Captainmikeberger I was a rookie firefighter responding to this crash. My first big call. It was a real mess, pitch black, waist deep water, jagged metal, jet fuel everywhere and the moans and cries of the injured. Almost made me rethink my career choice. Put in 37 more years. Retired for 10 years and still remember that night.
The Everglades sounds like a horrid place to put a plane down. Thinking of the ValueJet crash years later. It was like the Everglades just swallowed the thing whole.
God Bless Patricia McQuigg. We lost her this year. After surviving the crash of Eastern Airlines flight 401 as one of the working flight attendants, she went on to have an amazing career in aviation as a flight attendant for Eastern, AirTran and finally Southwest Airlines. I’ve had the pleasure to fly with her a few times. She was very quiet but also very kind. May she Rest In Peace.
@@kirilmihaylov1934 There are hundreds of other different ways to die besides COVID, though you could be excused for believing the opposite the way the MSM report on it.
I was supposed to be on this plane , we missed the connection from New York to Miami . My family and I were flying to Miami for Christmas break from Toronto . The plane in Toronto had some maintenance issues and was late arriving at NY. We missed flight 401 by 30 minutes. This is our family story. My kids were shocked when I told them . I was 7 at the time.
Agreed, should have asked for an altitude confirmation. Lesson learned by all. I'm sure the controller had great guilt, a ton of "what ifs" and needed much therapy and left the job.
I think the same. Not a familiar question from ATC, to ask how is everything!!! it was easier to warn them that they were flying so low...By the way, great job of TFC, to light us about flight conditions during the night...That is a plus!!!
That utterly distracted me from my preset level of auto-concentration of the event unfolding in the video!!! it was careless to attempt that stunt in the midst of suspense!! I could have crashed my 2008 Lenovo Intel Atom processored PC!!! I HOPE YOU READ THIS FLIGHT CHANNEL!
@@fidelcatsro6948 Yeah, for a minute or two (or four), I thought that maybe TheFlightChannel's bulb had burned out there. And BTW, Fidel, aren't you already like a "ghost" or something, or whatever? Am I a dim bulb, Catsro, or didn't you like, die during this very same week in November, four years ago? Or wait: maybe I'm confusing you with Castro!? My Bad! And also, do you believe that the number four is haunted? - j q t -
My grandfather had worked for Eastern at that time. He was a draftsman that drew illustrations in their flight manuals. He told us the reason they couldn't see the nose gear from the peep window was because they didn't open the window's flap. The window flap wasn't in the manual. The flap kept rubber and dirt off the window. If they knew there was a knob to open the flap, the accident probably wouldn't have occurred.
You've got four experienced aviators in the cockpit and they can't manage to keep one set of eyes on the altimeter? Such a preventable and embarrassing tragedy.
Good remark. They was at least four experienced aviators...so this leads me to think at possible coke or drugs consume at some time during the flight (maybe not all of them, but 2 or 3)...they couldn't manage the problem of the light bulb, neither of the nose gear...and the most important thing None didn't see the loose of altitude...the crew (stewards etc) didn't also see the lost of altitude and didn't give a damn shit to prevent/ask the pilots about it...This leads me once again to believe at some consommation of forbidden substances (by a part of the pilots and the crew)... and ATC didn't ask them to regain altitude??? a lot of human mistakes during the same flight, and the huge "mistake" of ATC also
@@silentnature1079 I agree with you that mistakes were made, especially not keeping track on the altimeter, but what makes you think that substance abuse was involved/ was the main cause that crashed the plane? The investigation stated what the cockpit crew had to deal with and sure, they could've handled the situation better, no doubt - but nowhere it said that they were influenced by drugs, so I'm curious why you'd assume that
I am an engineer. I have been known to be so involved in a problem I have walked into a wall. Remember this happened before all the advanced avionics of today. I'm not making any excuses. What happened here is The F/O was busy with the light, the 3rd officer and the other man were in the equipment bay and the Capt was overseeing them. I was in the Air Force in the 70s and was stationed near where the L1011s were built. I became friends with one of the people that built them. A pilot himself he told me what he thought had happened. The Capt thought the F/O was watching the plane and the F/O thought the Capt was. Now stop a minute and go back to the USAir flight that landed in the Hudson. Remember something VERY IMPORTANT in that transcript? Capt Sully stated clearly and with NO DOUBT, MY PLANE! The F/O then started on the checklist while Sully flew it. This is flight crew training. I know that today over 40 years later this seems trivial, but in reality, it is VERY serious. I know I will catch heck for my next words and I know all 4 of these men left families. Still had those men acted like professional pilots and not the three stooges that situation would not have happened. Another thing that again I may catch heck over. Once the 3rd officer lit the Christmas tree I think the capt made a mistake by not attempting a landing and maybe having someone with a powerful light looking at the nosegear. That system is almost foolproof. I suspect the chances of both a light being out AND a defective nosegear happening at the same time is higher than my chances of winning the Powerball next week. That accident chain had many links in it. From ATC not crawling up that Capts ass to them not flying the aircraft. I also know some retired Controllers. I had one tell me that in those situations it's assumed the flight crew is very busy, still, they should have given them a heads up. It's pathetic this had to happen.
@@THE-michaelmyers I agree - this was a management failure. The Captain should have taken over as the pilot flying and delegated everything else, including the light and managing the two guys in the electronics bay to the F/O. Furthermore as you said, the chances of a simultaneous failure of the light and the nose gear is pretty slim. Ultimately the solution is really simple - ask the tower to send someone out near the runway with some binoculars. Turn on the searchlights. Do a touch-and-go and ask them to see if the landing gear is down. If it is, come back around and land. If not, land with full flaps down and have the fire trucks waiting. It would have been a much better result than this.
Absolutely tragic, comma as any crash is . I know those pilots are trained well, But I wouldn't want to have the responsibility for the lives of all those people.. Until You're able to say that you have landed a jet like that don't criticize.
I'll never forget the day this happened! I was 9 years old and staying at my grandparents house in Sylmar California. As most 9 year old's of that period when the phone rings I would race grandma to the phone and like always I won. So I answered the phone when this man asked for Jesse Kraybill to come to the phone "it's important". So happy go lucky me yells and grabs grandpa and bring him to the phone it was then that things changed grandpa's smile became a haunting frown and as soon as he hung up he asked grandma to put together his bag he's leaving for Miami NOW! You see grandpa AKA Jesse Kraybill was the chief engineer for the L-1011's landing gear systems and he was told to fly to Miami to help in the investigation. I didn't really know what happened at the time, except that there was an accident. Later that night the news came on about flight 401 and I realized what had happened on that phone call. Needless to say there was nothing wrong with the gear system but grandfather always felt bad over the accident.
@@thefreedomguyuk forget procedure - shouldn't planes follow instructions they were given?! he could've mentioned something to the pilot, although i'm sure he didn't wanna sound like an idiot, thinking that all of them in the cabin are unaware of their altitude (you can be sure that he was blaming himself afterwards for not mentioning it)
This guy should get 10 million sub, he put lots of effort into these videos and find information abt the crashes. Not to mention, he is finding so many crashes everyday just to let us know what happen
In regard to finding information about the crashes, a simple internet search will bring up all the information needed. He sometimes copies Wikipedia verbatim.
I am just an armchair keyboard pilot (read: fake pilot) And I know the rule of flying a plane is to monitor, obey, and maintain your Altimeter and Vertical Speed gauge readings. If everything is fine: *your altimeter and VSG shouldn't move up and down by a significant amount* Your Altimeter and VSG should only *climb* quickly when you're climbing to cruise altitude And your Altimeter and VSG should only *descend* slowly for landings If your VSG is winding around like a speedy clock whether left or right *SH### is about to go wrong!*
@@MainMite06 Now imagine doing that thousands and thousands of time for years, he probably acknowledged the mistake too late and died not knowing how such mistake would cause such an accident, it's not far from reality, rinse and repeat for years.
80% of the aircraft due to human error. Yes, the problems triggered here and there bc of weather, technical etc but they have been flying for years and trained well to fix any problems that arise. Obviously not easy, but it is what it is. I've been travelling a lot across countries and every time I preparing myself to face death, once it happens chance to meet the Creator is 99.99%.
An old veteran still new to the plane... at that age and years experience maybe it went against him... being out of his comfort zone and perhaps a little shook up about the light... too bad!
I hope the crew management training included a class on "always have someone flying the plane". And ATC also received training as an important part of the crew. Mentioning the plane was now at 900 feet would have been thoughtful.
You have to consider that this crash happened before all the modern training regimes were put into place, both for ATC and flight crews. It is unfortunate that every rule in aviation is written in blood, but once this happened, both the people and the industry became fully aware of the need for formal CRM training and standard phrases to be used in communications.
@@jimmyculp8756 If all the car crashes had the media attention that airplane ones get, with all the details, research and reporting, you would never jump into one, ever. Pilots undergo a huge and constant training, and planes are constantly checked, much more that any car or truck out there. And if you yourself are older that maybe 30 years, I dare you to make a simple exercise: tell me how many people you know personally (friends, mates from school, neighbors, relatives and so) who died in a plane accident. Now tell me how many do you know during your lifetime who died in a car crash. I'm 45 and I know 0 people who died on a plane, and I can remember more than 10 people around me who died in different car crashes.
This accident happended about 20 miles from the home I grew up in Miami Lakes Fl. We were on the edge of the Everglades then. Although it happened decades before I was born I have visited the crash site many times. Alot of the plane was still there. Very moving experience. I could feel the energy every time I went. It got me interested in Aviation. I became a flight Attendant and later got my CPL because of it. May all those who died rest in Peace. Btw its only about 100 yards or so from the Value Jet. crash 1996. The Eastern crash was Dec. 29 1972.
My family lived on a lake in the development right beside Miami Lakes when this happened. We used to go on airboat rides in the Everglades on the weekends. We visited the crash site. So surreal, even for little kids.
Wow, how crazy is that... One piece of earth that saw TWO awful horrendous plane crashes within 25 years. Most parts of the country will never see even one. Some entire states have had only a handful of plane crashes total. This swamp has TWO within a football field if what you say is correct. Thats bad luck.
@Peter Evans uhhh... nah, bad luck. How many jumbo jets crashed in your yard? Im guessing zero. This chunk of terrain had TWO in under 25 years. Either way you compute it, those have to be outrageous odds. Might take differential equation calculus to solve. I dont think 8th grade algebra is going to write the formula to determine probability of a certain vehicle coming to have a horrendous accident within the same very small, nay, TINY region of soil/swamp, within a given timeframe, within a massive country. Too many variables.
My father, a former senior L-1011 captain for Eastern, adds the following little details. The nose gear view port was fitted with an external protective cover that would have to be moved aside in order to see anything, and no one apparently knew this. Also, the auto pilot on the L-1011 was far advanced over anything else in the industry at the time. It could be disengaged in one axis while still controlling flight on the other two, and that's exactly what happened. It was an accumulation of several unlikely minor errors that ultimately led to the tragic accident. And to this day, it's still a mystery as to why ATC did not ask the crew why they left their assigned altitude. Dad loved flying the L-1011.
it was a big mistake by the ATC operator as they should have told them they was to low (not ask are you ok) as the ACT would have known about the high terrain and the plane was flying into it
It was big, greasy, oily, and dirty as a pig but I enjoyed performing maintenance on it. It was built like a tank and an all around good bird. (25 year airline mech.)
@@brooklynforge4591 It was the flight crews fault. Lots of controllers aren't pilots. Some are, but the majority aren't. Their job is to control airspace, not fly planes. At worst manslaughter, but charging someone who had little influence over 3 pilots does nothing to enhance future safety. The point is to save future lives. It was an accident. But you can save future lives.
Personally I would have opted for a robotic arm to emerge from the ceiling to slap the captain across the face and say "Hey jackass, are we forgetting something? Do you want me to fly this plane myself or should I just give you a hand job while you kill 100 people for a lightbulb" Reminds me of Clark Griswold/Chevy Chase with the Christmas lights in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
@@Robert_N Ah yes. Fate: an immutable law of thermodynamics. Doh! It was the crew becomming _fixated_ on a problem at midnight on a inky black night and _failing_ to monitor the other instruments during what amounted to IFR conditions. They controlled their own fate here. Notice the response to the crash was initiating training aimed at avoiding a similar flawed response to a similar problem, not simply shrugging and saying "That's the way the cookie crumbles." ATC should have enquired about their 1000-foot deviation from assigned altitude as well.
@@gyro313 - It would be interesting to see how many marks against him had accumulated in 12,000+ hours. Some of these pilots have had narrow escapes many times, been rescued by others. Like the B-52 pilot who was retiring and doing stunts for his family who were there to see his last flight, flew the aircraft in a nose dive into the ground. He was known as a hotdogger, many incidents but no one would call him down. Military hierarchy? Some people learn from their own mistakes...that they survive. It’s best to learn from the mistakes of others.
It wasn't the job of the ATCs to give altitude readings to planes, particularly because those altitude readings were subject to error due to radar often giving false altitude readings. The ATC said in the report that he was waiting for another sweep of the radar, and wasn't alarmed because the crew of the plane seemed calm and in control. The investigation determined that the ATC went above and beyond what was expected of them at the time just by asking the crew if everything was okay.
@@MJS_1990 I don't know much, but I do try to be objective about the evidence at hand, and defer to the conclusions of the investigators who (of course) know far better than any of us.
@@kimifur Above and beyond? Not by any modern standards for sure. So many other videos here show ATC going above and beyond. This is minimum effort and the guy was excusing himself because "they sounded so calm".
@@DarkFilmDirector I never said by modern standards, only standards at the time. The ATCs job did not include altitude alerts, and given the equipment limitations of the ARTS III known by the controller (combined with the seemingly calm and in control response from the crew) he saw no immediate danger to the aircraft and therefore turned his attention to the other aircraft in the area. I agree that by modern standards this was nowhere near sufficient, but it's unfair to judge the ATCs response by modern standards.
My next door neighbor was on this flight. She was one of the survivors. I had a chance to meet with her a few years later. She told me all she could remember. Crazy!
"While Eastern Airlines publicly denied their planes were haunted" I never would have thought an airline would have to release that as a public statement
It was pitch dark outside you couldn't see anything. The co-pilot clearly asked "did we do something to the altimeter?", he thought while they were busy trying to figure out the issue with the landing gear, the altimeter broke. Since no one heard the C-Chord alarm, he thought they were still at 2000ft. It's not carelessness at all.
Even if one accepts that ghosts of crew members were aboard the planes, they weren't doing any harm. Eastern didn't need to remove all the salvaged parts from the wrecked plane. (It seems odd there is not mention of a ghost in a jumpseat in the cockpit.)
@@maxpenn6374 All true, but from an employee and PR perspective, it was probably a good idea to scrap the parts and remove the perceived distraction. You want everyone concentrating on flying the plane and their jobs. If they kept the parts, any incident involving those planes (even mundane) would be attributed to the plane being haunted.
They even have a FLIGHT ENGINEER on board, yet the man flying the aircraft felt the need to direct his entire attention at barely important light bulb. There is literally no excuse for this.
It's because people are fuckin 'idiots'! The first officer and flight engineer couldn't even be 'TRUSTED' to change a five dollar light bulb without adult supervision. I'm faced with people with that level of incompetence all the time!
Well if the light bulb was actually correct then they couldnt land so it was kinda inportant to check if it was a bulb problem or a wheel not coming out
@@beach_doggo9875 Well, they would eventually have to land, regardless. But in hindsight, since they had an engineer and a guest pilot, they should have just visually checked the landing gear and not screwed around trying to repair the light. Hindsight is 20/20. But it does go to show how even veteran pilots can make dumb mistakes.
@@slavboii420 beside that, I actually didn’t make up this name, I found it on the internet. It was actually the Japanese name of my favourite character (shown in my profile picture). And you’re right, that name looks cool so I decided to use it as my username.
And this is what you sometimes get after logging so many hours as a pilot: complacency. And complacency is a very ugly thing, especially in the aviation business.
This is starting to become a problem with cars as well. Adaptive cruise control, lane keeping and blind spot warnings are now misleadingly marketed as "Autopilot" among other similar terms where people actually are stupid to believe they have a self driving car...and become increasingly complacent behind the wheel. It is practically an accident waiting to occur.
Very true. Where I live, ice-fishing is a pretty common hobby. Dad used to say it is the experienced outdoorsmen who tend to fall through the thin ice and drown, because it has never happened to them in their years, and they're yet to actually use their 'ice awls' to drag themselves to the shore. In fact, some of them fail to even bring that survival tool with.
Complacency has nothing to do with the problem. There is a lot of things going on during an emergency and this is known by a pilot like myself. I have had 2 emergencies and lived as proof in here in what you read just now. Complacency is NEVER a factor in an emergency, you do not have time for that crap! If you crash your car that you have had for a long time, is it because of complacency????
I was on a flight to Miami that was behind this plane. When that plane crashed, it was breaking news and my parents thought it was the plane I was on. Had to wait a very long time for a phone to call my parents. It was so emotional. I cried for those people who lost their lives.
The ATC not asking about their Altitude loss could have prevented the crash. And the pilots flying the plane would have prevented the crash. Trouble shoot at 5K at night makes me uncomfortable. 2K no thank you.
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Unfortunately, the procedure at that time did not require ATC to warn the pilots if they were too low or high. The procedure was changed after that accident.
@ No procedures will save those, who can not think by themselves, and this is because situations never completely repeat...
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@@ilsavv Obviously the major problem here was the captain, he caused the crash, that is undeniable. The ATC procedure is a last resort safety method, and it is obviously not 100% guaranteed to work.
@@fidelcatsro6948 Prosecute? How the hell was this ATCs fault? The pilots were too fixated on a broken bulb that they managed to crash their plane. ATC had nothing to do with this.
I worked at Eastern airlines as a rookie mechanic in the mid 1980s. The L-1011 was my favorite aircraft and they broke a lot, so I spent many hours working on them. An unusual feature they have is that the galley was below the main deck and is accessed by 2 service elevators. I distinctly remember a woman on the cleaning crew who was absolutely terrified to go down to the galley. She said she saw a ghost from flight 401 there once. I liked it down there- it was quiet, you could take a nap and the elevator moving would wake you before the boss found you asleep.
Many years ago, I worked on AC313, which had a incident that caused the flight deck to be damaged. The replacement was from AC310, that aircraft was reportedly haunted. It did not have the parts replaced because Eastern was out of business by then. You could tell by the beefy sheet metal repair all around the fuselage.
Part of the "haunted" legend was a supposed apparition by F/E Repo, in the door of a microwave oven, in which he asserted that "there will never be another crash of a L-1011". Which was put to rest by the crash of DAL 191 at DFW, in a microburst accident. There was a made-for-TV movie about this crash where Repo was portrayed by Ernest Borgnine, IIRC.
This is another interesting illustration of how most tragedies are not due to one massive mistake, but rather an accumulation of errors and oversights that are small in themselves but lead up to a major catastrophe, like dominoes tumbling into each other.
I was a kid and we were living in Miami when this happened. I had never been on a commercial jet before. We read every article in The Miami Herald about it and all the local TV news coverage! What those poor 1st responders had to go through I can't imagine. A classmate's father was in upper management at Eastern airlines at the time and we heard a lot about it at school. So sorry for all of the losses.
So the approach controller notices a widebody airliner flying at 900 feet and says "How are things coming along out there." I hope that dude was fired immediately.
Well that was a shit-show of epic proportions. I set the cruise control in my car, but I still occasionally have a peek at the speedometer. And, the ATC might have wanted to mention that they were losing altitude. Ineptitude everywhere.
Try doing the same when your car has 50 different instruments and indicators, is meant to be driven by 2 but you are driving both wheels and are hurtling through air at 500mph
@@GhostWatcher2024 Well it was simply pilot complacency. I think the biggest part was the bit where the lights were forgotten to be switched on... never mind the gear indicator light. It was at that moment it was all hands on deck to see if the gear was down and locked... as this was critical for a safe landing, assuming the alternative was death. Even with the mistakes of the autopilot and not checking instruments, they would have simply had more time, and likely communicate with ATC, and had the confidence to go back to check instruments as they turned back. Sounds like fate - even the ATC could have mentioned about the drop in altitude which would have prevented this.
Seems easy on hindsight..we have to realise that many of the techniques you are talking about and all the CRM were not available in the 70s. Also the automation was far less. A lot of CRM and time management techniques we take for granted today were formed after such accidents and investigations. They had to die for us to learn from it.
Try watching Mentour Pilot. He goes to great details of every air crash and he always emphasizes that behind every accident there are a lot of lessons taken that make the aviation industry safer nowadays.
In domestic commercial aviation there has not been a loss of life in (9) years. Domestic automobile traffic kills 35K passengers every year. Which option makes the most sense to you? Sorry, I don't have pedestrian loss of life numbers to quote here.
How sad, they were really just trying to make sure it was safe to land. I'm glad they added additional training after, and it touches my heart that his spirit wanted to keep flying with them.
The paranormal activity was true. Because there were a lot of parts that were undamaged in the crash, they were used on other aircraft and it seems that every aircraft that received these parts were the ones reporting the activity. Eastern Airlines tried to cover up the stories, but it wasn't until Frank Borman (Eastern CEO) had an encounter with the flight engineer (Don Repo) from the doomed plane and the full bodied apparition was seated in one of the aircraft seats. Borman told him to get off of his plane and Repo turn to him and said no, you get off of mine and then disappeared before his eyes. From my understanding, at that point, Borman ordered all of the parts removed that had been used from 401. After that, the encounters pretty much ceased. This story has always fascinated me : )
@[Redacted] I think what they're trying to say is some people believe that objects hold memories of events that happened around them, thats why sometimes you'll enter a home or building and get a bad vibe from it because something bad happened there at one point. This is all what some people believe so don't take it as 100% truth
Wasn't this the flight where some of the survivors picked up some pretty whacky bugs due to their wounds coming into contact with Everglades swamp water? I seem to remember something about them having to be placed in hyperbaric chambers to fight the infections?
Yes 8 of them develoved gas gangrene from Clostridium perfringens, an anerobic pathogen. The only cure is placement in a hyperbaric chamber for many hours. This forces oxygen in the wounds which kills the pathogen. Unfortunately very few hospitals have them. The doctors had to hunt all over Florida for enough chambers to treat all the patients.
I was about 14 years old when that happened just west of where I live, and I remember it well, this whole town was in shock, everyone knew someone that worked fo Eastern back then, Miami was the base and it was a big airline. No one knew why it went down back then, not for a long time, that plane was new and they blamed the plane for awhile, but no matter what the reason, it sure made for one hell of a bad night for a lot of people here.
CRM concepts were not implemented at the time, and actually this accident is shown to pilot in ground school classes around the world, as an example of what NOT to do in a crisis!
5 People screwed up...ATC screwed also up by using small talk instead of asking the pilots to verify altitude. I think the air traffic controller is partially responsible for this crash as well.
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@@mikefly562 Unfortunately, the procedure at that time did not require ATC to warn the pilots if they were too low. The procedure was changed after that accident though.
Question for the pilots among us - how many of you would have just gone ahead and landed after the "Christmas tree" test showed the nose gear light not working? I realize there was a CHANCE that the light was out AND the gear was also malfunctioning, but what are the odds? Heck it was a brand new aircraft.
10 miles from the airport at a height of 900 feet and descending and the controller didn't bother to mention this fact, given they were assigned an altitude of 2000ft previously? He was just as negligent as the men flying the plane.
At the NTSB public hearings in March 1973, Mr. Johnson (photo: left) was asked why he didn't warn EAL 401 of its low altitude when he first noticed the 900 foot reading on his radar screen. Mr. Johnson testified that he wanted to see another sweep of the radar before making any judgements, that the readouts often differed from the actual altitude. "It's like when your TV picture rolls onece, you don't unplug it and take it to the TV man. You wait for a pattern of operation." He went on to say that in his opinion, the pilots appeared to be in command of the flight, as evidenced by their calm demeanor and rapid response to his instructions and questions. "There was no indication that the crew was unaware of its altitude," Johnson testified. This statement drew attention from an examiner who asked, "how would they indicate that they weren't aware of their altitude?" Johnson stammered for a moment and then sheepishly said, "I don't know."Johnson's supervisor, Carl E. Joritz, Chief of the Miami Air Traffic Control Center, later pointed out that it is not the controller's duty to monitor the distance between the airplane and the ground, but rather the distance between airplanes. Although technically true at the time, the supervisor admitted that all controllers have a moral obligation to alert flight crews of an emergency situation. When Johnson was asked if he was treating Flight 401 as if it were an emergency situation, Johnson replied, "no." Joritz also testified that pilot groups have asked controllers not to bother them if they are having trouble landing. Ironically, on June 21, 1973, Charles Johnson was on duty in the Miami tower when a small plane crashed in the Everglades after having its radio tuned to the wrong frequency. Strangely, killed onboard the small plane was William Gregg, who was onboard another small plane December 29th and had reported seeing Flight 401 crash to the Miami tower.
I'm a retired United captain. We studied this accident for many years in recurrent training because it's a classic example of an entire cockpit crew getting involved in a minor problem while no one is flying the aircraft.
Thank God for Bud Marquis who was out there frog hunting that night and saw 401 crash and head his airboat to the sight. His head lamp helped the HH-52s from USCG Air Station Miami home in on his light. One of the 401 USCG rescue Helos is at the USS Intrepid CV-11 museum in NYC.
No matter what the emergency, the pilots number one job is to fly the airplane. It’s easy to look back and criticize when you’re not in such a situation, but it shows how important it is to be in control at all times if possible. CRM was a very good reaction to this disaster. It has saved countless lives over the years. Great video.
@@AnhTran-ok3bd I can promise you that I am not going to go to 1:02 to see if you’re correct. The truth of the matter is that I don’t much care and, oh yeah, I have a life.
I know Alitalia had the same issue and they did a low approach. The ATC offered that but the captain refused sighting their SOP doesn’t allow it. Then ATC said “how about I clear you for the approach and then Instruct you to go around” and the captain agreed. They did the low approach and the ground team observed the landing gear to be down and the plane landed safely at JFK. I love how everyone in the aviation field come together to ensure the safety of every single soul.
EPIC. This crash dominated the 1970's, the book 'The Ghost of Flight 401' was a huge bestseller. It was also a decade during which many took their first flight.
I remember reading it back in the day. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, the number of eyewitness accounts was pretty impressive. Even a skeptic would be surprised at the length and size of what they'd chalk up to mass hysteria.
This story fascinated me as a kid. I remember watching the movie and couldn't believe how and why the plane crashed. I was hoping you would do video about this at some point. Thanks very much! Keep up the great work.
Actually the two people that were down under the cockpit bay survived the initial crash, flight engineer Repo died at the Hospital, while Technical Officer Donaedo was the only cockpit crew member to survive and recover from his injuries.
You should have atleast 4 million subscribers. The graphics and the information is amazing! I dont know how you get all the information about the crashes and the planes but keep working on it. It's very entertaining. 👍
Between approximately 2010 to 2017, if you had flown three US commercial flights a day, 8,766 flights, you would still be alive. And since there was only one fatality incident in 2018, and only one fatality incident in 2019, if you continued flying three flights a day, another 2,190 flights, the odds are overwhelming that you would still be alive. That’s about 11,000 flights. But go on being a scaredy-cat. It’s amusing.
L-1011 was the first plane I flew on in 1974 ... from Boston to Orlando, Florida and back. It was a beautiful plane inside: a wide body with seating of 2-4-2 if I remember right. It was like flying in a living room.
Back in 1978 they made a movie about this, I was 12 or 13 years old. The flight engineer was played by Ernest Borgnine. His ghost appeared on several other aircraft that used the salvaged parts. At one point he stated there would never be another crash on an L1011, and supposedly the cabin voice recorder caught it. This movie scared the crap out of me, mainly because it was based on true events. I have never forgotten it.
Altitude readings in the 1970s were unreliable from the ground. The most reliable altitude information was on the dial that nobody on the fucking plane bothered to read.
Wait a minute, the co-pilot flying the plane couldn't see anything outside the cockpit due to the moonless night. That means he had three things to look at, the plane's heading, air speed, and altitude. Unfortunately, he failed to do that.
This is the best channel I've stumbled upon in recent times. Being a commercial Pilot myself, I get goosebumps as to how accurately the scenarios have been recreated! Huge Regards to the creator!
@@tomstravels520 Yes, but the axiom "aviate, navigate and communicate and in that order" is pretty old. I'm in my late 60s and heard it as a kid. I guess autopilots have a lot to answer for. When you have a bit of kit that 99.99% of the time can be relied upon to do the basics for you it must be hard to keep concentrating for the 0.01% time when it doesn't (and now we have this problem in cars with Joe Average at the wheel!)
:) It's not so much that it's the most forgotten step, but it's absolutely the step that is most noticed if you do forget it. (And to be fair, people screw up radio and navigation all the time, and mostly nobody cares. As it should be.)
People also look for complexity in problems many times it is simple. A light bulb not working ...broken light bulb In a comedy TV series the wife complained to the husband about the vacuum was not working, as he walked away he said ' have you switched it on at the wall' .
You know what’s crazy? The pilots experience did them in. If it was me as a rookie first time pilot never having flown ever, and I see the altitude is wrong on the altimeter, I’m immediately pulling up a little just in case....but instead they started asking questions....smh.
My airplane, a 1978 Piper Arrow III, was rented and flown by a commercial pilot student with his flight instructor when, on approach the nose gear light went out. They left the area to burn off fuel and returned, did a flyby and got the standard response from the tower "gear looks down, unable to confirm lock". The aircraft entered a normal traffic pattern and for some reason the two pilots on board attempted once more to mess with the gear. What they forgot was to always fly the airplane. N6471C stalled about 50 feet above the runway and dropped onto the pavement, pushing both main gears up through the wings. Luckily there were no fatalities, one pilot had severe back injuries and the other was able to walk away from the ruined aircraft. Like the TriStar the only problem with the aircraft was the nose gear lamp had burned out. This video brought back memories from the early 90's and reinforces the primary rule of incidents and emergencies - Fly The Airplane.
I've enjoyed watching you refine your production skills over time with these videos. You present the facts, transitions are smooth, and you describe events in ways that are not only accurate, but respectful to those who were lost along with their grieving families. Great video.
I feel there should be outboard mounted cameras to monitor landing gear status,wings status,engines,landing lights and the such as a secondary safety system to help avoid such preventable accidents like this.
Everyone, please think of what just occurred to me - that in the years following 1972, before there was anything like the internet, rumors about this plane creating hauntings were freely cycling around!
Captain Loft was found during the autopsy to have an undetected brain tumor, in an area that controls vision. However, the NTSB concluded that the captain's tumor did not contribute to the accident.
@@kerezymaii If the dead people obviously did such a poor job that they killed a hundred people as they got killed, do you really think we should keep silent about the behavior of such people? How are we (as in humankind) ever going to improve if we pretend that it's not okay to speak about prior accidents?
@@MikkoRantalainen We should speak about their behaviour in a constrictive way. But I dont think bashing them pointlesspy and throwing out insults is nice
That is a chilling story about 2 of the crew being seen on other empty planes that had spare parts of the crash, and then disappeared when they removed the spare parts from them. Obviously it's heartbreaking to watch this accident that was due to inattention of the flight controls...with a crew of 3 in which two them could have addressed the landing gear problem while one of them flew the plane. Many of the older crashes on this channel seem to be due to crews either neglecting certain things or taking them for granted, disorganization and ineffective communication when a problem arises, or a the flight captain acting solo in dangerous situations. I'm glad CRM has come a long way since then.
It’s hard to read all the comments on here implying the pilots were stupid or inept. These little mistakes and oversights can add up for horrible consequences when those holes all line up perfectly. But the fact is, the aviation industry is one of the safest industries in existence today, along with nuclear power. If all these people are so quick to demonize pilots, they better never go to the hospital again. Four in 10 hospitalized patients experience harm during their stay.
Those ghost sightings are fake: *Those 'sightings' were just complaints from passengers and air crews who were both creeped out and pissed at the odacity that Eastern would re-fit their good L1011s with likely broken parts from a deadly plane crash!* -Would you fly in a jetplane that was fixed with broken parts from a lethal accident?
@@gilbertfranklin1537 whether true or not, the rumors got so bad that the CEO of Eastern airlines threatened job termination to anyone caught spreading the rumors.
@@kennyduarte783 They were true. Frank Borman felt that it would damage an already not so stellar reputation that EA had in the industry. So he played down the sightings, and ordered any crew who saw the apparitions to see the company shrink, or risk termination.
I wouldve shouted: ''Idiots didnt i tell you to maintain 2000feet, do i need my cat to remind you?'' I was planning to leave ATC job anyway and drive for Uber..
State of commercial flying in the 70's. I remember whenever my parents had to fly back then they were concerned enough that they each took separate flights because they did want not to leave my 10 year old brother without a parent. Thank goodness aircraft avionics, reliability, and most of all pilot training have improved to a large degree over the years.
As someone who lives in Florida, one of the last places you want to crash is the Everglades. I've flown our Piper over it and watched the gators. It's quite common today for airboat pilots to carry radios that can listen in to air frequencies. Often, they are the first on scene after an incident.
I always wonder what the first hour is like after a crash like that. Ripped apart bodies, people screaming, agonal breathing and people who are in shock and traumatized. Literal nightmare.
@Peter Evans just curious as to how much that must suck. I'm intrigued by realism, people don't think about those moments after where people are still hanging by a thread. It ain't like the movies.
Back then, captains were gods in their craft, and nobody did anything or took assertive control unless the captain approved it. CRM was unknown in 1972. And, fwiw, it took the Tenerife disaster for airlines to get serious about it. Also, something should have sounded in the cockpit when the autopilot was disengaged by the stick jostle, a warning beep (was there one?). Something else: when they lit up all the lights in the cockpit, the nose gear light should've illuminated, whether or not the gear was down. What are the odds of both the gear and its warning light being f---ed up simultaneously for unrelated reasons? About a quintillion to one. They should've prepped for an emergency landing and gone on in. As for the ghosts: was stewardesses and maybe pilots seeing them. Some of the girls wouldn't work alone in the galley of an L1011 at night because of that. However, that could be suggestion. Were there any passengers who saw Repo and the pilot, and if so, did they know about the incident and legend beforehand? If not, then you would have something... :O
"About a quintillion to one. They should've prepped for an emergency landing and gone on in." Exactly. Planes can land without the nose wheel down. They ignored their instruments, the Christmas tree lights test, and the warning sound. For pilots with that much experience, it's unforgivable.
Always impressed with the simulated graphics in your videos. May I suggest that you change the font to something more readable? This works well for titles and timestamps, but not for a paragraph of text.
Why'd they do the "Christmas tree" test if they weren't gonna listen to the results it gave them? There was only a minuscule chance that both the light was burned out and the gear damaged. Even though he was new to the plane the pilot should have recognized this.
At the time, they rather be safe than sorry, and assume a double-failure is possible. Makes sense to me. Especially if there's potentially a way to safely mitigate it, which they did by sending crew underneath to get a visual. They thought they were at 2000'. It's unfortunate that the captain nudged the yoke to pitch the plane down, and crew was distracted with troubleshooting the problem when the altitude alarm went off.
They were following correct procedure for the nose gear indicator failure, but in the process had a cascade of errors that often leads to accidents. First they jammed up the light bulb socket trying to replace the bulb, then failed to illuminate the nose gear when a crewman tried to visually verify it, meanwhile thinking the autopilot had the altitude locked in for them while they were distracted with these difficulties when it actually did not.
@@onemoremisfit - Too bad the airline wouldn't spend a few extra cents for a “LL” (Long Life) bulb. Just kidding. I know that airplanes don't use 194 automotive bulbs...do they? Now they’re all LEDs and glass panels, I suppose.
if someone had flown the plane while others inspected the nose gear they could have landed safely, but apparently," step 1, one of the pilots fly the plane, stupid, while the rest of the crew work on the problem" had not yet been added to the emergency procedures manuals.
Captainmikeberger
I was a rookie firefighter responding to this crash. My first big call. It was a real mess, pitch black, waist deep water, jagged metal, jet fuel everywhere and the moans and cries of the injured. Almost made me rethink my career choice. Put in 37 more years. Retired for 10 years and still remember that night.
Wow
Good gravey that is the worst thing you imagine as a rescuer when arriving
The Everglades sounds like a horrid place to put a plane down. Thinking of the ValueJet crash years later. It was like the Everglades just swallowed the thing whole.
I was wondering how they got the survivors out. It had to be a nightmare.
Well done Sir for not giving up. Xx
God Bless Patricia McQuigg. We lost her this year. After surviving the crash of Eastern Airlines flight 401 as one of the working flight attendants, she went on to have an amazing career in aviation as a flight attendant for Eastern, AirTran and finally Southwest Airlines. I’ve had the pleasure to fly with her a few times. She was very quiet but also very kind. May she Rest In Peace.
Yes indeed rest in peace Patricia.
@@789tundra what happened ? COVID
Condolences to her friends and family. The surviving flight attendants on 401 were heroes, IMO.
@@kirilmihaylov1934 There are hundreds of other different ways to die besides COVID, though you could be excused for believing the opposite the way the MSM report on it.
she kept flying even after this crash?? A fearless flier..
I was supposed to be on this plane , we missed the connection from New York to Miami . My family and I were flying to Miami for Christmas break from Toronto . The plane in Toronto had some maintenance issues and was late arriving at NY. We missed flight 401 by 30 minutes. This is our family story. My kids were shocked when I told them . I was 7 at the time.
I would feel relieved too knowing someone else took my seat on that plane.
you got lucky right there.
Death is a Chain of events. All it needs is being at the right place at the right time
Glad you missed it!
@@blasterelforg7276 you happy feeling relieved huh?
The controller could have saved it by letting them know that they were flying low instead of asking how's everything..
Controller was busy that day
yes, why not warned them, instead of doing small talk..
Agreed, should have asked for an altitude confirmation. Lesson learned by all. I'm sure the controller had great guilt, a ton of "what ifs" and needed much therapy and left the job.
I think the same. Not a familiar question from ATC, to ask how is everything!!! it was easier to warn them that they were flying so low...By the way, great job of TFC, to light us about flight conditions during the night...That is a plus!!!
Ya think?
“Brightness for show” and “Actual Brightness”
So much effort. Good job 👍
well done♥
That utterly distracted me from my preset level of auto-concentration of the event unfolding in the video!!! it was careless to attempt that stunt in the midst of suspense!! I could have crashed my 2008 Lenovo Intel Atom processored PC!!!
I HOPE YOU READ THIS FLIGHT CHANNEL!
😂😂😂
@@fidelcatsro6948 Yeah, for a minute or two (or four), I thought that maybe TheFlightChannel's bulb had burned out there. And BTW, Fidel, aren't you already like a "ghost" or something, or whatever? Am I a dim bulb, Catsro, or didn't you like, die during this very same week in November, four years ago? Or wait: maybe I'm confusing you with Castro!? My Bad! And also, do you believe that the number four is haunted? - j q t -
@@quill444 Lol
I've never missed the "woop woop, pull up, terrain" sign so much 😟
There's a reason why EPGWS has to call
*TOO LOW TERRAIN*
and *PULL UP*
It's to prevent accidents like this😥
@@MainMite06 This crash was just a few years before the FAA mandated GPWS systems in large commercial aircraft.
Are you in this plane?
U only get that if ur pitch angle down is too sharp below about 4000 and/or ur gear isnt locked down
Oh, yea...
My grandfather had worked for Eastern at that time. He was a draftsman that drew illustrations in their flight manuals. He told us the reason they couldn't see the nose gear from the peep window was because they didn't open the window's flap. The window flap wasn't in the manual. The flap kept rubber and dirt off the window. If they knew there was a knob to open the flap, the accident probably wouldn't have occurred.
Oh...sad...
oh (😣
why not use cameras to see???
@@robertaccornero7172 The accident happened in 1972. If you go check the camera gear from that time, it should be obvious why they didn't use cameras.
@@robertaccornero7172 1972.
You've got four experienced aviators in the cockpit and they can't manage to keep one set of eyes on the altimeter? Such a preventable and embarrassing tragedy.
Good remark. They was at least four experienced aviators...so this leads me to think at possible coke or drugs consume at some time during the flight (maybe not all of them, but 2 or 3)...they couldn't manage the problem of the light bulb, neither of the nose gear...and the most important thing None didn't see the loose of altitude...the crew (stewards etc) didn't also see the lost of altitude and didn't give a damn shit to prevent/ask the pilots about it...This leads me once again to believe at some consommation of forbidden substances (by a part of the pilots and the crew)...
and ATC didn't ask them to regain altitude??? a lot of human mistakes during the same flight, and the huge "mistake" of ATC also
@@silentnature1079 I agree with you that mistakes were made, especially not keeping track on the altimeter, but what makes you think that substance abuse was involved/ was the main cause that crashed the plane? The investigation stated what the cockpit crew had to deal with and sure, they could've handled the situation better, no doubt - but nowhere it said that they were influenced by drugs, so I'm curious why you'd assume that
I am an engineer. I have been known to be so involved in a problem I have walked into a wall. Remember this happened before all the advanced avionics of today. I'm not making any excuses. What happened here is The F/O was busy with the light, the 3rd officer and the other man were in the equipment bay and the Capt was overseeing them. I was in the Air Force in the 70s and was stationed near where the L1011s were built. I became friends with one of the people that built them. A pilot himself he told me what he thought had happened. The Capt thought the F/O was watching the plane and the F/O thought the Capt was. Now stop a minute and go back to the USAir flight that landed in the Hudson. Remember something VERY IMPORTANT in that transcript? Capt Sully stated clearly and with NO DOUBT, MY PLANE! The F/O then started on the checklist while Sully flew it. This is flight crew training. I know that today over 40 years later this seems trivial, but in reality, it is VERY serious. I know I will catch heck for my next words and I know all 4 of these men left families. Still had those men acted like professional pilots and not the three stooges that situation would not have happened. Another thing that again I may catch heck over. Once the 3rd officer lit the Christmas tree I think the capt made a mistake by not attempting a landing and maybe having someone with a powerful light looking at the nosegear. That system is almost foolproof. I suspect the chances of both a light being out AND a defective nosegear happening at the same time is higher than my chances of winning the Powerball next week. That accident chain had many links in it. From ATC not crawling up that Capts ass to them not flying the aircraft. I also know some retired Controllers. I had one tell me that in those situations it's assumed the flight crew is very busy, still, they should have given them a heads up. It's pathetic this had to happen.
@@THE-michaelmyers I agree - this was a management failure. The Captain should have taken over as the pilot flying and delegated everything else, including the light and managing the two guys in the electronics bay to the F/O. Furthermore as you said, the chances of a simultaneous failure of the light and the nose gear is pretty slim. Ultimately the solution is really simple - ask the tower to send someone out near the runway with some binoculars. Turn on the searchlights. Do a touch-and-go and ask them to see if the landing gear is down. If it is, come back around and land. If not, land with full flaps down and have the fire trucks waiting. It would have been a much better result than this.
Absolutely tragic, comma as any crash is . I know those pilots are trained well, But I wouldn't want to have the responsibility for the lives of all those people.. Until You're able to say that you have landed a jet like that don't criticize.
I'll never forget the day this happened! I was 9 years old and staying at my grandparents house in Sylmar California. As most 9 year old's of that period when the phone rings I would race grandma to the phone and like always I won. So I answered the phone when this man asked for Jesse Kraybill to come to the phone "it's important". So happy go lucky me yells and grabs grandpa and bring him to the phone it was then that things changed grandpa's smile became a haunting frown and as soon as he hung up he asked grandma to put together his bag he's leaving for Miami NOW! You see grandpa AKA Jesse Kraybill was the chief engineer for the L-1011's landing gear systems and he was told to fly to Miami to help in the investigation. I didn't really know what happened at the time, except that there was an accident. Later that night the news came on about flight 401 and I realized what had happened on that phone call. Needless to say there was nothing wrong with the gear system but grandfather always felt bad over the accident.
8:56 Out of curiosity, If the approach controller noticed that the plane had dropped from 2000ft to 900ft why didn't he say anything.
i was thinking the same
Because it wasn't his job. Back then, there was no procedure for that.
@@thefreedomguyuk forget procedure - shouldn't planes follow instructions they were given?! he could've mentioned something to the pilot, although i'm sure he didn't wanna sound like an idiot, thinking that all of them in the cabin are unaware of their altitude (you can be sure that he was blaming himself afterwards for not mentioning it)
He did say something....how’s it going up there? Very helpful.
@@thamnosma Over there, not up anymore..
This guy should get 10 million sub, he put lots of effort into these videos and find information abt the crashes. Not to mention, he is finding so many crashes everyday just to let us know what happen
@@JM-lw3nx what makes you think so ?
And no awful background music.
In regard to finding information about the crashes, a simple internet search will bring up all the information needed.
He sometimes copies Wikipedia verbatim.
The source called wiki makes it all easy
Agreed ! Love this sub. People should like and subscribe and share his videos to get him traction.
I’m no flying man, but checking the damn altitude seems basic to me sir. thank you for these videos
I am just an armchair keyboard pilot (read: fake pilot)
And I know the rule of flying a plane is to monitor, obey, and maintain your Altimeter and Vertical Speed gauge readings.
If everything is fine:
*your altimeter and VSG shouldn't move up and down by a significant amount*
Your Altimeter and VSG should only *climb* quickly when you're climbing to cruise altitude
And your Altimeter and VSG should only *descend* slowly for landings
If your VSG is winding around like a speedy clock whether left or right *SH### is about to go wrong!*
@@MainMite06 Now imagine doing that thousands and thousands of time for years, he probably acknowledged the mistake too late and died not knowing how such mistake would cause such an accident, it's not far from reality, rinse and repeat for years.
@@hbtm2951 It only takes *one accident* to turn a *living veteran into a dead rookie*
80% of the aircraft due to human error. Yes, the problems triggered here and there bc of weather, technical etc but they have been flying for years and trained well to fix any problems that arise. Obviously not easy, but it is what it is. I've been travelling a lot across countries and every time I preparing myself to face death, once it happens chance to meet the Creator is 99.99%.
An old veteran still new to the plane... at that age and years experience maybe it went against him... being out of his comfort zone and perhaps a little shook up about the light... too bad!
Disturbing how many crashes are due or partly due to pilots forgetting to monitor the basics.
That’s actually a vast majority of accidents
How fucking hard is it to glance at the altimeter once every couple of minutes
@@DaMastaSkullFox - Almost as easy as it is not texting while driving, yet people keep doing that.
@@bradcrosier1332 But at least texting and driving is usually not fatal to hundreds of people all at one time !!
@@boatdr.t5737 oh really? so u say its ok to do that? there are lot more possiblities dont be like politicians "Na! its fine its only a few people"
I hope the crew management training included a class on "always have someone flying the plane". And ATC also received training as an important part of the crew. Mentioning the plane was now at 900 feet would have been thoughtful.
Not just thoughtful. Would have saved LIVES!
My wife still does not understand why I will never fly!
You have to consider that this crash happened before all the modern training regimes were put into place, both for ATC and flight crews. It is unfortunate that every rule in aviation is written in blood, but once this happened, both the people and the industry became fully aware of the need for formal CRM training and standard phrases to be used in communications.
@@jimmyculp8756 - And why is that?
@@jimmyculp8756 If all the car crashes had the media attention that airplane ones get, with all the details, research and reporting, you would never jump into one, ever. Pilots undergo a huge and constant training, and planes are constantly checked, much more that any car or truck out there.
And if you yourself are older that maybe 30 years, I dare you to make a simple exercise: tell me how many people you know personally (friends, mates from school, neighbors, relatives and so) who died in a plane accident. Now tell me how many do you know during your lifetime who died in a car crash.
I'm 45 and I know 0 people who died on a plane, and I can remember more than 10 people around me who died in different car crashes.
This accident happended about 20 miles from the home I grew up in Miami Lakes Fl. We were on the edge of the Everglades then. Although it happened decades before I was born I have visited the crash site many times. Alot of the plane was still there. Very moving experience. I could feel the energy every time I went. It got me interested in Aviation. I became a flight Attendant and later got my CPL because of it. May all those who died rest in Peace. Btw its only about 100 yards or so from the Value Jet. crash 1996. The Eastern crash was Dec. 29 1972.
My family lived on a lake in the development right beside Miami Lakes when this happened. We used to go on airboat rides in the Everglades on the weekends. We visited the crash site. So surreal, even for little kids.
Wow, very interesting, I remember value jet crash
@Peter Evans Dude... LOL
Wow, how crazy is that... One piece of earth that saw TWO awful horrendous plane crashes within 25 years. Most parts of the country will never see even one. Some entire states have had only a handful of plane crashes total. This swamp has TWO within a football field if what you say is correct. Thats bad luck.
@Peter Evans uhhh... nah, bad luck. How many jumbo jets crashed in your yard? Im guessing zero. This chunk of terrain had TWO in under 25 years. Either way you compute it, those have to be outrageous odds. Might take differential equation calculus to solve. I dont think 8th grade algebra is going to write the formula to determine probability of a certain vehicle coming to have a horrendous accident within the same very small, nay, TINY region of soil/swamp, within a given timeframe, within a massive country. Too many variables.
My father, a former senior L-1011 captain for Eastern, adds the following little details. The nose gear view port was fitted with an external protective cover that would have to be moved aside in order to see anything, and no one apparently knew this. Also, the auto pilot on the L-1011 was far advanced over anything else in the industry at the time. It could be disengaged in one axis while still controlling flight on the other two, and that's exactly what happened. It was an accumulation of several unlikely minor errors that ultimately led to the tragic accident. And to this day, it's still a mystery as to why ATC did not ask the crew why they left their assigned altitude. Dad loved flying the L-1011.
it was a big mistake by the ATC operator as they should have told them they was to low (not ask are you ok) as the ACT would have known about the high terrain and the plane was flying into it
That ATC operator should have been charged with murder
It was big, greasy, oily, and dirty as a pig but I enjoyed performing maintenance on it. It was built like a tank and an all around good bird.
(25 year airline mech.)
@@brooklynforge4591 It was the flight crews fault. Lots of controllers aren't pilots. Some are, but the majority aren't. Their job is to control airspace, not fly planes. At worst manslaughter, but charging someone who had little influence over 3 pilots does nothing to enhance future safety. The point is to save future lives. It was an accident. But you can save future lives.
@@tima.478 do you still perform maintenance on planes today? If so what is your fav plane to work on?
RIP to all those who lost their lives in this plane crash...
Indeed
Your comment likes are at 401 holy shi
Ameen.
Did the captain and everyone in the cockpit survive?
@@electroskates2434
Unfortunately not, see here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401
I guess this was when the “TOO LOW, TERRAIN” warning got introduced lol
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Personally I would have opted for a robotic arm to emerge from the ceiling to slap the captain across the face and say "Hey jackass, are we forgetting something? Do you want me to fly this plane myself or should I just give you a hand job while you kill 100 people for a lightbulb" Reminds me of Clark Griswold/Chevy Chase with the Christmas lights in National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
Very needed, these guys didn't understand what was up when there were somehow trees at 2000ft
@@keithnatanael2011 actually I'm female but thanks! :D
I don’t get how that’s funny.
If only ATC had said, “How’s it going up there? Can you please confirm your altitude? I’m registering 900 ft.”
Good Point.
It's called fate. When your time is up, nothing can be done to prevent it.
@@Robert_N Thats true. When ur time is coming Nothing u can do stop it. It called Death.
@@Robert_N Ah yes. Fate: an immutable law of thermodynamics. Doh! It was the crew becomming _fixated_ on a problem at midnight on a inky black night and _failing_ to monitor the other instruments during what amounted to IFR conditions. They controlled their own fate here. Notice the response to the crash was initiating training aimed at avoiding a similar flawed response to a similar problem, not simply shrugging and saying "That's the way the cookie crumbles." ATC should have enquired about their 1000-foot deviation from assigned altitude as well.
@@MrTitaniumDioxide Totally irrelevant.
Don't blame the lightbulb. The captain simply forgot to fly his aircraft.
Stupid effin' light bulb!!!
Some of these pilots should be Uber drivers they do not belong in a cockpit.
That was my thought exactly
@@gyro313 - It would be interesting to see how many marks against him had accumulated in 12,000+ hours.
Some of these pilots have had narrow escapes many times, been rescued by others. Like the B-52 pilot who was retiring and doing stunts for his family who were there to see his last flight, flew the aircraft in a nose dive into the ground. He was known as a hotdogger, many incidents but no one would call him down. Military hierarchy?
Some people learn from their own mistakes...that they survive. It’s best to learn from the mistakes of others.
@@algrayson8965 Happy Thanksgiving sir.
ATC: (noticed the plane is just at 900 ft).:" HI GUYS, WHAT A FANTASTIC NIGHT HERE IN MIAMI, UH?"
hahaha. precisely, like duh!!!!
It wasn't the job of the ATCs to give altitude readings to planes, particularly because those altitude readings were subject to error due to radar often giving false altitude readings. The ATC said in the report that he was waiting for another sweep of the radar, and wasn't alarmed because the crew of the plane seemed calm and in control. The investigation determined that the ATC went above and beyond what was expected of them at the time just by asking the crew if everything was okay.
@@MJS_1990 I don't know much, but I do try to be objective about the evidence at hand, and defer to the conclusions of the investigators who (of course) know far better than any of us.
@@kimifur Above and beyond? Not by any modern standards for sure. So many other videos here show ATC going above and beyond. This is minimum effort and the guy was excusing himself because "they sounded so calm".
@@DarkFilmDirector I never said by modern standards, only standards at the time. The ATCs job did not include altitude alerts, and given the equipment limitations of the ARTS III known by the controller (combined with the seemingly calm and in control response from the crew) he saw no immediate danger to the aircraft and therefore turned his attention to the other aircraft in the area. I agree that by modern standards this was nowhere near sufficient, but it's unfair to judge the ATCs response by modern standards.
My next door neighbor was on this flight. She was one of the survivors. I had a chance to meet with her a few years later. She told me all she could remember. Crazy!
bet she hasnt flown since
@@brendonhunt668 she did fly after...what are the odds of it happening again?
I was on this flight too! I died.
yeah right..My cat was in the storage compartment below when this happened
@@B3Band rest in peace.
Wow, it makes me feel awful yet thankful for the first responders who showed up and saved over seventy people....rip 🙏🏾
Wonder how many need limbs removed?
"While Eastern Airlines publicly denied their planes were haunted" I never would have thought an airline would have to release that as a public statement
And the fact that they still went ahead and removed the salvaged parts.
Topic closed! Thanks for your likes
All of the crew was busy and no one look at the altimeter
@@intantarmizi6138 exactly. Heights of carelessness.
It was pitch dark outside you couldn't see anything.
The co-pilot clearly asked "did we do something to the altimeter?", he thought while they were busy trying to figure out the issue with the landing gear, the altimeter broke.
Since no one heard the C-Chord alarm, he thought they were still at 2000ft.
It's not carelessness at all.
stupidity
Idk to blame them or not bcz we won't know the pressure they'll have in the cockpit
The ghost bit sent a chill up my spine.
RIP those who perished.
you need a massage chair amigo!
Even if one accepts that ghosts of crew members were aboard the planes, they weren't doing any harm. Eastern didn't need to remove all the salvaged parts from the wrecked plane. (It seems odd there is not mention of a ghost in a jumpseat in the cockpit.)
@@maxpenn6374 All true, but from an employee and PR perspective, it was probably a good idea to scrap the parts and remove the perceived distraction. You want everyone concentrating on flying the plane and their jobs. If they kept the parts, any incident involving those planes (even mundane) would be attributed to the plane being haunted.
you should read the book "ghost of flight 401". fantastic book.
There is no such thing as ghosts.
They even have a FLIGHT ENGINEER on board, yet the man flying the aircraft felt the need to direct his entire attention at barely important light bulb. There is literally no excuse for this.
It's because people are fuckin 'idiots'! The first officer and flight engineer couldn't even be 'TRUSTED' to change a five dollar light bulb without adult supervision. I'm faced with people with that level of incompetence all the time!
Well if the light bulb was actually correct then they couldnt land so it was kinda inportant to check if it was a bulb problem or a wheel not coming out
It’s you that can’t be trusted to supervise correctly and so you crash and burn the whole job.
He was told repeatedly that they had no fuel remaining. In this case he should have been removed from his duties.
@@beach_doggo9875 Well, they would eventually have to land, regardless. But in hindsight, since they had an engineer and a guest pilot, they should have just visually checked the landing gear and not screwed around trying to repair the light. Hindsight is 20/20. But it does go to show how even veteran pilots can make dumb mistakes.
TheFlightChannel’s videos are so realistic and dramatic. I subscribed him.
Rest in peace to those who died.
Wow nice name
@@slavboii420 beside that, I actually didn’t make up this name, I found it on the internet. It was actually the Japanese name of my favourite character (shown in my profile picture). And you’re right, that name looks cool so I decided to use it as my username.
@@TranceForLife1996 That is pretty interesting.
@@TranceForLife1996 I've got it in Japanese on a t-shirt :)
@@MIKIEC71 that’s cool
And this is what you sometimes get after logging so many hours as a pilot: complacency. And complacency is a very ugly thing, especially in the aviation business.
My wife always says humans are not geared toward repetitive actions as complacency sets in.
This is starting to become a problem with cars as well. Adaptive cruise control, lane keeping and blind spot warnings are now misleadingly marketed as "Autopilot" among other similar terms where people actually are stupid to believe they have a self driving car...and become increasingly complacent behind the wheel.
It is practically an accident waiting to occur.
Amen. If pilots were more responsive, we wouldn't have so many lives lost in crashes throughout the decades.
Very true.
Where I live, ice-fishing is a pretty common hobby. Dad used to say it is the experienced outdoorsmen who tend to fall through the thin ice and drown, because it has never happened to them in their years, and they're yet to actually use their 'ice awls' to drag themselves to the shore. In fact, some of them fail to even bring that survival tool with.
Complacency has nothing to do with the problem. There is a lot of things going on during an emergency and this is known by a pilot like myself. I have had 2 emergencies and lived as proof in here in what you read just now. Complacency is NEVER a factor in an emergency, you do not have time for that crap! If you crash your car that you have had for a long time, is it because of complacency????
I was on a flight to Miami that was behind this plane. When that plane crashed, it was breaking news and my parents thought it was the plane I was on. Had to wait a very long time for a phone to call my parents. It was so emotional. I cried for those people who lost their lives.
I'm the 19th like
Born on a Saturday in June
This flight departed from JFK at 9: 20 with 163 passengers and 13 crew members on Dec 29, 1972
The ATC not asking about their Altitude loss could have prevented the crash. And the pilots flying the plane would have prevented the crash. Trouble shoot at 5K at night makes me uncomfortable. 2K no thank you.
Unfortunately, the procedure at that time did not require ATC to warn the pilots if they were too low or high. The procedure was changed after that accident.
@ No procedures will save those, who can not think by themselves, and this is because situations never completely repeat...
@@ilsavv Obviously the major problem here was the captain, he caused the crash, that is undeniable. The ATC procedure is a last resort safety method, and it is obviously not 100% guaranteed to work.
we need to prosecute that Controller on duty.. give me the details of the ATC crew on duty at night! Do i have to do all these by myself?
@@fidelcatsro6948 Prosecute? How the hell was this ATCs fault? The pilots were too fixated on a broken bulb that they managed to crash their plane. ATC had nothing to do with this.
I worked at Eastern airlines as a rookie mechanic in the mid 1980s. The L-1011 was my favorite aircraft and they broke a lot, so I spent many hours working on them. An unusual feature they have is that the galley was below the main deck and is accessed by 2 service elevators. I distinctly remember a woman on the cleaning crew who was absolutely terrified to go down to the galley. She said she saw a ghost from flight 401 there once. I liked it down there- it was quiet, you could take a nap and the elevator moving would wake you before the boss found you asleep.
I'm the 7th like born on a Saturday on June 17.
This flight departed from JFK at 9:20 with 163 passengers and 13 crew members
Many years ago, I worked on AC313, which had a incident that caused the flight deck to be damaged. The replacement was from AC310, that aircraft was reportedly haunted. It did not have the parts replaced because Eastern was out of business by then. You could tell by the beefy sheet metal repair all around the fuselage.
Part of the "haunted" legend was a supposed apparition by F/E Repo, in the door of a microwave oven, in which he asserted that "there will never be another crash of a L-1011". Which was put to rest by the crash of DAL 191 at DFW, in a microburst accident.
There was a made-for-TV movie about this crash where Repo was portrayed by Ernest Borgnine, IIRC.
This is another interesting illustration of how most tragedies are not due to one massive mistake, but rather an accumulation of errors and oversights that are small in themselves but lead up to a major catastrophe, like dominoes tumbling into each other.
“Hey ATC. I’m gonna do a flyby. Can you tell me if my nose gear is down?” 🤦🏻♂️
....and locked??
@@thefreedomguyuk if the light test shows it’s a bad bulb, statistically, it’s also locked too.
Pitch dark. No moon. 1972 miami airport. They would need a pretty strong beam to light that thing up
@@vahebaldemian even in pitch dark and no moon, you can still see the nose landing gear light from the tower.
@@norcalandrew that's the first thing that came to my mind as well. And im not even a pilot. A simple pass and look
I was a kid and we were living in Miami when this happened. I had never been on a commercial jet before. We read every article in The Miami Herald about it and all the local TV news coverage! What those poor 1st responders had to go through I can't imagine. A classmate's father was in upper management at Eastern airlines at the time and we heard a lot about it at school. So sorry for all of the losses.
So sad those people lost their lives due to a broken light bulb. That is just absolutely crazy and totally avoidable.
@@xonx209 Probably because the accident happened in 1972...
@@xonx209 LEDs were not sold, not used for the public as a lighting equipment in 1972
Plethora of mistakes released by a broken light bulb.
The accident happened due to pilot incompetence.
Think things through before you post, please.
@@xonx209 I hope your not a pilot LOL
The fact they saw ghosts of the flight crew and stopped after they removed the spare parts hits deep wtf
Yeah i woudlnt fly that plane if i would saw. i wonder did those planes still fly
Not only that but would take a lot of employees to even admit what they saw and not fear getting fired.
@@gyro313 yeah
@@gyro313 many employees and passengers saw the ghosts. far too many for it to be made up.
My mother was in the airline industry back then and told me the 'ghost' story when I was a kid. It was a weird one.
So the approach controller notices a widebody airliner flying at 900 feet and says "How are things coming along out there."
I hope that dude was fired immediately.
They simply forgot the basic rule: fly the plane.
Kurt Russell: What am I forgetting?
Halle Berry: WHO CARES JUST FLY THE PLANE!!
Executive Decision 1996
ok when is your next flight, captain?
YEAH.!!! FLY THE F-N AIRPLANE
Aviate. Navigate. Communicate.
@@tomboard1 More like illuminate, navigate, communicate, amirite.
Well that was a shit-show of epic proportions. I set the cruise control in my car, but I still occasionally have a peek at the speedometer. And, the ATC might have wanted to mention that they were losing altitude. Ineptitude everywhere.
Try doing the same when your car has 50 different instruments and indicators, is meant to be driven by 2 but you are driving both wheels and are hurtling through air at 500mph
@@pepepls6660 Give me a break. Someone should have looked at the bloody Altimeter.
@@pepepls6660 they are trained to manage those many tasks. Issue is they forgot to stick to the basics
@@GhostWatcher2024 Well it was simply pilot complacency. I think the biggest part was the bit where the lights were forgotten to be switched on... never mind the gear indicator light. It was at that moment it was all hands on deck to see if the gear was down and locked... as this was critical for a safe landing, assuming the alternative was death. Even with the mistakes of the autopilot and not checking instruments, they would have simply had more time, and likely communicate with ATC, and had the confidence to go back to check instruments as they turned back.
Sounds like fate - even the ATC could have mentioned about the drop in altitude which would have prevented this.
Seems easy on hindsight..we have to realise that many of the techniques you are talking about and all the CRM were not available in the 70s. Also the automation was far less. A lot of CRM and time management techniques we take for granted today were formed after such accidents and investigations. They had to die for us to learn from it.
After watching so many of these videos & seeing how many different things can go wrong so easily, I will NEVER fly again.
Try watching Mentour Pilot. He goes to great details of every air crash and he always emphasizes that behind every accident there are a lot of lessons taken that make the aviation industry safer nowadays.
I was scared enough before but now I know why I was scared in the first place😂
In domestic commercial aviation there has not been a loss of life in (9) years. Domestic automobile traffic kills 35K passengers every year. Which option makes the most sense to you? Sorry, I don't have pedestrian loss of life numbers to quote here.
How sad, they were really just trying to make sure it was safe to land. I'm glad they added additional training after, and it touches my heart that his spirit wanted to keep flying with them.
Suddenly turned into paranormal activity at the end, that threw me for a loop.
The paranormal activity was true. Because there were a lot of parts that were undamaged in the crash, they were used on other aircraft and it seems that every aircraft that received these parts were the ones reporting the activity. Eastern Airlines tried to cover up the stories, but it wasn't until Frank Borman (Eastern CEO) had an encounter with the flight engineer (Don Repo) from the doomed plane and the full bodied apparition was seated in one of the aircraft seats. Borman told him to get off of his plane and Repo turn to him and said no, you get off of mine and then disappeared before his eyes. From my understanding, at that point, Borman ordered all of the parts removed that had been used from 401. After that, the encounters pretty much ceased. This story has always fascinated me : )
@@stephensams709 the CEO also saw the ghost?
@[Redacted] I think what they're trying to say is some people believe that objects hold memories of events that happened around them, thats why sometimes you'll enter a home or building and get a bad vibe from it because something bad happened there at one point. This is all what some people believe so don't take it as 100% truth
They made a movie about it - The Ghost of Flight 401" starring Ernest Borgnine.
@@stephensams709 Fascinating indeed! The fact that they eventually removed the spare parts is very telling.
Wasn't this the flight where some of the survivors picked up some pretty whacky bugs due to their wounds coming into contact with Everglades swamp water? I seem to remember something about them having to be placed in hyperbaric chambers to fight the infections?
Yes 8 of them develoved gas gangrene from Clostridium perfringens, an anerobic pathogen. The only cure is placement in a hyperbaric chamber for many hours. This forces oxygen in the wounds which kills the pathogen. Unfortunately very few hospitals have them.
The doctors had to hunt all over Florida for enough chambers to treat all the patients.
I was about 14 years old when that happened just west of where I live, and I remember it well, this whole town was in shock, everyone knew someone that worked fo Eastern back then, Miami was the base and it was a big airline. No one knew why it went down back then, not for a long time, that plane was new and they blamed the plane for awhile, but no matter what the reason, it sure made for one hell of a bad night for a lot of people here.
One of the saddest crashes ever.
How tf do 4 people screw up on a lightbulb that doesn't work?! I can't comprehend this, it makes me so sad😔
CRM concepts were not implemented at the time, and actually this accident is shown to pilot in ground school classes around the world, as an example of what NOT to do in a crisis!
yes, it's not even need crm, i mean after they did the christmas tree test, it was obvious the lightbulbs burned..
5 People screwed up...ATC screwed also up by using small talk instead of asking the pilots to verify altitude. I think the air traffic controller is partially responsible for this crash as well.
@@mikefly562 Unfortunately, the procedure at that time did not require ATC to warn the pilots if they were too low. The procedure was changed after that accident though.
Question for the pilots among us - how many of you would have just gone ahead and landed after the "Christmas tree" test showed the nose gear light not working? I realize there was a CHANCE that the light was out AND the gear was also malfunctioning, but what are the odds? Heck it was a brand new aircraft.
10 miles from the airport at a height of 900 feet and descending and the controller didn't bother to mention this fact, given they were assigned an altitude of 2000ft previously? He was just as negligent as the men flying the plane.
I got that too.
agree
At the NTSB public hearings in March 1973, Mr. Johnson (photo: left) was asked why he didn't warn EAL 401 of its low altitude when he first noticed the 900 foot reading on his radar screen. Mr. Johnson testified that he wanted to see another sweep of the radar before making any judgements, that the readouts often differed from the actual altitude. "It's like when your TV picture rolls onece, you don't unplug it and take it to the TV man. You wait for a pattern of operation." He went on to say that in his opinion, the pilots appeared to be in command of the flight, as evidenced by their calm demeanor and rapid response to his instructions and questions. "There was no indication that the crew was unaware of its altitude," Johnson testified. This statement drew attention from an examiner who asked, "how would they indicate that they weren't aware of their altitude?" Johnson stammered for a moment and then sheepishly said, "I don't know."Johnson's supervisor, Carl E. Joritz, Chief of the Miami Air Traffic Control Center, later pointed out that it is not the controller's duty to monitor the distance between the airplane and the ground, but rather the distance between airplanes. Although technically true at the time, the supervisor admitted that all controllers have a moral obligation to alert flight crews of an emergency situation. When Johnson was asked if he was treating Flight 401 as if it were an emergency situation, Johnson replied, "no." Joritz also testified that pilot groups have asked controllers not to bother them if they are having trouble landing.
Ironically, on June 21, 1973, Charles Johnson was on duty in the Miami tower when a small plane crashed in the Everglades after having its radio tuned to the wrong frequency. Strangely, killed onboard the small plane was William Gregg, who was onboard another small plane December 29th and had reported seeing Flight 401 crash to the Miami tower.
I'm a retired United captain. We studied this accident for many years in recurrent training because it's a classic example of an entire cockpit crew getting involved in a minor problem while no one is flying the aircraft.
As it should be studied so as not to repeat it.
It’s only minor now cause we have the facts. They didn’t know and got distracted with the doubts.
Thank God for Bud Marquis who was out there frog hunting that night and saw 401 crash and head his airboat to the sight. His head lamp helped the HH-52s from USCG Air Station Miami home in on his light. One of the 401 USCG rescue Helos is at the USS Intrepid CV-11 museum in NYC.
"THE FLIGHT CHANNEL" is my all time favourite. This channel is the best.
And rest in peace to all those who lost their lives..
RIP
No matter what the emergency, the pilots number one job is to fly the airplane. It’s easy to look back and criticize when you’re not in such a situation, but it shows how important it is to be in control at all times if possible. CRM was a very good reaction to this disaster. It has saved countless lives over the years. Great video.
A burnt out bulb on a 3 month old airplane? Looks like salvaging parts was happening long before this crash. Great video!
@Geoffrey Ludkin
Defects happen even on new items.
wrong it's just four months old If you think I am wrong go to 1:02
@@AnhTran-ok3bd I can promise you that I am not going to go to 1:02 to see if you’re correct. The truth of the matter is that I don’t much care and, oh yeah, I have a life.
@@geoffreyludkin8672 okay
@@AnhTran-ok3bd, you are trying to say that the plane was built to last three and a half months? And that's why it crashed?
I know Alitalia had the same issue and they did a low approach. The ATC offered that but the captain refused sighting their SOP doesn’t allow it. Then ATC said “how about I clear you for the approach and then Instruct you to go around” and the captain agreed. They did the low approach and the ground team observed the landing gear to be down and the plane landed safely at JFK. I love how everyone in the aviation field come together to ensure the safety of every single soul.
All ATC is trained to also be part of the CRM whenever CRM is employable
The problem was that it was a moonless night. Spotters on the ground could not see the landing gear in the dark.
EPIC. This crash dominated the 1970's, the book 'The Ghost of Flight 401' was a huge bestseller. It was also a decade during which many took their first flight.
Absolutely! I remember this crash and watched the movie. Ernest Borgnine rocked the role!
@@threetreasures7698 Great movie. When his wife smelled his cologne, that gave me the creeps
I remember reading it back in the day. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, the number of eyewitness accounts was pretty impressive. Even a skeptic would be surprised at the length and size of what they'd chalk up to mass hysteria.
This story fascinated me as a kid. I remember watching the movie and couldn't believe how and why the plane crashed. I was hoping you would do video about this at some point. Thanks very much! Keep up the great work.
there's a movie? like a real honest to god feature length film/short film? what's it called?
Uh i think its called the ghost of flight 401 its not available on youtube though.
You guys do a remarkable job. It's so great to have such incredible graphics, with no attempt at ridiculous re-enactments.
Nice thing about the plane simulator games. I think using the games is a very clever idea I like it 😁
I was flight dispatcher of Eastern 2.0 and later flight attendant of Eastern 3.0, I knew about this story, told by one of the pilots of that time !
I remember it, too. Dad was station manager for National in Savannah. Sad day.
Don't lie
Edit : stop giving him likes, he's lying just to get likes !!!
man the engineer and his partner got caught under the cockpit looking for that thing they were looking for, no chance of surviving...
There was. One of them made it.
Actually the two people that were down under the cockpit bay survived the initial crash, flight engineer Repo died at the Hospital,
while Technical Officer Donaedo was the only cockpit crew member to survive and recover from his injuries.
@@coltspacers2065 Nope. all died. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401
@@Velehokala it says donaedo survived. Takes a bit of reading but it’s there
@@bripez oh ok i got confused at the first text in the wikipedia
You should have atleast 4 million subscribers. The graphics and the information is amazing! I dont know how you get all the information about the crashes and the planes but keep working on it. It's very entertaining. 👍
have you heard of Flight Simulator, the long-running computer game franchise?
Why am I watching this while sitting at O'Hare waiting to board my flight to JFK....geezus.
You are very brave!!😱
Hope it was a short flight ✈️
Hahaha I love this channel, and everytime I watch it the day before I fly somewhere I'm like "why am I doing this to myself"
YeS it makes u not wanting to fly.
Between approximately 2010 to 2017, if you had flown three US commercial flights a day, 8,766 flights, you would still be alive.
And since there was only one fatality incident in 2018, and only one fatality incident in 2019, if you continued flying three flights a day, another 2,190 flights, the odds are overwhelming that you would still be alive. That’s about 11,000 flights.
But go on being a scaredy-cat. It’s amusing.
L-1011 was the first plane I flew on in 1974 ... from Boston to Orlando, Florida and back. It was a beautiful plane inside: a wide body with seating of 2-4-2 if I remember right. It was like flying in a living room.
Back in 1978 they made a movie about this, I was 12 or 13 years old. The flight engineer was played by Ernest Borgnine. His ghost appeared on several other aircraft that used the salvaged parts. At one point he stated there would never be another crash on an L1011, and supposedly the cabin voice recorder caught it. This movie scared the crap out of me, mainly because it was based on true events. I have never forgotten it.
Why did ATC not ask them why they were gradually descending??
Yeah, probably it would give different outcomes then .
Because in 70s radars often showed incorrect height value, and tower did not have to ask about altitude in this time
Altitude readings in the 1970s were unreliable from the ground. The most reliable altitude information was on the dial that nobody on the fucking plane bothered to read.
Wait a minute, the co-pilot flying the plane couldn't see anything outside the cockpit due to the moonless night. That means he had three things to look at, the plane's heading, air speed, and altitude. Unfortunately, he failed to do that.
This is the best channel I've stumbled upon in recent times. Being a commercial Pilot myself, I get goosebumps as to how accurately the scenarios have been recreated! Huge Regards to the creator!
Glad you are watching my friend.
@@cutehumor lol me too😄
Why is it that the very first step in flying an airplane; "Aviate", is the step that seems to be most often forgotten?
CRM didn’t exist back then so wasn’t drilled into pilots heads
@@tomstravels520 Yes, but the axiom "aviate, navigate and communicate and in that order" is pretty old. I'm in my late 60s and heard it as a kid. I guess autopilots have a lot to answer for. When you have a bit of kit that 99.99% of the time can be relied upon to do the basics for you it must be hard to keep concentrating for the 0.01% time when it doesn't (and now we have this problem in cars with Joe Average at the wheel!)
:) It's not so much that it's the most forgotten step, but it's absolutely the step that is most noticed if you do forget it. (And to be fair, people screw up radio and navigation all the time, and mostly nobody cares. As it should be.)
Aviate, navigate, communicate.
It wasn't the lamp, it was the failure of the crew to follow Aviation Rule #1.
People also look for complexity in problems many times it is simple.
A light bulb not working ...broken light bulb
In a comedy TV series the wife complained to the husband about the vacuum was not working, as he walked away he said ' have you switched it on at the wall' .
You know what’s crazy? The pilots experience did them in. If it was me as a rookie first time pilot never having flown ever, and I see the altitude is wrong on the altimeter, I’m immediately pulling up a little just in case....but instead they started asking questions....smh.
Captain : "hey , what's happening here" ....very , very scary .
I know 😨
he didn't even say "PULL UP!"
Your channel has been around for years, and UA-cam has just decided to recommend your vids 😂. Great content as always. Look forward to more. o7
My airplane, a 1978 Piper Arrow III, was rented and flown by a commercial pilot student with his flight instructor when, on approach the nose gear light went out. They left the area to burn off fuel and returned, did a flyby and got the standard response from the tower "gear looks down, unable to confirm lock". The aircraft entered a normal traffic pattern and for some reason the two pilots on board attempted once more to mess with the gear. What they forgot was to always fly the airplane. N6471C stalled about 50 feet above the runway and dropped onto the pavement, pushing both main gears up through the wings. Luckily there were no fatalities, one pilot had severe back injuries and the other was able to walk away from the ruined aircraft. Like the TriStar the only problem with the aircraft was the nose gear lamp had burned out. This video brought back memories from the early 90's and reinforces the primary rule of incidents and emergencies - Fly The Airplane.
I've enjoyed watching you refine your production skills over time with these videos. You present the facts, transitions are smooth, and you describe events in ways that are not only accurate, but respectful to those who were lost along with their grieving families. Great video.
I feel there should be outboard mounted cameras to monitor landing gear status,wings status,engines,landing lights and the such as a secondary safety system to help avoid such preventable accidents like this.
This was 1970’s technology, we have more than one way to confirm if landing gear is down now without needing cameras. Look up the LGCIU for Airbus
Everyone, please think of what just occurred to me - that in the years following 1972, before there was anything like the internet, rumors about this plane creating hauntings were freely cycling around!
The graphics in this one are stellar. I've never seen through the windows into the aircraft with such detail and clarity. Good job.
You should see Microsoft Flight Sim 2020.
Captain Loft was found during the autopsy to have an undetected brain tumor, in an area that controls vision. However, the NTSB concluded that the captain's tumor did not contribute to the accident.
Even if that were an issue doesn’t forgive the other two bozos. They ignited the chime warning of altitude change.
@@thamnosma Dont speak smack about dead people
@@thamnosma Wrong, the captain did.
@@kerezymaii If the dead people obviously did such a poor job that they killed a hundred people as they got killed, do you really think we should keep silent about the behavior of such people? How are we (as in humankind) ever going to improve if we pretend that it's not okay to speak about prior accidents?
@@MikkoRantalainen We should speak about their behaviour in a constrictive way. But I dont think bashing them pointlesspy and throwing out insults is nice
ATC would ask "you seem to be at 800 ft on my radar, check your altitude" instead of saying "how are you doing up there?" and no one will die!
For those who have not read the book, please do so, it’s an amazing read and makes you think more deeply about life and death.
Please share the title or link to pdf if available, thankyou
That is a chilling story about 2 of the crew being seen on other empty planes that had spare parts of the crash, and then disappeared when they removed the spare parts from them. Obviously it's heartbreaking to watch this accident that was due to inattention of the flight controls...with a crew of 3 in which two them could have addressed the landing gear problem while one of them flew the plane. Many of the older crashes on this channel seem to be due to crews either neglecting certain things or taking them for granted, disorganization and ineffective communication when a problem arises, or a the flight captain acting solo in dangerous situations. I'm glad CRM has come a long way since then.
It’s hard to read all the comments on here implying the pilots were stupid or inept. These little mistakes and oversights can add up for horrible consequences when those holes all line up perfectly. But the fact is, the aviation industry is one of the safest industries in existence today, along with nuclear power. If all these people are so quick to demonize pilots, they better never go to the hospital again. Four in 10 hospitalized patients experience harm during their stay.
RIP
To the 101 passengers and crew of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401
The people who perished in the everglades still haunt that area.
Do the ghosts wear bell bottoms?
Better get scooby doo to investigate.
Nobody haunts anything because there's no such thing as ghosts or spirits or anything paranormal its all BS.
@@mateothewizard1024 You can say what you want but Spirits are real and so is demons! There among us!! It's rare if you see them
@@azareya19
If you can demonstrate 1 demon or ghost, you will be famous, many have tried, none succeeded, they don't exist, imaginary foolishness.
The ghost sightings from salvaged and refitted parts is creeeepy!
Those ghost sightings are fake:
*Those 'sightings' were just complaints from passengers and air crews who were both creeped out and pissed at the odacity that Eastern would re-fit their good L1011s with likely broken parts from a deadly plane crash!*
-Would you fly in a jetplane that was fixed with broken parts from a lethal accident?
@@MainMite06 How do you know 😱
Jus sayin none of us were there to confirm 🤷🏼♀️
This was a recommended channel and I’m so happy it was placed on my feed. These videos are amazing! Tyfs 🙏🏽👏🏽👏🏽❤️
The pilot ghost story gave me chills!
I cannot believe that they removed perfectly good parts because some morons were spreading 'ghost' rumors... good grief!
You might want to read the book :The Ghost Of Flight 401 its good imo.
@@gilbertfranklin1537 whether true or not, the rumors got so bad that the CEO of Eastern airlines threatened job termination to anyone caught spreading the rumors.
@@gilbertfranklin1537 Because they were true.
@@kennyduarte783 They were true. Frank Borman felt that it would damage an already not so stellar reputation that EA had in the industry. So he played down the sightings, and ordered any crew who saw the apparitions to see the company shrink, or risk termination.
3 crew get caught going down a rabbit hole and forget job #1 - FLY THE PLANE
How incredibly tragic, my heart goes out to everyone affected.
If I was the ATC I would tell them “hey flight 401 you guys are losing altitude from 2000 to 900”
I think a bit more professional way to do it is just to say "Flight 401, we read you at 900 feet, confirm?"
Because in 70s radars often showed incorrect height value, and tower did not have to ask about altitude in this time
Correct. I don't know how it was then, but these days ATC will tell you you're XXX feet below/above your assigned altitude.
I would’ve said “ we are at 900 ft are we clear”
I wouldve shouted: ''Idiots didnt i tell you to maintain 2000feet, do i need my cat to remind you?''
I was planning to leave ATC job anyway and drive for Uber..
State of commercial flying in the 70's. I remember whenever my parents had to fly back then they were concerned enough that they each took separate flights because they did want not to leave my 10 year old brother without a parent. Thank goodness aircraft avionics, reliability, and most of all pilot training have improved to a large degree over the years.
My dad was a TWA pilot. He and my mom took separate flights when they were going somewhere.
As someone who lives in Florida, one of the last places you want to crash is the Everglades. I've flown our Piper over it and watched the gators. It's quite common today for airboat pilots to carry radios that can listen in to air frequencies. Often, they are the first on scene after an incident.
It's dangerous to watch football on TV while flying...oh wait, you mean the small-g gators...
@@RatPfink66 I did. But given that I live in Florida, gators is almost always auto capitalized. Lol. Thanks for pointing that out.
@@FokkeWulfe No prob.
Same bro… the last place you want to die is on an airplane in the Everglades.
@@RatPfink66 But don't football players have trouble swimming with all that gear?
The modern ground proximately call out would have saved this plane.
Not having dipshit pilots might have also helped.
'' PULL UP ''
''' PULL UP ''
'' PULL UP ''
''' PULL UP ''
@@fidelcatsro6948 Why didn't the "PULL UP " audio not activate when it was at 900ft? Did it
not exist at that time , just bells/chimes?
@@rainerrain9689 That's correct. GPWS did not exist at the time.
@@TWA-km9wt Thanks
Your intros are always awesome. Gets your attention by adding a sense of drama and suspense. 👍
Why didn’t the pilot fly past the control tower and they could see if the nose gear was down?
Even if that was practical, I think the issue wasn't just whether it was down or not, but whether or not it was down and locked.
At night too
It wasn't an F-14 from Top Gun, you can't do flyby's in a commercial jet...duh
@@fcbarlow1995 Not everybody is an aviation expert. They were asking a simple question.
@@fcbarlow1995 Who the hell said you couldnt?
I remembered when this happened. Wow, brings back memories. Burned out light on a brand new aircraft
I always wonder what the first hour is like after a crash like that. Ripped apart bodies, people screaming, agonal breathing and people who are in shock and traumatized. Literal nightmare.
And the smell...
@Peter Evans just curious as to how much that must suck. I'm intrigued by realism, people don't think about those moments after where people are still hanging by a thread. It ain't like the movies.
@Peter Evans I've fine with any reason.
Back then, captains were gods in their craft, and nobody did anything or took assertive control unless the captain approved it. CRM was unknown in 1972. And, fwiw, it took the Tenerife disaster for airlines to get serious about it. Also, something should have sounded in the cockpit when the autopilot was disengaged by the stick jostle, a warning beep (was there one?).
Something else: when they lit up all the lights in the cockpit, the nose gear light should've illuminated, whether or not the gear was down. What are the odds of both the gear and its warning light being f---ed up simultaneously for unrelated reasons? About a quintillion to one. They should've prepped for an emergency landing and gone on in.
As for the ghosts: was stewardesses and maybe pilots seeing them. Some of the girls wouldn't work alone in the galley of an L1011 at night because of that. However, that could be suggestion. Were there any passengers who saw Repo and the pilot, and if so, did they know about the incident and legend beforehand? If not, then you would have something... :O
"About a quintillion to one. They should've prepped for an emergency landing and gone on in."
Exactly. Planes can land without the nose wheel down. They ignored their instruments, the Christmas tree lights test, and the warning sound. For pilots with that much experience, it's unforgivable.
Beautiful Graphics, Great Detail and great Music in these recreations I love them well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Always impressed with the simulated graphics in your videos. May I suggest that you change the font to something more readable? This works well for titles and timestamps, but not for a paragraph of text.
It's Microsoft Flight Simulator, he just recreates the flights in game.
Those little small distractions will get you everytime
Why'd they do the "Christmas tree" test if they weren't gonna listen to the results it gave them? There was only a minuscule chance that both the light was burned out and the gear damaged. Even though he was new to the plane the pilot should have recognized this.
At the time, they rather be safe than sorry, and assume a double-failure is possible. Makes sense to me. Especially if there's potentially a way to safely mitigate it, which they did by sending crew underneath to get a visual. They thought they were at 2000'. It's unfortunate that the captain nudged the yoke to pitch the plane down, and crew was distracted with troubleshooting the problem when the altitude alarm went off.
They were following correct procedure for the nose gear indicator failure, but in the process had a cascade of errors that often leads to accidents. First they jammed up the light bulb socket trying to replace the bulb, then failed to illuminate the nose gear when a crewman tried to visually verify it, meanwhile thinking the autopilot had the altitude locked in for them while they were distracted with these difficulties when it actually did not.
@@onemoremisfit - Too bad the airline wouldn't spend a few extra cents for a “LL” (Long Life) bulb.
Just kidding. I know that airplanes don't use 194 automotive bulbs...do they?
Now they’re all LEDs and glass panels, I suppose.
because the pilots were Atheists, Agnostics and Noahides...
if someone had flown the plane while others inspected the nose gear they could have landed safely, but
apparently," step 1, one of the pilots fly the plane, stupid, while the rest of the crew work on the problem" had not yet been added to the emergency procedures manuals.