Now you can see the construction of the new pool with your own eyes. Beverly replied, 'No Mercy, we're down.' ads@MiamiSprings.com. The investigation into the crash took months. . There has not been one day in the last 50 years that they havent been in my heart and that I havent wanted to make sure that I kept my promise to them. Here today, we hope that everyone, myself included, will find peace with this memorial monument.. The crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401, along with other major air disasters around the same time, eventually led to a number of aircraft safety enhancements, including crew resource management, which has procedures for decision making in cockpits to try to eliminate human error. Pin. Mercedes was thrown from the aircraft, still trapped in her jump seat with injuries to her head and a broken pelvis. . Flashlights also became a standard piece of safety equipment at each jump seat. Today's story is one of tragedy, of course, but it's also one of heroism and bravery. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011-1 Tristar jet that crashed into the Florida Everglades at 11:42 pm December 29, 1972, causing 101 fatalities (99 initial crash fatalities, two died shortly afterward). The watercraft can easily traverse the swampy conditions of the Everglades and played an integral role in the rescue efforts that followed the crash. The plane descended out of the sky as pilots were distracted over a landing gear warning light. The couple was returning to Miami from their honeymoon when the unspeakable happened. The appearance of the dead flight engineer () was confirmed by the flight engineer." And then it was like being in a tornado, I was in the tail and we were rotating, said Beverly Raposa, a flight attendant. After donating, please email the NADF Executive Director, Gail Dunhan so that she can send you an acknowledgement of your tax deductible donation. 2022 Miami Herald. We're trying to build a memorial out there to try to honor that not only the survivals but the ones who died, ron One minute, he was resting in his seat with his arms folded. Wow, what an experience that was. Flight attendants Mercedes Ruiz and Patricia McQuigg were working at the rear of the aircraft. MIAMI - Survivors and families are remembering the 101 souls who were killed 50 years ago when Eastern Flight 401 crashed into the Everglades. Pieces of the aircraft scattered across the sawgrass. and they said, 'I'm sorry, sir, we don't know.'". Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a Lockheed L10111 Tristar jet that crashed into the Florida Everglades at 1142pm December 29, 1972, causing 101 fatalities (99 initial crash fatalities, two died shortly afterward). READ MORE: The day when an Eastern Airlines jet crashed into the Florida Everglades. The crash spawned a number of books, films and other media, along with legends of ghost signtings involving crew members who were killed. Survivors and families are remembering the 101 souls who were killed 50 years ago when Eastern Flight 401 crashed into the Everglades. The left wing tip hit first. I don't think so we have no control over our destiny.". Get the latest aviation news straight to your inbox: Sign up for our newsletters today. Miami, Florida: Bankrupt Eastern Airlines Jets On The Ground. Beverly attended to the injured and calmed any survivors she found. Both pilots and the flight engineer died, along with 2 out of 10 flight attendants and 96 of the 163 passengers on board. By the time they did, it was already too late to recover. Photo: Jon Proctor Collection. The jumbo jet had been making a late evening flight from New York to Miami. Survivors now have a message, It gives me and my fellow surviving passengers, crew members and family members of loved ones who perished a time to all come together and remember them since we never had a chance to say goodbye, Raposa said. "We don't have a home of our own to call our own, 401 doesn't," he said. They were surprised to hear the sound of singing in the darkness. The flight started in New York. 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. So when Im stuck in traffic, I say, Ron, What number is this? . In one of South Florida's worst air disasters, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 from New York's JFK Airport to Miami crashed on Dec. 29, 1972, in the Everglades after the crew became distracted by a burned out landing-gear light. A well-known fatal accident recounted from surviving cabin crew. He would later learn the voice came from flight attendant Beverly Raposa, who would later lead survivors in Christmas carols to try to keep their spirits up in the cold night. Eventually, all of the salvaged parts were removed from aircraft, and neither Bob nor Don were ever seen again. READ MORE: Eastern Flight 401 introduced new safety measures and books, movies and ghost stories. Then came the final and fatal mistake. The crash killed 101 people, including Stanich. I said, 'I know what you're going through because I lost somebody too.' 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.. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 was on its way from New York to Miami on December 29th, 1972, with 13 crew and 163 passengers onboard. He was flying from New York that night with his bride of 20 days, Lilly. The flight crew had not realized that the autopilot had been accidentally switched off and the aircraft was descending. Sign up for NBC South Florida newsletters. Theres another photo Ruiz has analyzed over the years. Those are the last moments Ron Infantino, 76, who now lives in The Villages in Central Florida, remembers before blacking out. ", - Beverly, Flight attendant on Flight 401. But what was inside was the real prize: a Kodak Instamatic camera and rolls of film. MiamiSprings.com is the #1 source for news and events for the Miami Springs and Virginia Gardens community. The other flight crew members were First Officer John Stockhill, a flight engineer, and Donald Luis Repo, an aircraft mechanic, and flight engineer. Only nine smiling faces appear because one volunteered to take the photo. Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand. She was dazed and disoriented but noticed a penlight flashing nearby. The aircraft was a five-year-old McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31 registered as N8984E. Raposa emphasized that those who died that fateful day are gone but never, ever forgotten., The developmental process of the monument represented both a commemoration of the Flight 401 victims and decades of collaboration among survivors. Ruiz also described the anniversary as an opportunity to reflect on the lives lost in the crash. Ruiz said that the NTSB interviewed herself and other surviving crew members as part of the official accident report, each of whom agreed that flashlights represented one item they wished they possessed on the night of the crash. All are South Florida survivors of the crash of Eastern Flight #401 now trying . Two days into recovery his dad came into his hospital room. In it, the crew pranked two of the flight attendants: one with devil horn fingers coming from her head and another jokingly grabbed by the neck. Remembering EAL Flt. While making preparations to land, the crew are distracted by a faulty landing gear indicator light and accidentally disengage the autopilot while trying to resolve the problem. Thus, Raposa continued, It was 101 airboats that actually went out there, and we lost 101 souls. In addition to the airboats, Ruiz described freefalling white flowers from small aircraft overhead. Gli episodi del programma televisivo documentaristico canadese Indagini ad alta quota (Mayday) sono stati trasmessi sul network Discovery Channel Canada dal 3 settembre 2003.A marzo 2018 sono stati prodotti e trasmessi in lingua originale 156 episodi (suddivisi in 18 stagioni), inclusi cinque speciali Science of Disaster in cui sono trattati pi incidenti (stagioni 6 e 8) e tre spin-off Crash . The official cause of the crash was pilot error, the crew being distracted by a faulty nose gear indicator . "I can't see it, it's pitch dark and I throw the little light, I get, ah, nothing," the second officer said, according to the report. Hjs wife was not with him. He wanted to look further and reportedly found a problem that could have caused a serious accident. Edit. On Thursday, she was wearing the same Eastern Air Lines gold wings pin that she wore on the fateful night. Four hours after the accident, the coastguard and rescuers arrived, their efforts hampered by the difficult location and conditions. If you need help with the Public File, call (954) 364-2526. She recalls the terrifying moments afterward. They had not realized that the autopilot was disconnected, which ultimately caused the plane to lose altitude and crash. What happened with ValuJet. Mysteriously, the log books started to go missing from the aircraft. In his first public comments since his highly publicized move from Atlanta United, Martinez told the Herald that his girlfriend, two-month-old son, and more than half his friends live in Doral. We consider them significant. The flooring of the plane crumbled. 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. The granite monument, installed just north of the Miami International Airport, now serves as a permanent tribute to those who died when the Miami-bound Eastern Air Lines flight 401 crashed in the Everglades on the night of Dec. 29, 1972. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 was one of South Florida's deadliest airline disasters. Survivors: 10: Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 was a controlled flight into terrain accident of a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 during approach to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. Raposa brought the baby to Ruiz, who cradled him to keep warm. From this accident, crew resource management was brought into pilot and cabin crew training to improve communication onboard. Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 was a regularly scheduled flight between Charleston, South Carolina and Chicago Illinois with a stop at Charlotte, North Carolina. North Miami Beach, FL (PRWEB) December 7, 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 York to . Raposa emphasized that she feels safer up there. Raposa concluded that 50 years beyond the crash, survivors and supporters still carry the victims of Flight 401 in their hearts. Anyone interested in attending should email flt401memorial@gmail.com. Copyright - Florida Web Marketing, Inc. Nestor Suarez is the Publisher of MiamiSprings.com since 1997. READ MORE: An Eastern plane crashed into the Everglades in 1972. Former flight attendant Beverly Raposa, one of 75 people who survived after the plane crashed with 176 people on board, said that she has never forgotten the passengers and crew members who died. There was no fear, no panic, no anything. Based in Dubai, Photo: Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives, Eastern Airlines Flight 401: A Cabin Crew Perspective, Avelo Air Seeing Strong Bookings For New Wilmington Base, Another JFK Incident: JetBlue Airbus A321 Bumps Into Parked Plane, European Airlines Plan To Hit Back At Short-Haul Flight Bans, The Rules & Regulations That Dictate The Hours That Cabin Crew Can Work, Bouncing Back: Libya To Hold Its First Aviation Forum This Weekend. The airline still wanted to interview him for an opening that he could start after his health improved. They were working all night with gear on the boots in the swamp and the mud.". The sound, a huge fireball that went through the cabin," she recalled. Beverly Raposa switched seats from her regular position in the galley for a flight from New York to Miami. Beverly remembers when the flight went down. According to a National Transportation Safety Board report, the pilots placed the landing gear handle down but noticed the green light that indicates that the nose landing gear is fully extended and locked failed to illuminate. The wreckage of Eastern Air Lines flight 401 lies in the Florida Everglades after the crash. I number things from 1 to 10, and 10 [is] a plane crash, he said. "We did something to the altitude," he said. One survivor, certain Marquis carried him to safety, once showed up with a $1,000 check. "I number things one to ten in my life, ten's the plane crash," he says. He held out hope that his wife had survived another patient with their last name was admitted to a hospital in Florida. READ MORE: There was another tragedy in Miami after Eastern Flight 401. No, we didnt crash, Beverly. This story was originally published December 29, 2022 7:10 PM. The Memorial is along the Curtiss Parkway median directly across from the driving range. Its like the light they needed in the Everglades on that December night 50 years ago. I reach over and all the sudden my fingers go inside of my bicep," he said. The former flight attendants described one gathering in the Everglades where airboats from around Florida turned up to help commemorate crash victims. But before we begin this spooky tale, we must first go back to December 29, 1972 on board Eastern . "I'm no doctor. "We did something to the altitude," the first officer remarked, and the captain's reply was "What? The flight crew had taken pictures as a keepsake for what would have been their last trip of the year together. The disaster took the lives Eastern Airlines Flight 401 was one of South Floridas deadliest airline disasters. All the survivors were injured; 60 received serious injuries and 17 suffered minor injuries that did not require . Against the backdrop of a bright green and quiet golf course, some of the survivors accompanied by Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava and Miami Springs officials mourned the dead, prayed for their souls and vowed to always remember 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. Raposa explained that over many years, we worked, trying to put something together, emphasizing the development of a tribute for Flight 401. Nichole Shackleford, 53, was just 3 years old when she lost her mother, passenger Patricia Renee Shackleford, 20, in the crash. With the 50th anniversary comes an opportunity for remembrance and reflection, to honor the lives lost and contemplate the tremendous improvements in aviation safety that followed the accident. There were 75 at the time, 20 years ago tonight. Eastern Air Lines L-1011 Tristar Airbus, on NYC-Miami flight with 177 persons aboard, crashes into Everglades on Dec 30 while on landing approach to Miami Internatl Airport; early repts indicate . "Same thing in our lives. Raposa, who worked in a travel agency after leaving Eastern, reminds herself to not leave the house angry and to tell her loved ones how much she cares for them because returning is never a guarantee. In the 1970's, tales of such ghostly apparitions flew around the USA and the airline world. "It was beautiful," said Infantino said of the jet. In 2015 we warned you that the new Miami Springs pool was going to be much smaller than the grand olympic sized pool we had for over 50 years. Copyright 2023 Local10.com is published by WPLG INC., a Berkshire Hathaway company. The idea for a memorial for Eastern Flight 401 first popped up at the 35th anniversary gathering in the Everglades. Mercy Ruiz, 29, also noticed something strange that night. Almost 40 years ago, Eastern Airlines flight 401 crashed. Flight 401, a new L-1011 TriStar, took off from Kennedy International Airport in New York at 9:20 p.m. on Dec. 29, 1972. And because it was pitch dark there were no visual cues outside to tell them they were about to hit the swamp. After the wreckage is removed, salvageable parts from the plane are used to repair other aircraft. On this day in 1972, Eastern Airlines Flight 401 crashes in the Everglades. Robert Loft, 55; First Officer Albert Stockstill, 39, and Second Officer Donald Repo, 51, all of Miami-Dade. I carry those folks in my heart every single day, Raposa said of those who died in the tragedy. The plane was crossing over the Everglades on Dec. 29, 1972, when she turned to fellow flight attendant Stephanie Stanich. He was so weak that doctors opted to operate without anesthesia. This message board is intended for serious discussions of the December 29th, 1972 crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401. Bud Marquis, who was out hunting frogs with a friend, was the first to arrive and found a scene of chaos, with survivors struggling in the swampy wreckage. one of the deadliest plane crashes in South Floridas history, Were down. Flight 401 crashed in Miami 50 years ago. How could this have happened? For example, the vice president of Eastern Air Lines once boarded a flight from New York and chatted with a pilot, who he assumed was in charge of that sector. This month represents the 50th anniversary of the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, which crashed into the Florida Everglades in December 1972. Her face was burnt, but the coolness of the swamp seemed a relief. As frog hunters who witnessed the crash helped rescue survivors, Raposa led those remaining in renditions of Jingle Bells, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. The last group was rescued at 3:30 a.m. Dec. 30, almost four hours after the crash. So I'll never forget it, I brought it to my chest and held it.". The flight, which departed from JFK International . Since the flight was full, he exercised his privilege as an Eastern Airlines employee, and rode in the cockpit jumpseat. I have a beautiful family, and I got my wings back, and I just keep moving forward, said McQuigg. Then he noticed that the pilot did a fly-by the airport. This is somewhere where I can come to visit her apart from her gravesite, Shackleford said. gadunham@aol.com. There were 75 survivors. According to the Official Eastern Airlines Flight 401 history website, the passengers that survived the flight are: In addition to the passengers, the following crew members and Eastern Airlines employees also survived the crash: To visit the Memorial, just head towards the Miami Springs Golf and Country Club and park at the southern edge of the parking along Curtiss Parkway or at the Driving Range. . Why them two?. That memory never goes away, he told the Miami Herald 50 years later. "I got a call from a mother whose son was killed on Valujet 592 and she said how much she appreciates us having a wreath for them," said Infantino, choking up. Ron Infantino is a passenger who survived the tragedy. Then, luggage shot out of the overhead bins. The tragedy was also the 2nd deadliest plane crash in US history at the time, although, today, it now ranks in 16th place. Later, he recognized that the pilot he'd been speaking to was, in fact, Bob. It was like a tornado. Bound for Miami, Flight 401 took off from New York's JFK at 9:20 p.m. Sharon and Adrienne were injured and trapped in their jump seats. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011 Tristar 1 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). Raposa would spend the next grueling hours fighting for those who survived the crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401. The survivors were taken to a narrow levee where helicopters took them to hospitals. She came back and said, Mercy, I cant. She couldnt see.. And then it was complete silence and I thought I was the only one alive.". My arm was hanging there. Oh, Mercy, stop complaining, Ghyssels responded. The aircraft assigned to Eastern Airlines Flight 401 that December 29th was an L-1011 from Lockheed, often referred to as a Whisperliner due to its quiet engines. https://new.miamisprings.com/images/news/pool-capture.jpg. . As you might expect, she later picked from some photos that Don was the engineer she had seen. Soon passengers and crew on those aircraft report seeing what they believe to be the ghost of the . Seconds later, the plane crashed into the ground at 227 mph. Her mothers sister, Sharon Shackleford, 73, and best friend, Angel Sears, 70, were also in attendance. They didn't find her body until two days later," he said. On another flight, a flight attendant is said to have seen Don's face on the oven door. A flash fire also developed from sprayed fuel. Meanwhile, a flight attendant on a New York to Miami flight (the very route of the December 1972 crash) opened an overhead locker to find Bob's face peering out at her. Based in Norwich, UK. She said her mom had moved to Connecticut and was coming home to surprise her family before New Years. Beverly also injured her back and cut her foot but managed to crawl out of the swamp. Of the 163 passengers and 13 crewmembers aboard, 94 passengers and five crewmembers were killed, while two other survivors died days later from their injuries. Organizers are still seeking donations to cover the cost of the memorial, a bill that stands at about $20,000. Today Infantino will present two wreaths, one for Flight 401 and the other for Valujet, the 1996 Everglades crash that killed all 110 on board. Five years ago, Raposa revived the idea and got approval to place it on a plot of public land in Miami Springs. Infantino and the flight attendants will meet with airline experts and the public to tell them never to become complacent. If you can hear my voice, dont light a match, flight attendant Beverly Raposa called out as she regained consciousness in the darkness. 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. The memorial monument will be accessible by foot and car, with parking and benches located nearby. 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