck in the glades, you could be there for a long, long, time.. Bud saw bodies strapped into seats upside down in the water. They died. One day, late in 1973, I got a phone call from James telling me to come over to his house; he had something for me. Raposas survivors became upset. 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). So, being the thoughtful brother-in-law he was, unbeknownst to me he had collected some of the wreckage of Flight 401. The movie is fairly innacurate and over-dramitized. 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. At least he lives near his precious Everglades. The jet actually began losing altitude, so gradually that no one noticed until the very end. Beverly Raposa stumbled out of the nightmarish apocalypse, hurt, disheveled and covered in clumps of dripping swamp grasses. This photo taken in September 2009. Burning jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed through the swamp. It became his navigation beacon. FSF. It was shortly after the May 11, 1996 . Give or take a word, the announcement is remembered verbatim by virtually every survivor. (The largest L1011 operators then at MIA were Eastern Airlines and Delta Airlines, but I don't recall seeing any airline markings when the L1011 was overhead.) Ronald Jaye March 27, 1940 Wreckage from Eastern Airlines Flight 401 in the Everglades; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino, Buried up to his neck in freezing water and muck, completely naked except for the elastic rims of his socks, severely injured, shivering and in shock, Infantino feebly called into the night: Lilly, where are you? Tower, this is Eastern 401, it looks like were going to have to circle. Rosario Messina 2/29/26 Paranormal phenomena and bizarre oddities. 1972 was drawing to a close when a routine flight from JFK, New York to Miami departed at 9:20 p.m. with 30-year veteran pilot Captain Bob Loft at the controls. Jerrold Solomon, who had walked away from the crash unscathed, flew home to New York three days later. Susana Luna 8/29/29 But, to play it safe, she always wore an add-on hairpiece and teased her hair up into a bouffant to make herself look taller. Steve Shippy and Cindy Kaza team up to uncover the horrifying truth about the crash of Eastern Flight 401. According to my late mother, she wanted to get back to flying, but she was petrified every time she heard jet noise. Rosemary Mancuso 10/31/49 Sadly, she did not survive. He is survived by his daughter in law Lynn Johnson and grandsons Kurtis and Kyle Johnson, all of Florida. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashed into the Everglades on a moonless night on December 29, 1972. 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. Bernard A. Goldfuss 11/2/22 A Coast Guard helicopter flew toward them, sweeping the marsh with a bright searchlight, and then turned away. I do recall that some gremlins were on it though and they kept messing up my landing!!!!". It wouldn't take much.". Web. 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. "The three of us toast to life on that day every year.". By using this site, you agree to its use of cookies. He can't remember anyone's name now. * Glenn C. Remkus, 47, was still hospitalized in Miami with burns and two broken legs as of February 1973, though a newspaper report on Dec 31st had reported him to be in "satisfactory" condition and in "good spirits." Miguel Junco 8/28/42 Stewardess Beverly Raposa, then 25, noticed nothing unusual as the flight passed high over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Miami International Airport. 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. Afterward, folks hope to take the old man into the Everglades, in his own airboat, if he wants. It was a solemn and sobering return flight. The crash site of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 into the Florida Everglades on Dec. 29, 1972. "He was just a guy out there frogging and minding his own business who knew he had to help people in trouble. At first, witnesses reported nothing more severe than standing in the aisles, occupying the galley and cockpit. Fuller's book was soon made into a popular TV movie, also called The Ghost of Flight 401, notable for having creeped people out for years. 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. Luis Bancroft 10/10/48 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. The other house is gone; his still requires repairs. Two days later, Lilly Infantino was found trapped beneath one of the wings. There would be plenty of time for body recovery, Leonhard said. He also likes not to think about those days. The oven choices for airlines were either Nordskog or the Bowmar/Calrod brand. He looks at the photo of the primitive camp he built in the cypress trees so many years ago when he was young and strong and could hunt and gig frogs and look at the stars. (Deer in south Florida are almost anemic compared to deer in other parts of the country.) Photo credit: Don Boyd of Sun Bird Photos. This story has relevance to those of us in anaesthesia. The pilot of this flight was so unnerved by all of this that he canceled the flight. A jumbo jet crashed in the Everglades north of the Tamiami Trial, his sergeant said. His fishing and hunting skills helped put supper on the family table. In a weak voice, one of them asked, What about the alligators?, Raposa didnt hesitate: We made such a loud noise when we hit. 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. Meanwhile, 1,100 miles to the north, an Eastern Airlines jumbo jet lifted off in bitter cold weather from New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport. Thomas Ponte 10/24/11 Elder, R., Elder, S. Crash. 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. Charles Camichel 9/9/1899 (we assume this is the "C. Carmichael" on Fear of Landing. I saw a husband who couldn't find his wife or his children." I'd be able to do the right thing today.". 2017. Please email corrections, additions, photos or any other information you would like to have posted here. Like so many such cases, its exploitation of a tragedy for financial gain and publicity was disrespectful to both the victims and the survivors. It was broken in the crash and he avoids putting any strain on it -- good advice for anyone his age, 67. Mercy Ruiz, Cindy Kaza, Ron Infantino. A friend once warned him: "One day you'll work a plane crash out there." So far, the Board of Directors of the Curtiss Mansion has graciously given their approval to place the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 Memorial on it's grounds. We exited the area and returned to Opa locka Airport, but our conversations were subdued. . Have You Met Fred the Tree? Eastern Flight 401. Flight 401. He was out there gigging frogs when it happened. He was an aviation business student at Miami-Dade Community College then, and used some of his money to start a commuter airline. Patricia A. Ghyssels 3/31/45 101 out of the 176 occupants onboard the . The sightings apparently stopped once this was all done. She put in 11 more years with United before retiring. Above based on an article by Luisa Yanez, Copyright December 2007 The Miami Herald Media Company. . The NTSB also reported that 67passengers survived the carnage and 94 perished, as did two of the cabin crew. He likes to think about those days. Anniversary message - George Gaudiello December 29, 2021, 11:22 am. A fireman, panting from the exertion of wearing full bunker gear while breaking a trail through the dense vegetation of the swamp, shined his light on Infantino. Incredibly, we found a man sitting alone on a small tussock. It seemed to help. Above Left - Ron Infantino stands among survivors. He had scarcely recovered from a bad auto accident when 401 crashed. Stockstill began a turn to follow the airport's approach pattern, and immediately noticed their altitude but it was too late. There was a lot of activity on the ground, but we couldn't see much detail from 3,000 feet. The captain guessed, correctly, that the wheel was all right and the light bad, but he called off the landing and flew away from airport traffic to make sure -- a responsible decision, after which everything else went wrong. A light on the instrument panel the first officer was monitoring failed to illuminate green to confirm that the nose landing gear was extended and locked. He also ran his own gun store in Seymour, Conn. During this time, he divorced and later met Alexandra (Sandra) Burt. To me, it seemed as though the wreckage, still covered in Everglades muck and debris, was part of the humanity that had suffered because of that crash. Le dimanche 26 janvier 2020, l'hlicoptre Sikorsky S-76 de Kobe Bryant s'crase prs de Calabasas, en Californie (tats-Unis).Les neuf occupants de l'appareil sont tus sur le coup. Nobody, not the pilots nor passengers, knew anything was amiss. Mama, heat up the frying pan. The left wingtip hit first. Off I went to check with the FAA Flight Service Station. The warden noted nothing of interest. There was just one problem: Bob Loft had been dead for months. The left wingtip banked into the marsh at 227 miles per hour. Trudy Jean Smith, age 73, of Dallas, Georgia, formerly of Deport, Texas, died November 29, 2020. Renee Joaquin Albert 8/3/36 Obviously, I'm not a hunter, but I don't begrudge those who do hunt responsibly. Their marriage spanned 47 years. Sometimes, back when there were no cell phones or GPS electronics to help navigate, he'd get lost at night. The company folded in 1991 and is perhaps still better known for some of the more compelling and credible paranormal encounters to date. She had nothing. The landing gear from Flight 401 at the crash site; Photography courtesy Ron Infantino. Flight 401 - Possible Explanation | 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. New York: Dial Press, 1980. Sometime in midflight, passenger Ron Infantino switched seats with his wife, Lilly, after she returned from the bathroom. She had been recovering from a heartbreak of her own for a year and a half. The hours passed, and still no rescuers had arrived. He lost interest in his job and just wanted to be alone. the passenger manifest) 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 . I probably did too, I'm sure." I really do think I can gig some frogs if I had to.". Dunning, B. Now for the big decisions - who gets to ride with us? Interment will follow at 2pm at Florida National Cemetery. 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. 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. I dont know this for sure, but I seem to remember he was the last survivor rescued.. Jesus Lorenzo 4/26/37 On the night of Dec. 29, 1972, holiday parties were in full gear. Born in Arkansas, he grew up in South Florida when everybody seemed to be poor. "I couldn't understand why I lived and they didn't. Around 4:30 a.m., Leonhard waded up to a willow heada thick tangle of weepy trees with brittle limbs draping into the water. The haunted aircraft components that harbored the flight engineer's benevolent ghost entered the hall of fame of 1970s urban legends. Good for me! As you may know, the mansion is an historic landmark in Miami, located just north of the airport it served as the location of the NTSB hearings into the crash. Serling also tracked down the Mexico City emergency landing, and found, predictably, that there was no truth whatsoever to the story of a face appearing in an oven window. Below: Franklin and Anita Kent celebrate Franklin's pending release from Palm Springs hospital with some ice cream, on February 17, 1973 (W.O. However, the high point was the couple became engaged on the plane before takeoff. The reports were given by experienced and trustworthy pilots and crew. In the hospital, a nine-inch steel rod was inserted into the bone. Anne Ponte 1/7/16 This just the beginning. At the time, it was one of the worst civil aviation disasters the country had ever seen. His left knee was dislocated, wrenched sideways at a vicious right angle. Flight attendants of flight 401. Captain Bob Loft was also seen on a few occasions, but never as often as Repo. May Albury, Verena Bieri, Carl Bolufe, Rigoberto Bolufe, Sandra Burt, Gustavo Cassado, Mrs Xeimara Casado, Miss Christina Casado, Ann Connell, Barry Connell, 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, Allen Weiss, Lorenzo Zetlin. 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. The Everglades is flat, covered with tall saw grass and immersed in water that ranges from a few inches deep to three to four feet deep in some areas. We dont have a light on our nose gear yet.. Christina (center) was two-months-old at the time of the crash, making her the youngest survivor . Some survivors recovered and adjusted better than others. Ron Infantino woke up in a chill, heart pounding, breath erratic. Officially, 103 passengers and crew died. I don't recall any large scorched patches of saw grass, but I remember a few small burned areas. Clutching his walking stick, Bud shuffles past a mango tree into the backyard. The crew did finally notice the situation taking place, but nowhere near in time to prevent the inevitable. "Hey! The image of Repo said "Watch out for fire on this airplane," and then disappeared. On Dec. 29, 1972, it carried 178, including crew. The unexpected facts behind this famous ghost story from the 1970s. It marked the 50th anniversary of the Eastern Airlines Flight 401 disaster. "He's an airboater.". This quote, which was obviously a joke, was presented in the Ghost of Flight 401 as fact. I was tired and hit the sack as soon as I got home. He ended up making numerous trips out to the levee where the rescue operation base was located. Eastern 401, pull up, climb straight ahead to 2,000, go back to approach control, the tower advised. Loose chunks of lime rock cracked and popped under the tires as he crawled ahead. I was too young for that kind of stuff. They claimed that the deceaseds name was being used for the commercial purpose of selling books about the fatal crash (and a movie based on the book) by referring to the decedent as a reappearing ghost. The family lost the suit, and subsequent appeals. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. A Military Burial with Honors will be held at a later date, at South Florida National Cemetery, Lake Worth, Florida. The wheels were down, locked in position for landing, but the pilot wasn't sure about the forward wheel under the plane's nose. Dennis Gordon 12/9/32 Surprisingly, he found that there were large pieces of wreckage still out in the glades. Some believethat Eastern Air Lines cannibalized and reused pieces of the wreckage in other airliners. It was closing in on midnight on Dec. 29, 1972. It took a while, but the female passenger eventually calmed down. Rob and Sarah Elder, 20 Aug. 2010. Skeptoid Podcast 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. The old airboat, the airboat in which he carried injured passengers, waits on a rusty trailer with flat tires. I tried to keep hold of myself by showing up at work, but I couldn't concentrate.". Later on during the flight though, problems with the engine all stemmed from a fire that no-one knew about. Patricia Renee Shackelford 12/9/52. Raposa sensed a different tone in the engines. Pin. He saw mangled bodies and heard the pitiful moans of the dying. According to all present, Repo then warned them about a fire on board. No thanks A Florida plane crash scene became even more disturbing when an alligator was spotted devouring the victim's body. The Senior Architecture Analyst provides architecture . Repo seemed to have a knack of turning up in the oddest of places. He found one, selling $500 vacuum cleaners in Tampa. Now 41, he lives alone in Titusville, on a disability pension. Obviously, this is a red flag waving at us vigorously that we should be sure to take this tale with several good grains of salt. Roberto Palma 6/10/27 Wrong. Jonathan Adam Kaminer 8/22/70 Today, she still has the small, Eastern Airlines-issued cream-colored suitcase she carried the night of the crash. Donadeo, an Eastern Airlines technical specialist on L-1011 aircraft, was returning to Miami that night from a trouble- shooting assignment in New York. I was then almost 26 years old and had recently graduated from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton. Leonhard hit the gas as he toggled on the blue light and siren. Alina Junco 5/2/44 It seemed to be miles off course. Yetta Cohn 3/17/16 If you hear my voice, come toward me. That was the first time I had heard of the crash. Flight 401 flew into the ground on Friday night, Dec. 29, 1972, at 13 seconds past 11:42 p.m. Sir, dont worry, he said. "I think I can still do it. I should add that Dorothy R. Loft and her two children, Kimberly and Robert, Jr sued Fuller for invasion of privacy over the book . Ever the good Catholic, she crossed herself in the dark and silently prayed, Oh God, please let that be true.. FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. Forty years have passed since Eastern Flight 401 slammed down in the Everglades, yet no memorial has been raised to remember the 101 people who perished that night. Riding with him were two Federal Aviation Administration officials. Rochelle Rubin 1/5/48 (she was the first victim discovered by the search team Muriel J. Ames 11/30/40 Leonhard doesnt remember which one. One curious aspect of these sightings is that people always saw one or the other. At some point the captain inadvertently bumped the control wheel, knocking the autopilot partially off. For a minute I thought [Don] Repo's ghost was on the plane.". He'd stay calm, look at the stars for direction, think things through, then crank up the airboat engine and find his way back to the Tamiami Trail. Above (L to R): Martin Siminerio in hospital, two file photos from the Miami Herald of survivor Xiomara Casada at Palmetto General with her infant, Christina, in a Miami hospital. "Then I saw this great big fireball and the whole 'glades lit up. With determination born of her Portuguese grandparents work ethic and her work on a 160-acre dairy farm as a young girl growing up in Rhode Island, the former Girl Scout troop leader shouted, Im a stewardess. The Ghost of Flight 401: Mystery Files | Eugene Schenker 6/24/30 Several survivors tracked him down to thank him personally. Soon after, ghosts from Flight 401 began to haunt the land and other airplanes. "He swore that Frank Borman had paid him to come to Miami and perform an exorcism on #318. N310EA (193A-1011), the plane that was designated as Flight 401 when it crashed. Back in the day, when he spent so much time in the wilderness, only the airplanes overhead reminded him of civilization. According to the National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ), the main fuselage broke into four main sections and many other smaller pieces on impact. 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. After a few minutes they saw the lights of rescue helicopters, circling, searching, much too far east and south. Still, $50,000 will have to be raised in order to erect the memorial. This is a story about how a burnt out light bulb led to a major aviation disaster. I come from an Eastern family - my mother, Betty Olson, retired from Eastern in 1976. This show is made possible by financial support from listeners like you. That's why Hansel wanted me to fly; it would be my license that got revoked if we got caught, not his! Photo was taken earlier while on the ground in Miami. One was Micale, who they found alone on a clump of swamp muck, drenched in swamp water and jet fuel. One of the flight attendants happened to glance at the window of an oven in the galley, and saw the face of a man looking back at her! A mass of interesting testimony was produced as a result. His wife Nancy - they married when she was 15 - could always tell when it was on his mind, though. It didnt sound like they were in midair anymore. Eastern's L-1011's came equipped with six Bowmar ovens (Lockheed Part Number 671878-115). It was Don Repo. The wreckage of Eastern Air Lines flight 401 lies in the Florida Everglades after the crash. The next morning, as was my usual Saturday routine, I drove to the Sun Flying club timing it to arrive at approximately 11am. Stefan Jay Rubin 3/21/49. Three women on the jetliner's tail, about 20 feet above the water, begged Bud to save them. We also offer excellent benefits and perks, including medical, dental, vision, a 401(k)-retirement plan, holiday pay, paid time off . ATC put the plane into a holding pattern over the Everglades. Each year on December 29th, I spend a little time thinking about that silhouetted L1011 heading west over Opa locka Airport. If this was true, then perhaps they recycled more than just aircraft parts. Flipping through the pages, Bud smiles for the first time in hours. They also told me that Bill had been called shortly after he got home by the police department helicopter unit to come back to the airport (the police helicopter unit was based at Opa locka) for emergency flight duty. He sold 13 in a month. Later, a Coast Guardsman told him theyd found a determined flight attendant standing atop a large section of cabin wreckage, leading a half dozen of the fortunate in song. It crashed water and jet fuel engulfed the aircraft as it plowed the! Aircraft parts airplanes overhead reminded him of civilization gig some frogs if had... Atc put the plane. `` saw the lights of rescue helicopters, circling, searching, much too east..., begged Bud to save them Cindy Kaza team up to a aviation! One was Micale, who had walked away from the crash site of Air. Of Florida put in 11 more years with United before retiring, which was Obviously a joke, presented! Taking place, but I remember a few occasions, but never as often as Repo Obviously joke! 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