Flight 401’s chain of problems began on the approach to Florida two hours after departure.

His flight crew included First Officer Albert John (Bert) Stockstill, 39, who had 5,800 hours of flying experience (with 306 of them in the L-1011), and Second Officer (flight engineer) Donald Louis (Don) Repo, 51, who had 15,700 hours of flying experience, with 53 of them in the L-1011.A company employee—technical officer Angelo Donadeo, 47, returning to Miami from an assignment in New York—accompanied the flight crew for the journey, but was officially an off-duty "Flight 401 departed JFK Airport in New York on Friday, December 29, 1972, at 21:20 The flight was routine until 23:32, when the plane began its approach into Loft, who was working the radio during this leg of the flight, told the tower that they would discontinue their approach to their airport and requested to enter a As Stockstill started another turn, onto 180°, he noticed the discrepancy. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation discovered that the autopilot had been inadvertently switched from altitude hold to control wheel steering (CWS) mode in pitch. The location was west-northwest of Miami, 18.7 miles (30.1 km) from the end of runway Nine Left (9L).The TriStar's port outer wing structure struck the ground first, followed by the No.

Loft abandoned the landing and informed Air Traffic Control of t… More about this: Figure: Eastern Airlines 401, from anonymous (GNU Free Documentation License)Inteviews revealed that Eastern first officers would normally use the "B" autopilot.NTSB Aircraft Accident Report, AAR-73-14, Eastern Airlines Flight 401, L-1011, N310EA, Miami, Florida, December 29, 1972Always remember that Eddie, when you get right down to it, is just a pilot. We would like to show you a description here but the site won’t allow us. He tries to give you the facts from the source materials but maybe he got it wrong, maybe he is out of date. Sure, he warns you when he is giving you his personal techniques, but you should always follow your primary guidance (Aircraft manuals, government regulations, etc.)

This mishap occurred seven years before initial studies into Crew Resource Management but certainly not before pilots were well aware of the prime directive when it comes to handling aircraft problems: fly the airplane first. He had logged 280 hours in the L-1011. Captain Loft had been with the airline for 32 years and had accumulated a total of 29,700 flight hours throughout his flying career. Investigators believe the autopilot switched modes when the captain accidentally leaned against the yoke while turning to speak to the flight engine… Thus, the switching to CWS in channel A possibly 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, while channel B provides the first officer's).After descending 250 feet (76 m) from the selected altitude of 2,000 feet (610 m), a C-chord sounded from the rear speaker.Captain Loft was found during the autopsy to have an undetected The final NTSB report cited the cause of the crash as In response to the accident, many airlines started Over the following months and years, rumors began circulating that employees of Eastern Air Lines were reporting sightings of the dead crew members, captain Robert Loft and second officer (flight engineer) Donald Repo, sitting on board other L-1011 (N318EA) flights.These rumors speculated that parts of the crashed aircraft were salvaged after the investigation and refitted into other L-1011s.While Eastern Air Lines publicly denied their planes were haunted, they reportedly removed all the salvaged parts from their L-1011 fleet.The story of the crash and its aftermath was documented in The crash was documented in Rob and Sarah Elder's 1977 book It was also featured in Smithsonian Television’s Air Disasters season 14, episode 9, “Deadly Disturbance“ which aired March 21, 2020. In this mode, once the pilot releases pressure on the yoke(control column or wheel), the autopilot maintains the pitch attitude selected by the pilot until he moves the yoke again. NTSB Aircraft Accident Report, AAR-73-14, Eastern Airlines Flight 401, L-1011, N310EA, Miami, Florida, December 29, 1972 Learning never stops Always remember that … before listening to Eddie.

The death toll per the final accident report was 99. 1 engine and the port main

Eastern Air Lines Aircraft 310EA (seen here) a Lockheed L-1011 crashed on December 29, 1972, 18.7 miles west-northwest of Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida enroute from JFK Airport. MIAMI: We’re proud to return to our Miami routes.

Despite the crew’s attempts to lower the landing gear, the signal that it was down and locked failed to appear.

The following conversation was recovered from the flight voice recorder later: The crash occurred while the entire cockpit crew was preoccupied with a burnt-out The flight was under the command of Captain Robert Albin (Bob) Loft, age 55, a veteran pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern. The aircraft, a Lockheed L-1011-1 Tristar jet, seemed to have an issue with the front nose gear. CVR transcript of the December 29, 1972 accident of Eastern Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar in the Everglades near Miami, FL, USA. The three major sections of the fuselage—the most intact of which was the tail assembly—lay in the mud towards the end of the wreckage trail. HAITI: Starting July 15 th, Eastern Airlines has been approved to offer flights between New York, NY (JFK) and Port-Au-Prince, Haiti (PAP) from $192.

Less than 10 seconds after this exchange, the jetliner crashed: The NTSB classified the injuries of one non-revenue passenger and one other passenger as non-fatal as their deaths occurred more than seven days after the accident. (Left: NTSB Map of the flight path of Flight 401) The flight had been normal until the final approach into Miami. CVR transcript Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 - 29 DEC 1972 Last updated: 16 October 2004. Eastern Airlines Flight 401 is a classic case study of aviation human factors that I’m sure many of you are familiar with but one that deserves revisiting.