An Eastern Airlines jet heading from New York to Miami crashed in the Everglades 50 years ago. One minute, he was resting in his seat with his arms folded. All the survivors were injured; 60 received serious injuries and 17 suffered minor injuries that did not require . It happened 40 years ago today on a cold dark night in the Everglades, a brand new "Whisperliner" jumbo jet . I have a beautiful family, and I got my wings back, and I just keep moving forward, said McQuigg. The crew had previously been encouraged to report every incident pertaining to the flight in the aircraft log books, and many sightings were recorded. Passengers, cabin crew, Pilots, Flight Engineers, even top airline executives, all claimed to have seen 'something' while travelling on some Eastern Airlines aircraft. And then it was like being in a tornado, I was in the tail and we were rotating, said Beverly Raposa, a flight attendant. But now, they still have to survive in the vast darkness of the gator infested Everglades. The crash changed the course of the aviation industry through new safety measures that require pilots to maintain communication with the cabin crew and require flight attendants to carry larger flashlights. It's certainly not a ten. Flight Capt. It was time to leave as each of us will do. READ MORE: An Eastern plane crashed into the Everglades in 1972. If were a little late, its overtime.. According to DeWitt, the monument also represents how through a terrible tragedy in Flight 401, the industry eventually put safety first in many ways.. ", But he was worried about Lilly. Photo: Jon Proctor Collection. Who could this have been? "I'm no doctor. The Story Of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, took a look at the eight most intriguing examples. Raposa, who now lives in Broward County, studied to become a flight attendant just steps away from the memorial site. The official cause of the crash was pilot error, the crew being distracted by a faulty nose gear indicator . I put the sweater around me under the water. His knee was badly dislocated, his shin able to swivel in any direction. Later, he recognized that the pilot he'd been speaking to was, in fact, Bob. / CBS Miami. Then he noticed that the pilot did a fly-by the airport. All Rights Reserved , Southwest Pilots Association President Calls for Strike Vote, Iberia, TAG Airlines to Start Codeshare Agreement, Delta Air Lines Firms Order for 12 Additional A220s, Lufthansa Submits Offer to Acquire a Stake in ITA Airways, Airways Top 10 Never-built Commercial Aircraft, 12/11/1996: Oasis International Airlines Ceases Operations, Air Baltic Becomes First European Airline to Offer, Emirates Returns First Refurbished A380 to Service, FAA Issues National Ground Stop for Florida Airports. On another day, a crew was in the cockpit of an aircraft when they were said to have seen Don sitting with them. Hardly anyone has stopped by in 35 years to discuss the crash. Aboard were 13 crew members and 163 holiday travelers. Eastern Air Lines flight 401 encountered no problems while cruising between the two cities. Eastern Airlines, mistakenly believing they . The two girls in the photograph that are having the bunny ears (Patricia Ghyssels) and the one jokingly being choked (Stephanie Stanich) were the only two flight attendants who did . After placing a seat cushion under Ruizs head, Raposa left to search for other survivors. He read a poem in her honor from her perspective as if she were speaking to him from the heavens above. Sometimes, it doesnt seem like 50 years.. Her message on life: Never take anything for granted. Oh, Mercy, stop complaining, Ghyssels responded. It happened just west of Miami International Airport. "I said, 'Oh my god we crashed, we crashed.' Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 traveled from New York to Miami. . The flight path of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 in its final moments. On duty that day was also Stephanie Stanich, Trudy Smith, Sharon Transue, Beverly Rapoza and Dorothy Warnock. Anyone wishing to donate can write a check payable to the National Air Disaster Foundation or donate online. Less pool space. Infantino served in Vietnam, but it was this flight, not war that brought him closest to death. And then it was complete silence and I thought I was the only one alive.". Patricia McQuigg, Beverly Raposa, and Mercy Ruiz joined Infantino this week at a program to teach airline experts and passengers the lessons learned from a dark night in the Everglades. Literally you were inside a tornado.". As you might expect, she later picked from some photos that Don was the engineer she had seen. A look at some of the strange tales that emerged after the accident. At 7:45 p.m. on December 29 that year, an Eastern Air Lines jet out of Tampa, Fla. arrived at Kennedy Airport, one of the airline's hubs, for routine maintenance. ads@MiamiSprings.com. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was on its final approach into Miami shortly before midnight 50 years ago this month when a single light bulb on the aircraft's instrument panel failed to illuminate. The plane was crossing over the Everglades on Dec. 29, 1972, when she turned to fellow flight attendant Stephanie Stanich. A keen amateur photographer, he also recently reached the milestone of flying his 100th sector as a passenger. In the 1970's, tales of such ghostly apparitions flew around the USA and the airline world. With William Shatner, Adrienne Barbeau, Brooke Bundy, Christopher Connelly. How could this have happened? Almost 40 years ago, Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed. "My god, you're here, please don't leave me," he remembers telling them. Survivors - Crew and Eastern Employees. Naked in the cold water, surrounded by tall sawgrass, he heard an airboat. But it also crept into popular culture through . It also marked the first the first jumbo jet to crash. The plane plunged into the Everglades after taking off from the Miami airport. In the cockpit: Capt. Why? The flight attendants' reports after the accident helped to change safety equipment onboard, including the use of shoulder harnesses on all jump seats, which was not the case at the time. Raposa was one of 75 survivors. And he said the disaster taught him something about life. Beverly had gathered survivors together, seating them back to back to stay warm. Another time, a captain was asked to check on a passenger in first class who was in a pilot's uniform. "The autopsy was drowning. We just hit,' she said. Omar is a bilingual and bicultural journalist, covering breaking news in South Florida for the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. He opened the trap door to see a vision of Don looking at him, which then promptly disappeared. The answer was fine, but unfortunately the controller didn't specifically mention the altitude so no one was the wiser. The aircraft operating the route, a Lockheed L1011-385-1 Tristar crashed into the Florida Everglades, resulting in 101 fatalities. Throughout the course of aviation history, there have been several other ghost stories. /24-7PressRelease/ - MIAMI, FL, December 07, 2007 - On Monday, December 3, 2007 survivors of Eastern Airlines Flight 401, gathered at the Metro-Dade Firefighters Memorial Building, in Doral (Miami), Florida, to remember the 101 passengers and crew, who lost their lives in the fateful crash of a Lockheed L-1011, jumbo-jet in the Florida Everglades, December 29, 1972, while en route from New . She heard the cries of people and shouted, 'Follow my voice, I am a flight attendant' so that any surviving passengers could find her. He held out hope that his wife had survived another patient with their last name was admitted to a hospital in Florida. A desperate search and rescue effort began almost immediately. Raposa said a turning point came when supporter Shannon DeWitt offered to help coordinate fundraising and construction efforts for a monument, a pivot from the original idea of a tribute. . The other 101 people on Eastern Airlines Flight 401 died quite horribly 98 in the Everglades where the airplane crashed, three later in hospitals. All are South Florida survivors of the crash of Eastern Flight #401 now trying . The flight attendants who perished on the flight are: Patricia A. Ghyssels; Stephanie Rae Stanich; Eastern Airlines Flight EA401 Memorial in Miami Springs honors the 101 souls who perished on December 29, 1972 SURVIVORS OF EASTERN AIRLINES FLIGHT 401. "It was almost five hours before they even found me, five hours in the same spot, the same spot, I couldn't move, I couldn't get up," he said. . Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today. One of the worst air disasters in South Florida history happened exactly 50 years ago Thursday, when Eastern Airlines Flight 401 slammed into the Florida Everglades, killing more than 100 people . The event, which will begin at 1 p.m., is open to the public. Fortunately, there were 75 survivors during that horrible tragedy of late 1972. Ruiz continued her career as a flight attendant, flying for both EA and United (UA) in the years following Flight 401. Miami, Florida Dec 10, 2022 (Issuewire.com) - Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was on its final approach into Miami shortly before midnight 50 years ago this month when a single light bulb on the aircraft's instrument panel failed to illuminate.Momentarily distracted, the flight crew failed to notice as the Lockheed L-1011 slowly dropped from the sky and into the blackness of the Everglades below. "The priest came over and asked me what my religion was," he remembers. However, she explained that it was huge and funds were just not raised for that, and we talked about maybe three to four years ago about maybe doing something smaller.. He had 8,876 flight hours, including 3,856 hours on the DC-9. Mercedes was thrown from the aircraft, still trapped in her jump seat with injuries to her head and a broken pelvis. 255153N 803543W. "It was beautiful," said Infantino said of the jet. On the returning flight, an engine failed and had to be shut down before it caught fire. And then she started walking away, trying to help people. Had we had flashlights that night, Ruiz continued, every person that was ambulatory could have helped. Flashlights eventually came to flight attendant crew stations ten years after the crash. She came across a woman who found an 11-month-old baby as she scouted the wreckage for her son. Love aviation history? All rights reserved, WATCH LIVE: Small Plane Makes Emergency Landing on Roadway in Western Broward. The lights of Miami vanished behind them. While the crash has inspired two feature-length movies and numerous documentaries and training films, there is no permanent memorial for Eastern Flight 401. This month represents the 50th anniversary of the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, which crashed into the Florida Everglades in December 1972. On Dec. 29, theyll unveil a memorial in Miami Springs to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Eastern crash. He was so weak that doctors opted to operate without anesthesia. Dedication of a Memorial Monument for the 50th Anniversary of Eastern Flight 401. "I asked, 'Where's my wife?' Beverly attended to the injured and calmed any survivors she found. and they said, 'I'm sorry, sir, we don't know.'". Looking back, Ruiz, now 78, who worked at Eastern until the company stopped flying in 1991, sees signs in the events of Dec. 29, 1972. He had bad sawgrass cuts all over his face. Ann Connell, Barry Connell, Angelo Donadeo, Patricia R Georgia, Adrianne Ann Hamilton, Jennifer Larsen, Thomas Mulcahy, Mercedes V Ruiz, Beverly Jean Raposa, Trudy J Smith, Sue F. Tibbs, Sharon R Transue, Dorothy M Warnock. He warned them of a faulty electrical circuit, which was then found and replaced. "They were incredible," says Infantino. In a June 1973 report NTSB investigators said it was possible that the altitude hold function on the autopilot was accidentally disengaged, causing the plane to gradually descend from the 2,000-foot altitude. Amid the confusion, the distracted crew didnt notice the auto pilot button was switched off. 401 JFK-MIA Dec. 29, 1972. His right arm was nearly severed, his left knee broken, his chest crushed. Afterward, folks hope to take the old man into the . Before ValuJet there was Eastern Flight 401. "They put me in a helicopter and I'll never forget they gave me a warm blanket," he said. Then came the final and fatal mistake. He wasnt rescued until four or five hours later, he remembers reading in his hospital records. Miami, Florida: Bankrupt Eastern Airlines Jets On The Ground. The crash was a result of the flight crew's failure to recognize a deactivation of the autopilot during their attempt . According to George Rodez who will be hosting a special event at the History Miami Museum, . The couple was returning to Miami from their honeymoon when the unspeakable happened. Shelley and Steve Rubin and their unborn baby boy - Sandy Shapiro December 30, 2020 . Raposa, 25, had noticed something strange. The aircraft was a Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar traveling from New York to Miami. Pin. I say, 'Calm down, Ron, what number is this? Nichole Shackleford, 53, was just 3 years old when she lost her mother, passenger Patricia Renee Shackleford, 20, in the crash. "We did something to the altitude," he said. They didn't find her body until two days later," he said. 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