Imagine you are pilots on a flight with an airliner that is state of the art and then your simply, stupid mistake kills most of the passengers on board. Would you feel guilty? Would you take that guilt, that responsibility to the grave with you? Many of us have flown on airplanes for either pleasure or business. How has your experience been? Can you imagine flying at night, maybe some turbulence, then a ghost appears right in front of you! Others have not been so fortunate. For the passengers and crew on certain airline flights a few decades ago, the friendly skies seemed more like the frightening skies. You sit back in your seat. Happy to have the seat next to you empty. Empty? That empty seat is now “occupied” by something or someone, not of this world. You don’t understand how he got there. You are not crazy, not been drinking and you are wide awake. You realize you aren’t dreaming, you ask the gentleman if he’s a pilot. He doesn’t answer and just stares into the distance without even acknowledging your existence. A flight attendant walks by, notices him too, and makes eye contact with you. Now both of you are wondering who this man is! Before the flight attendant can speak a word, the pilot disappears into thin air. Thanks for listening to our very first episode of AV8R Case Files. Please also check out the RenegadeAV8R Show. I am David Costa, the RenegadeAV8R and I appreciate the opportunity to entertain you with this week's episode!
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AV8R Case Files
Show #001 - The Ghost of Flight 401
Welcome to the AV8R Case Files. Do you like spooky stories? Strange but true? Ghosts, extraterrestrial, or maybe just fun entertaining stories? Intrigue and sometimes controversy? Congratulations, you came to the right place.
My name is David Costa, I AM The RenegadeAV8R. I am your host on the AV8R Case Files and of The RenegadeAV8R Radio Show. I am also a jet airshow pilot flying a civilian-owned military jet at airshows all over the USA. Maybe I will get a chance to meet you. I would welcome that.
So strap in, grab a beverage or a snack, and let’s explore this week’s spooky story. Our stories have an AV8R theme each week, but you need not be a pilot to enjoy what my wife and I put together for you.stories that will capture your attention....come over to the Darkside of aviation...Ladies and Gentlemen...AV8R Case Files, episode ONE.
Story: The GHOST of Flight 401
Have you ever seen a ghost? I have. I have seen ghosts, I have seen black shadow men. As a pilot, I have never had a ghost on any of my flights, at least, not that I am aware of.
Many of us have flown on airplanes for either pleasure or business. How has your experience been? Can you imagine flying at night, maybe some turbulence, then a ghost appears right in front of you! Others have not been so fortunate. For the passengers and crew on certain airline flights a few decades ago, the friendly skies seemed more like the frightening skies.
You sit back in your seat. Happy to have the seat next to you empty. Empty? That empty seat is now “occupied” by something or someone, not of this world.
You don’t understand how he got there. You are not crazy, not been drinking and you are wide awake. You realize you aren’t dreaming, you ask the gentleman if he’s a pilot. He doesn’t answer and just stares into the distance without even acknowledging your existence.
A flight attendant walks by, notices him too, and makes eye contact with you. Now both of you are wondering who this man is! Before the flight attendant can speak a word, the pilot disappears into thin air. You then ask the flight attendant if you are nuts? She reassures you that if you are nuts, so is she.
If you were an airline passenger during the early 1970’s you AND a ghost could have been on the same flight together! This happened at least 20 times on board different passenger flights. Passengers, flight attendants, and an airline vice president all claim to have seen one of two different pilots disappear into thin air. Even today, no one can explain the presence of these ghostly pilots.
Before I tell you more about these ghostly pilots, let me start at the beginning of the story.
There are a ton of theories on ghosts. To most of us, a ghost was once alive on this plane, just like you and I, but they are stuck. By choice or otherwise. If you are a ghostly expert and want to tell me more, go ahead and call, 888-366-5256 or send me a message through the RenegadeAV8R website.
BACK to the story.
Do you remember Eastern Airlines? Eastern Airlines was one of the Big Four Airlines at the time. They operated from 1926-1991, but now Eastern Airlines has started up again, under a whole new operating certificate. In the early 1970’s this was one of THE airlines to travel on.
Eastern Airlines was started and headed by a World War I ace, Eddie Rickenbacker. At the time of Flight 401, Eastern was the “official airline” of the newly opened Walt Disney World! Eastern Airlines had a near-monopoly on the route between New York City and Miami. Eastern Airlines had all kinds of management and union problems and ceased operations 19 January 1991. As a matter of fact, the reservations agents were still taking reservations up until the night before they shut down, having no idea the airline would close its doors.
The ghostly story of Eastern Airlines Flight 401, began on December 29th, 1972. Eastern Airlines had added a new aircraft to its fleet. The L1011, known as the Tri-star was added to the line in the past 4 months. It was the most modern and technologically advanced aircraft of the time. The Tristar was the pride of the Eastern Airlines Fleet. They were a launch customer for this early wide-body jet airliner. At the time, the L1011 was a state of the art aircraft.
This from the Lockheed Martin website:
“On the runway, the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar was an undeniable beauty. With its large, curved nose, low-set wings, and graceful swept tail, it looked as sleek as a dolphin. But in flight, the L-1011 was nothing short of a miracle, the first commercial airliner capable of flying itself from takeoff to landing.”
The L1011 could carry as many as 250 passengers. It was a luxury airplane. With unheard-of luxuries for its time. It had glare-resistant windows, full-sized closets, and a below deck galley, with two elevators. Passengers ate better back then too, dining on filet mignon and lamb chops. Pay particular attention to those below deck galleys. I will get to them, later. (evil laugh)
Passengers loved riding in it, thanks to a unique engine configuration that reduced sound in the cabin. Flight crews appreciated its extra-wide aisles and overhead bins. But it was TriStar’s pilots who had access to its most thrilling feature: an advanced fly-by-wire automatic flight control system (AFCS).
Tristar pilots simply had to dial altitude and course changes into the flight control system and monitor their instruments, and the L-1011 would fly and land on its own, descending smoothly onto the runway by locking in to an airport’s radio beacons.
This might not seem like a big deal today, but in the early 1970’s. This airliner was THE modern airliner, with all the bells and whistles.
On May 25, 1972, veteran test pilots Anthony LeVier and Charles Hall transported 115 crew members, employees, and reporters on a 4-hour, 13- minute flight from Palmdale, California, to Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C., with the TriStar’s AFCS feature engaged from takeoff roll to landing. It was a groundbreaking moment: the first cross-country flight without the need for human hands on the controls. Fly-by-wire technology was here to stay.
Thanks to its impressive autopilot feature, the TriStar was given special clearance by the FAA to land during severe weather conditions. Whereas other wide-bodied jets had to be diverted to alternate airports, L-1011passengers could rest assured that they would touch down precisely where they were scheduled to land.
When peole were talking about ‘the airplane that flies itself” this is the airplane that started that. People are still required to fly airplanes, even to this day almost 50 years later and people (last I checked) are still making mistakes. -----at least as far as I know.
Dubbed the Whisperliner by Eastern Airlines due to its quiet takeoffs and a noticeable lack of noise in its passenger cabin, the production of L-1011 continued until 1983. The L-1011 fleet had a remarkable in-service rate that reached 98.1 percent reliability.
But the financial troubles proved too much to overcome. A total of 250 TriStar jets were produced by Lockheed, and the L-1011 marked the company’s final commercial passenger airliners. But the company exited on a high note, having created, in one pilot’s words, “the most intelligent airliner ever to fly.”
The flight was under the command of Captain Robert Albin (Bob) Loft, age 55, a veteran pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern. Captain Loft had been with the airline for 32 years and had accumulated a total of 29,700 flight hours throughout his flying career. He had logged 280 hours in the L-1011. His flight crew included First Officer Albert John (Bert) Stockstill, 39, who had 5,800 hours of flying experience (with 306 of them in the L-1011), and Second Officer (flight engineer) Donald Louis (Don) Repo, 51, who had 15,700 hours of flying experience, with 53 of them in the L-1011. A company employee—technical officer Angelo Donadeo, 47, returning to Miami from an assignment in New York—accompanied the flight crew for the journey, but was officially an off-duty "non-revenue passenger"
Flight 401, took off from Kennedy International Airport in New York at 9:20 p.m. on Dec. 29, 1972. Aboard were 13 crew members and 163 holiday travelers. The flight was destined to Miami. The mood onboard the flight was upbeat as passengers and crew looked forward to ringing in the New Year in the Florida sunshine.
The flight was uneventful — until it approached MIA.
The flight was routine until 11:32pm, when the plane began its approach into Miami International Airport.
After lowering the gear, First Officer Stockstill noticed that the landing gear indicator, a green light identifying that the nose gear is properly locked in the "down" position, had not illuminated. The pilots cycled the landing gear, but still failed to get the confirmation light.
Loft, (the Captain) ordered the landing gear lowered. But an indicator light failed to confirm it was down and locked. The cockpit radioed the tower. “It looks like we’re gonna have to circle; we don’t have a light on yet.”
The jet circled west over the Everglades at 2,000 feet as the cockpit crew spent the final four minutes fixated on whether the problem was a burned-out $12 bulb or a faulty landing gear.
Second Officer Repo was dispatched to the avionics bay beneath the flight deck, also referred to as the “hell hole”, to confirm via a small porthole if the landing gear was indeed down.[4]:4
Fifty seconds after reaching their assigned altitude, Captain Loft instructed First Officer Stockstill to put the L-1011 on autopilot.[4]:4
For the next eighty seconds, the plane maintained level flight. Thinking the problem was simply a burned-out bulb, Capt. Bob Loft and First Officer Bert Stockstill tried to replace the gear-indicator light.
In the process, one of the pilots accidentally bumped the control column, turning off the automatic pilot.Then, the aircraft dropped 100 feet , and then again flew level for two more minutes, after which it began a descent so gradual it could not be perceived by the crew.[4]:4 In the next 70 seconds, the plane lost only 250 feet , but this was enough to trigger the altitude warning C-chord chime located under the engineer's workstation.[4]:4
The engineer (Repo) was still below, and no indication was heard of the pilots' voices recorded on the CVR that they heard the chime. In another 50 seconds, the plane was at half its assigned altitude.[4]:5
As Stockstill started another turn, onto 180°, he noticed the discrepancy. The following conversation was recovered from the flight voice recorder later:
Stockstill: We did something to the altitude.
Loft: What?
Stockstill: We're still at 2,000 feet, right?
Loft: Hey—what's happening here?
Less than 10 seconds after this exchange, the jetliner crashed. The plane crashed at 11:42 p.m. The Tristar was travelling at 227 miles per hour when it slammed into the alligator infested swamp, just outside of Miami. Despite a quick flash of fire, experts think the shallow water of the Everglades prevented the L-1011 from exploding into flames.
This simple scenario is still used today in the training that jet captains receive. Focus on the wrong thing. Pilot error. Who is flying the airplane. Pilot flying vs pilot monitoring. Humans are lousy multi-taskers.
The TriStar's port outer wing structure struck the ground first, followed by the No. 1 engine and the port main undercarriage. The disintegration of the aircraft that followed scattered wreckage over a large area and left three massive swaths cut through the mud and sawgrass by the aircraft's extended undercarriage before two of the legs were sheared off.
Then came scattered parts from the No. 1 (port) engine, and fragments from the port wing itself and the port tailplane. The massive fuselage had begun to break up, scattering components from the underfloor galley, the cargo compartments, and the cabin interior.
At 820 feet along the wreckage trail, the outer section of the starboard wing tore off, gouging a 59-foot-long crater in the soft ground as it did so. From this point on, the breakup of the fuselage became more extensive, scattering metal fragments, cabin fittings, and passenger seats widely.
Many passengers were killed on impact. Others found themselves strapped in their seats, sitting in the middle of a swamp. Others were severely injured or trapped by the wreckage. Most were doused in jet fuel.
Most of the dead were passengers in the aircraft's midsection.
The swamp absorbed much of the energy of the crash, lessening the impact on the aircraft.
The mud of the Everglades may have blocked wounds sustained by survivors, preventing them from bleeding to death. However, it also complicated the survivors' recuperation, as organisms in the swamp caused infection, with the potential for gas gangrene. Eight passengers became infected; doctors used hyperbaric chambers to treat the infections.
All the survivors were injured; 60 received serious injuries and 17 suffered minor injuries that did not require hospitalization. The most common injuries were fractures of ribs, spines, pelvises, and lower extremities. Fourteen survivors had various degrees of burns
First officer Stockstill died upon impact, but both Repo and Loft survived the initial crash. Repo was rushed to hospital, but later succumbed to his injuries. Tragically, rescue was too slow coming for Captain Loft, who died at the scene.
Two of these three might have died, but their work would continue….AFTER they passed….why?
As with every crash, Flight 401 had many heart-rending stories, from children who lost their parents to a man who lost his new wife and kept screaming her name from his hospital bed.
In Row 16 were Gustavo and Xiomara Casado of South Miami, who lived in New York. They were flying in to show relatives their new baby, 2-month-old Christina. The infant, in a knitted pink dress, slept in her mother’s arms.
"The impact was, of course, shocking," said Gustavo Casado of Miami, who was traveling with his wife and their 2-month-old daughter, Christina. "The plane started shaking and falling apart. There was a splash of water over my face."
But Casado's story had a happy ending.
He and his wife, Xiomara, thought they had lost their daughter when the infant went flying from her mother's arms at impact. After a frantic search in the darkened swamp, they found a child -- but it was not Christina.
"Suddenly, I turned around and my wife had our daughter in her arms," Casado said. "It was like a miracle, because she didn't know exactly what she did to get to her. We consider ourselves enormously lucky; we were a family of three."
Ron and Fara Infantino, married for 20 days, were coming home from their honeymoon when Flight 401 crashed. She was killed. He survived, barely, with his right arm nearly severed, his left knee broken and his chest crushed.
“Life’s played funny tricks on me,” said Richard N. Micale, 41, not laughing. “I guess I was always on the edge without knowing it.” In 1972 he was a young carpenter who liked living fast. He had scarcely recovered from a bad auto accident when 401 crashed. He received a $250,000 settlement in a lawsuit.
Richard Micale: “I remember thinking ‘S---, the plane’s crashing,’ and before I got finished thinking it, it was over. You could hear the cry of death. Funny how people scream for God at a time like that. I probably did too, I’m sure.”
Drenched in jet fuel and smothered by debris, 23-year-old flight attendant Beverly Raposa struggled to free herself from a jump seat and blinked her eyes to adjust to the pitch blackness surrounding her.
She had survived a jumbo jet’s violent crash into one of Florida’s most mysterious places: the Everglades. It was just before midnight on Dec. 29, 1972.
Remarkably, Raposa could hear the cries of other survivors. Crawling through the darkness and muck, she found fellow flight attendant Mercy Ruiz, 29, of Hialeah, who had been hurled from the plane. Bleeding from her forehead, she was still strapped to her seat.
“What happened, Beverly?” Ruiz asked, confused.
“Honey, we crashed.”
“No, we didn’t crash, Beverly. It’s a bad dream. We’re gonna wake up.”
Jan Minguzzi Coviello and her 4½-year-old son, Nicky were in seats in Row 35.“I was still strapped to my seat, but I was in the open air, in the middle of nowhere. There was no plane around us,” Coviello said. Nicky was gone.
Frantically, Coviello began to feel her way in the darkness, searching for her son in the muck and razor-sharp sawgrass.
She touched a bundle on the ground. She heard crying. It wasn’t her son, but a baby boy whose parents, it was later learned, were killed. Coviello took the baby in her arms.
Coviello then heard Beverly Raposa’s voice.
“If you can hear me, come toward my voice. I’m a stewardess.” And then a warning: “Don’t anyone light a match!” Raposa still feared a fireball.
Coviello found Raposa and gave her the orphaned baby.
Coviello didn’t find Nicky that night. Rescuers recovered his body in the light of the following day. He died on impact and had never heard his mother’s cries.
A passenger in seat 14E thought the jetliner was making a normal landing; then he realized that all of the airplane forward of his row was gone. Lorenzo Zetlin, a New York interior designer, was in seat 15H. He had been talking to the man next to him, an auto parts dealer from Hialeah. "The plane started shaking, violent shaking like a cardboard box. It started coming apart. water and oil were everywhere." Zetlin looked up. The man from Hialeah "seemed to be on the ceiling."
Jerry Eskow, still nursing his double scotch in first class, awakened to "a lot of noise and a lot of vibrations." He thought he was still asleep and dreaming. "All of the sudden I felt like I was suffocating. I couldn't breathe. I ripped off my shirt and jacket. Suddenly the noise stopped. I was sitting upright in my seat in water up to my waist. It was pitch black. I heard screaming. And I realized: If I'm not dreaming, the plane has crashed. And I'm alive."
Solomon says he recalls unfastening his seatbelt and "walking out into the marsh. The plane broke up into three or four sections, and the sections were spread out over the marsh. Each section was like its own little group [of survivors], detached from the others."
Grad student Joseph Popson was reading his book. "The last thing I recall was the sound of the engines revving. Maybe my memory is wrong, but I still hear that roar." He woke up in a puddle near an engine, missing some clothes but generally OK. "The next thing I remember was struggling to breathe. On my hands and knees in six inches of water; I was cold; I heard moans and yelling; I smelled fumes."
Some survivors were surprisingly uninjured. George Gaudiello, reported to Time Magazine "my wife tells me she unfastened my seat belt and we walked to a group of people who seemed in fairly good condition. I have no recollection of this." Similarly, after helping free a fellow passenger from the wreckage, Thomas Rothenberg, a warehouse supervisor in New York City, stood around with three other survivors and, he said later, " we talked about what we did for a living." Michael Siminerio, 22, didn't remember the impact. "I was one of the lucky ones. It was really scary. People were crying. A man couldn't find his wife."
Several planes in the air that night reported briefly seeing a ball of fire in the 'Glades, and radar controllers realized Flight 401 was no longer on their screens. There was an enormous flash of flame as two fuel tanks burst open. Two passing pilots saw it and called the airport.
This prompted the rescue call to the Opa-locka Coast Guard Station, which initially sent four helicopters.
But it was Bob Marquis, a former wildlife officer who was hunting for frogs in his airboat, who arrived on the scene first. He rushed to the wreckage and saved several passengers from drowning. The light on his helmet helped helicopters find the site. Afterwards, Marquis could not be located for comment.
But what about the pilots, the cause of this tragedy? Can you imagine knowing that YOU did this. That YOUR mistake did all this harm? How would that affect you in your final moments? Hmmmmm? Stay tuned.
Coast Guard Petty Officer Don Schneck arrived on a chopper out of Opa-locka Airport and jumped on Marquis’s airboat for a ride into the belly of the crash.
Schneck, 59, of Rogers, Ark., reached the front of the jet first and found two flight attendants, Adrianne Hamilton, 27, and Sue Tebbs, 28. Both were injured and trapped.
Schneck could hear voices coming from the cockpit. He found Capt. Loft across the control panel, in bad shape.
“He looked me straight in the eye and said, ‘I’m going to die.’ I put both my hands on his forearms and said: ‘You’re gonna make it.”
The captain died before rescuers arrived.
Tom Burnaw was flying one of the Coast Guard choppers. He and other rescuers found many survivors walking around in a daze or naked after the impact blew away their clothing. Imagine that for a second. Impact so great that it blows away some or all of your clothing, but you are alive. What energy is involved here?
The rescue pilots stuffed 13 people at a time into helicopters designed to hold six.
More helicopters and airboaters started to arrive, transporting the injured to area hospitals.
One private helicopter dropped off Frank Borman, the astronaut who was then a vice president for Eastern Airlines. Burnaw ran into him while trying to rescue people. "He put his hand out and said, 'Hi, I'm Frank Borman,"' Burnaw said. "Here I am in a swamp, in the middle of the night, meeting Frank Borman, an astronaut. I thought this is crazy. This is bizarre."
In all, 75 survived the crash—67 of the 163 passengers and 8 of the 10 flight attendants
98 dead…..two dead but not forgotten. This story takes an even more spooky turn right here.
The subsequent investigation into the crash cited pilot error as the main cause. The crew failed to monitor the altitude as they tried in vain to deal with the undercarriage problem. Tragically, it was later revealed that the nose wheel had indeed been locked in place and it was the bulb that was faulty.
A simple light bulb killed roughly 100 people, this need not have happened. As a jet captain myself, I take pride in my ability to manage risk and fly safely. I can only imagine what I would feel like in my final moments of life, knowing that my stupidity caused such tragedy. In my final moments what would I do to make this right?
Although the majority of Eastern Flight, N310EA was destroyed, certain parts such as the galley were salvageable. Eastern and Lockheed agreed that these parts could be re-used and fitted into other Tristar’s on the production line.
Upon repurposing these parts in other aircraft, the strange ghost stories started to emerge in the months and years to follow.
What kind of energy can be tied to a physical piece of matter in this world that allows a connection to the world beyond?
Passengers, Cabin Crew, Pilots, Flight Engineers, even top airline executives, all claimed to have seen ‘something’ onboard certain aircraft.
Reporting sightings of the dead crew members, captain Robert Loft and second officer (flight engineer) Donald Repo, sitting on board other L-1011 flights.
The reported hauntings were only seen on the planes that used the spare parts. Sightings of the spirits of Don Repo and Bob Loft spread throughout Eastern Air Lines to the point where Eastern's management warned employees that they could face dismissal if caught spreading ghost stories.
The stories? Do you want to hear what came next? Eastern Airlines wanted the story to end, but two of the three pilots on board that airplane still had work to do.
JFK airport, 1973 an Eastern Airlines Tristar N318EA was boarding for its flight down to Miami. Travelling that morning was one of the airline's Vice Presidents.
As a VIP passenger, he was allowed on to the aircraft first and made his way to the first class cabin. As he moved towards his seat, he noticed a company captain in full uniform and went over to have a chat.
During the ensuing conversation, he suddenly realised he was speaking to Bob Loft. The Captain who not long ago, laid dying in a swamp, with the full knowledge that HE was responsible.
The apparition quickly disappeared and the vice president rushed off to find a crew member, terrified that it could be an omen that something would happen to this aircraft. A search of the plane was carried out before any other passengers boarded but there was no sign of the mystery captain.
A few months later back at JFK, a crew boarding the same aircraft were surprised to see Loft already onboard. They apparently chatted to the ghost, not realizing who he was, before he vanished right before their eyes. The flight was later cancelled as the crew were too shaken to operate.
Take a pause here and imagine what I just said. A ghost so real looking, so “life-like” that you have a conversation with “it”. Imagine, you KNOW that you are not crazy because it was “just” you that had the conversation but you and others at the same time. How much energy does that take to manifest in such a way? What kind of passion must have been involved here on the part of the Captain. What pain did he carry with him to the beyond?
In early 1973, the captain on an Eastern Airlines flight from Newark, New Jersey, to Miami was asked to check on a passenger in first class. The passenger in question was another Eastern pilot — apparently “deadheading,” or flying home off the clock — who wasn’t listed on the flight manifest. The man, dressed in full captain’s uniform, hadn’t responded to the questions of the senior flight attendant. He was just staring straight ahead, as if in a daze. When the captain approached the passenger, he exclaimed, “My God — it’s Bob Loft.”
I am getting goosebumps just thinking about these stories. These are not stories from weirdos or people looking to make money from some reality TV show or some podcast, but trained professionals in full view of the flying public in real time, interacting with someone that “was” or “is” in some other dimension. Where do we go when it is our time? Why do some of us move on….while others stay around for a while? We have a mission in life AND in death, some would say.
Onboard the L1011, flight engineers would usually arrive at the aircraft before the other crew to carry out their pre-flight checks. This particular day, a flight engineer was stunned to see an Eastern Second Officer already sat in his seat. He immediately recognised him as Don Repo and the apparition said to him “You don’t need to worry about the pre-flight, i’ve already done it”, before disappearing right before his eyes.
There you have it! Duty. He had a duty and felt so strongly, that he continued his mission past the time his mere body walked this plane. (pun intended…..)
Some weeks later another captain was checking the instruments before a flight from Miami to Atlanta. Staring him right in the face, was the unmistakable outline of Repo’s face. The Captain claimed he distinctly heard the words “There will never be another crash on an L1011. We will not let it happen.”
WE will not let it happen. A life outside of this life. A confirmation, if you believe an airline captain, that the two ghosts were aware of each other! Talk about a cohesive crew!
During a flight from Atlanta to Miami onboard N318EA, the flight deck crew were enjoying their meal as they cruised at 39,000 feet. Suddenly, there was a loud knocking coming from the ‘hell hole’.
The “hell hole”? Muahah ha ha!
By now the ghostly stories had been circulating round the company and the crew were reluctant to look. But the knocking continued and as the flight engineer opened the hatch, he was horrified to see the face of Don Repo staring back at him. Terrifyingly, this was where the engineer had been when flight 401 had crashed.
Consciousness. Does it continue? It apparently does if you believe multiple sources giving multiple versions of a similar set of actions. Knocking? In order to knock don’t you require some kind of mass? Energy we know from science is neither created or destroyed. It simply is and it can change it’s potential or it’s manifestation.
OK, OK. Pilots and flight attendants are all nuts. They are just all talking together and imagining all this stuff. You know the power of suggestion, etc. So…..
What if it was not just flight crews who saw the ghostly going apparitions?
On one occasion, several caterers loading N318EA for its next flight were seen rushing off the jet and refused to get back on. When asked why, they all stated that they had seen a flight engineer who stood in the forward galley before vanishing right before their eyes.
Passengers also reported strange occurences. A woman sat next to an Eastern pilot, who she said ‘looked ill’, called a stewardess only for the pilot to disappear. THIS is a scene from the movie…..I will reference it at the end of the show.
Another lady summoned a crew member as she was concerned about the unresponsive pilot who sat next to her. The man once again disappeared, leaving the passenger hysterical.
After these incidents both women were shown pictures of the deceased 401 flight crew……both identified Don Repo as the crew member they had seen.
So far the majority of the reports of spooky goings on and ghostly sightings had been swiftly swept under the carpet by Eastern.
Conspiracy theory! Wackos! We don’t need this?
What airline would want passengers thinking that their aircraft were haunted by dead flight crew who perished onboard the pride of their fleet?
Although the airline had point blankly refused to believe the spooky stories, the sightings were all reported to the independent Flight Safety Foundation, who later commented “The reports were given by experienced and trustworthy pilots and crew. We consider them significant”.
Eastern went on to warn employees that they could face dismissal if they were caught spreading the ghost stories.
Meanwhile, logbooks from nearly all the flights on which the sightings were reported began to disappear. This is significant because Eastern flight crews were trained to note any and all onboard incidents in the flight log, no matter how small or questionable.
Colusion….obviously…..
But then one incident changed everything.
Flight 903 had just taken off from JFK, on route to Mexico City. Stewardess Fay Merryweather was in the galley preparing the meals for the passengers. As she reached for the handle of the oven door, she was horrified to see the face of Don Repo staring back at her. Not one to panic, she briskly made her way to the front to get another stewardess and the aircrafts engineer to come with her to take a look. Sure enough when they returned, Repo’s face still stared out from the oven, although now it looked like he was trying to say something. Suddenly, all three clearly heard the apparition mutter the words “Watch out for fire in this plane”.
Oh man…..goosebumps again…..I and I know this story! Can you imagine?
The flight reached Mexico City safely, but on the return leg problems began with the aircrafts starboard engine. After an inspection the aircraft was cleared for take off, but as the plane climbed away the engine failed and back fired several times. It was quickly shut down before it caught fire and they returned to the airport. Thankfully no one was hurt during the incident, but the crew were understandably very shaken after what they had seen in the oven door.
As the sightings became more and more frequent, rumours circulated that pilots and crew refused to fly on the L1011’s that had the parts of the doomed jet fitted. Paranormal investigators requested numerous times to be allowed on board the aircraft to see if anything could be recorded. The airline continually refused.
By the way…..if you have a paranormal story about aviation, airports or airplanes…..call 888-366-5256 or visit RenegadeAV8R.com
But if the airline was so sure, that this was fake, BS, impossible. What happens next is in my opinion some of the best proof of all this.
.
All of the salvaged parts from 401 were later removed from the suspect jets. The ghosts of Bob Loft and Don Repo were never seen again, but their haunting words to protect Eastern’s L1011 fleet came true.
In the years after the crash until the airlines closure there were no other fatal crash onboard the Tristar fleet. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, it is quite nice to think that those dedicated pilots may have kept the rest of the Tristar fleet safe.
N318EA later went on to fly for Hong Kong carrier Cathay Pacific and Eastern Airlines was consigned to the history books when they ceased operations in 1991. But the stories of the ghosts of Flight 401 still circulate today.
OK, THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN SPEAKING…..LET ME ADD A FEW FINAL COMMENTS.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation discovered that the autopilot had been inadvertently switched from altitude hold to control wheel steering (CWS) mode in pitch. In this mode, once the pilot releases pressure on the yoke (control column or wheel), the autopilot maintains the pitch attitude selected by the pilot until he moves the yoke again. Investigators believe the autopilot switched modes when the captain accidentally leaned against the yoke while turning to speak to the flight engineer, who was sitting behind and to the right of him. The slight forward pressure on the stick would have caused the aircraft to enter a slow descent, maintained by the CWS system.
Absolutely lousy decision making here. That is the 100% cause of this crash. Human make errors. All humans make errors. Am I saying that I am better than this and would never allow myself to do what these guys did? No. But I pay attention to my human affliction to fail, to make mistakes.
The final NTSB report cited the cause of the crash as pilot error, specifically: "the failure of the flight crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final four minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed."
In response to the accident, many airlines started crew resource management training for their pilots. The training is designed to make problem solving in a cockpit much more efficient, thus causing less distraction for the crew. Flashlights are now standard equipment near jumpseats and all :jumpseats are outfitted with shoulder harnesses.
I said this before in this show, but let me clarify. I am awestruck by the power of our thoughts. Both Bob Loft (the Captain) and Don Repo (the flight engineer) survived the intial crash. The first officer died instantly and walked into the light perhaps before he knew what had happened. But imagine, put yourself in their spot, the paid of knowing. The burden of responsibility. To know that all the death and suffering that night could have been prevented by such simple steps.
Would you try to right the wrong? Who you be sorry? Would you try anything left in your power to protect others in penance for what you had responsibility for?
This spooky story inspires me. It is a reminder to me that I need to do all that I can do today to prevent the pain that is so easy to inflct on each other. I do poorly at the personal side, I can assure you that, but this story of Flight 401 has impacted my life in how I fly airplanes, so Bob Loft and Don Repo, thank you for your guidance from beyond the grave.
The story of the crash and its aftermath was documented in John G. Fuller's 1976 book The Ghost of Flight 401. Fuller recounts stories of paranormal events aboard other Eastern aircraft, and the belief that these were caused by equipment salvaged from the wreckage of flight 401.[21]
I have a link to the book on my website and text associated with this podcast episode. WWW.RenegadeAV8R.com or just call my office 888-366-5256 and leave your email address or phone and I will have my staff send you the information.
Eastern Air Lines CEO (and former Apollo astronaut) Frank Borman called the ghost stories surrounding the crash "garbage".[22] Eastern considered suing for libel, based on assertions of a cover-up by Eastern executives, but Borman opted not to, feeling a lawsuit would merely provide more publicity for the book.
Loft's widow and children did sue Fuller, for infringement of Loft's right of publicity, for invasion of privacy, and for intentional infliction of emotional distress, but the lawsuit was dismissed and the dismissal upheld by the Florida Fourth District Court of Appeal. All parts that were cannibalized from flight 401’s airframe were eventually removed from other Eastern Airlines aircraft.
Had I been doing my job better, as your Captain on AV8R Case Files, I would have found out more about John Fuller.
John Fuller swore he got testimony directly from the witnesses. There were too many stories, with too many specifics for this to be ‘legend”.
Eastern Airlines, now they are dead….and Frank Borman….still alive as of this show, both say NO WAY.
So what do you know about the Ghost of Flight 401? Who do you know with direct knowledge of the Ghost of flight 401? Call me and give me the details and maybe we can revisit this if we find something cool. 888-366-5256.
A TV movie The Ghost of Flight 401, was aired in February 1978. Based on Fuller's book, it focused on the ghost sightings surrounding the aftermath.
I will put a link to THAT with the show details and on my RenegadeAV8R.com web page as well.
GUILT. Is it a SIN? a CURSE? or a BLESSING?. Like most things in life, it is all about perspective. .
Ending:
Do you have more information about The Ghost of Flight 401? Insider stuff? Top secret details? Message me through my website. www.RenegadeAV8R.com.
We can keep it secret, “under the radar” or we can give you a chance to tell your story to our audience!
Maybe YOU have an entirely NEW “dark” story for AV8R Case files. Maybe a ghostly story involving an aircraft in a museum, or a conspiracy story involving your local airport. Maybe you are a pilot and have been startled by something NOT of this world. Call The RenegadeAV8R….let’s talk.
This show was written and researched by MRS. RenegadeAV8R, Laura Costa. Thank you, ghosts of Flight 401, rest in peace.
For now, until next time. This is David Costa, your host.
In the Air, with my airshow jet! On the Air with AV8R Case Files. I AM The RenegadeAV8R, See ya!
Credits:
The Strange Story of the Ghosts of Flight 401.
South Florida Sun Sentinel-FLIGHT 401 1972 JUMBO-JET CRASH WAS WORST AVIATION DISASTER IN STATE HISTORY. by Ken Kaye, Staff writer December 29, 1992
Wikipedia: Eastern Air Lines Flight 401
Miami Herald, December 17, 2018 This archived edition had an article by Arnold Markowitz, a retired staff writer. And By Luisa Yanez, on the 35th anniversary of the crash in 2007
Marc Hoover: The ghosts of flight 401 still haunt, May 21, 2018
OZY: A Modern Media company The Ghosts that Followed Flight 401 by J. Bennett,
November 19, 2019
https://sites.google.com/site/eastern401/crash?authuser=0 Official Eastern Airlines Flight 401
Note: We make every attempt to properly document all of our sources. If you wish to include your source here, please call 888-366-5256. If we cite a source in error or fail to cite a source, please let us know. If you have any further details about this episode that you would like to share with us, we would appreciate it!