May 21, 2025 • 61 mins
How can a single burnt-out light bulb bring down one of the most advanced aircraft ever built? A state-of-the-art Lockheed L-1011 TriStar jetliner plunges into the Florida Everglades when its experienced crew became fixated on a minor mechanical issue.
Sources:
- Mayday: Air Disaster - Season 5, Episode 9, titled "Fatal Distraction"
- "What CAUSED the Everglades DISASTER?" by Mentour Pilot
- Wikipedia page on Eastern Air Lines Flight 401
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Credits:
Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Picture this, you're ona night flight to Miami.
The cabin is quiet aspassengers doze or read.
Looking forward to Florida sunshine.
In the cockpit, three experiencedpilots guide a magnificent new aircraft
smoothly through the night sky.
(00:20):
Then something small goes wrong,just a tiny light bulb burns out.
This was a minor technical issue, a burntout light bulb worth 12 cents, and it
led to the destruction of a $25 millionaircraft and it claimed 101 lives.
(00:43):
So stow your tray tables, fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for extreme turbulence
because this is final boarding call
Hello and welcome to Final Boarding Call.
I am your disaster obsessed host Alice.
And I am Zach, a reluctant, homebodyhusband who is becoming more and
(01:07):
more of a homebody every day.
When I look at the worldoutside, I think, no thanks.
Oh my gosh, this podcastprobably is not helping.
Well, I told you what Simon saidwhen he was listening to it.
He said, it turns out thisis not a bedtime podcast.
Oh my gosh.
Did he listen to it right before bed?
(01:28):
Oh yeah.
Oh, Simon.
No.
Okay, well shout out to the Night Terror.
Terrible night.
Yes.
Yes.
Simon is a, a drifter buddy of ours.
Um, he's great and he will hearthis shout out at some point.
He'll, he's awesome.
Um, we appreciate the listen.
Yes.
This is probably not.
A great bedtime podcast,but very fun for road trips.
(01:51):
Or if you're really freaky listeningto it in the plane, which is usually
how I re-listen to our episodes.
I'm usually in a plane stopbeing on plane so damn much.
And you couldn't, it's, it'sliterally half of my life.
Zach and I were actually in Disneyrecently, and we had a great time.
It was super duper fun and tocelebrate our wonderful Disney trip.
(02:17):
Our next episode is a roller coasterdisaster, so state heck Yeah, I know.
Stay tuned to that.
I didn't quite have time to finishit for this recording because we
just got back from Disney, butit's some final destination stuff.
Oh, man.
Like roller coaster's gone so wrong.
Okay.
Before we dive in.
(02:37):
A quick reminder to our listeners,what should they do, Zach?
They should rate and subscribewherever they get their podcasts.
Hell yeah, brother.
Yep.
I guess listen, rate reviewwherever they get their podcasts.
Yeah.
Rate, review, subscribe, tell a friend.
Yeah, we're not picky.
Okay, well, I don't mean to burstyour bubble, but I know this story.
(03:03):
No, are you kidding?
I do.
Yeah.
I don't remember.
How do you know this?
Um.
I mean, it was something with you.
Did I ruin my own podcast?
You probably did.
Did I make you listen to somebodyelse covering this story?
(03:23):
Is that It was, it was a podcastthat somebody else did, wasn't it?
I'm sure it was.
Was it a My favorite murder?
I don't know.
I don't, I don't remember.
I mean, it's been a while.
And I did make you listento it, but you know what?
You probably don't remember the details.
I never do.
Okay.
So we're gonna do this damn thing.
Sources, before we get too far aheadof ourselves, gotta list the sources.
(03:46):
So, season standardplane crash police.com,
season five.
Episode nine of air disasterstitled Fatal Distraction.
Great episode.
Also ment, I need to figureout how he pronounces this.
Is it Mentor, pilot.
Mentor, mentor, pilot.
He's definitely from.
(04:08):
Europe, because he has an accent inhis videos, but he does an episode
on YouTube of this called WhatCaused the Everglades Disaster.
His videos are really incredible.
They are similar to our podcast, butit's just him, so less fun banter.
And he also is a pilot, so probablymore factual than our podcast.
(04:33):
Okay, and lastly, the podcast.
My favorite Murder episode 500did feature this case as well.
Alright, Zach, I'mtaking you back in time.
December 29th, 1972.
Disco Popin, the mustaches, they're hairy.
(04:58):
The pants are tight except forthe bottoms where they're huge.
It's 1972 Parachute pants style.
Not like bell bottoms, but like extreme,
elastic bell bottoms spandex,bell bottoms, Spanx span.
Yeah.
Sh off.
Everything okay.
(05:19):
Camel tail.
Now.
December 29th is a verybusy time for travel.
People are going home from Christmas.
It's, it's like a nightmareto be in the airport.
Between Christmas and New Year's,it's the worst across America.
(05:39):
Airports work crowded with travelersheading home or escaping for
warmer climates during the winter.
Zach's enjoying a beer.
A New York's JFK airport.
Eastern Airlines Flight 4 0 1 waspreparing for its routine trip
to Miami, but there was nothingroutine about this aircraft.
(06:02):
Flight 4 0 1 was assigneda Lockheed L 10 11 Tristar.
This was a massive cutting edge jetlinerthat had only been in commercial service.
We under a year.
This thing is brand spanking new.
Only had a couple ofmillion people inside it.
Yes, yes.
(06:23):
The L 10 11 was America's answer tothe European Airbus and the Boeing 7
47 . With its distinctive third enginemounted in the tail and its spacious
cabin that could seat up to get this sack.
400 passengers.
It's a lot of people.
She a big, she a big girl.
(06:44):
The Tri-Star represented the pinnacleof aviation technology for its time.
Eastern's particular plane tail memberN three 10 EA was practically brand new.
It was delivered to the airlineonly four months earlier.
(07:04):
It probably still smelledgood, which is crazy.
Not like baby vomit.
No God
To understand howadvanced the aircraft was.
Consider that many airlinersfrom the 1960s still had analog
instruments and required navigatorsfor trans oceanian flights.
It's a fun word to say.
(07:25):
The L 10 11.
By contrast, featured computerizedflight management systems, automated
navigation, and the world's mostsophisticated autopilot ever.
In that time period, we'vegotten more sophisticated.
But in 1972, this was like cutting edge
(07:45):
The flight crew for that flight consistedof three highly experienced pilots in
command was Captain Robert Bob Loft.
So we'll call him Bob.
Bob Oron.
I mean, thank God I finallypicked an episode that had names
that I could easily pronounce.
I really, I was strugglingthere for a while.
(08:07):
So we got Bob, right?
Lemme tell you about Bob.
He's 55 years old.
He's a veteran pilot withalmost 30,000 flight hours.
That's a lot of flight hours.
That's so many flight hours.
I think that's the highestnumber that we've heard so far.
Yes, I think it is as well.
Um, our listeners can fact check us, butI think 30,000 is the highest we've had.
(08:29):
This is equivalent to spending overthree continuous years in the air just
flying nonstop for three straight years.
Nope.
Though the Tristar wasrelatively new to Eastern's.
Fleet Loft had already, I'mgonna call him Bob instead.
Bob had already loggedabout 280 hours flying it.
He had been with Eastern for morethan 30 years and was known as
(08:51):
a competent, no-nonsense pilot.
So he didn't like to party.
You know, I probably would've gottenalong with him, if I'm being honest.
He was a rule following guy.
His first officer was Albert Stockstill, a39-year-old with 5,800 total flight hours
and 306 hours on the Tristar specifically.
(09:15):
And then flight engineer donald repo 51.
He rounded out the crew with over15,700 hours of flying experience,
including 53 hours on the L 10 11.
The three men formed what shouldhave been an ideal team to handle any
(09:36):
situation that might arise together.
They had nearly 52,000 hoursof flight experience, almost
six years of continuous flight.
The passengers filing ontoflight 4 0 1 that evening.
We're a cross section of America.
We're talking families doing Christmastrips, tourists heading to Florida's
(09:59):
beaches and business travelers.
My mom, sister, and I would flyright after Christmas, or right
before Christmas to my Nana's house.
Mm-hmm.
In Florida.
Not Miami, Daytona Beach area,but, um, the retired folks.
Okay.
Among them was an off-duty EasternAirlines maintenance expert
(10:22):
named Angelo Donadio, who iscatching a ride back to Miami.
The flight was also carrying newlyweds,Ron and Lily Infantino, who had been
married for only 20 days, and they hadjust spent Christmas with Ron's family.
(10:44):
As all of them settled into theirseats, they had no reason to think
that this flight would be any differentfrom countless others that they'd
taken before the weather in Miami.
That evening was perfect.
Clear skies, very light wind temperaturesin the low seventies as our captain Bob.
(11:05):
Guided the aircraft awayfrom JFK's terminal.
He probably knew that itwas gonna be an easy flight.
The route from New York to Miami was oneof Eastern Airlines, very common routes.
One they had done thousands of timesand the weather conditions were ideal.
During the flight, the pilotsused the Tristar Autopilot, which
(11:27):
was revolutionary for its time tounderstand how significant this was.
Remember that in 1972, mosthome appliances did not even
have digital displays, butthis aircraft could fly itself.
It's a big deal.
It's pretty cool.
Dad was just at home drunk.
(11:48):
Mom was cooking in the kitchen.
Redacted, redacted.
The initial part of the flight wascompletely uneventful passengers watched
the in-flight movie, which that to meis even crazier that this plane had,
they had in-flight movies back then.
(12:08):
Yes.
That's wild to me.
Autopilot.
I'm like, eh, in flight movie in 1972.
Crazy.
Uh oh.
Did I wake up the baby?
No, but I heard, I, Iswear I heard her yell.
Mama.
Okay.
I am gonna take the decibelsdown just a little bit.
We're gonna get a littlemore A SMR Quit yelling.
(12:30):
Sorry.
I just got really excitedabout in-flight movies.
They watched the in-flight movie, theyenjoyed their meal service, or they
just relaxed right in the cockpit.
The crew began preparing fortheir approach to Miami First.
Officer Stock Sill was handling theflying duties while Captain Bob Loft
monitored the instruments and flightengineer repo went through the landing
(12:55):
checklist as they began their descenttowards the twinkling lights of Miami.
None of them could have imaginedthat a tiny burnt out light bulb was
about to change their lives forever.
Close to plane was brand new.
This plane was brand new.
Got it.
(13:16):
It's really frustrating.
So it's like when you buy somethingfrom the store that comes with batteries
and then it dies like the next dayand you're like, are you kidding me?
Or you buy a printer and you printfour times and it's outta ink.
Yeah.
Zach and I, we really got alemon of a printer, um, recently.
So if anybody has good printersuggestions, let us know.
(13:36):
We're not gonna buy it 'cause we justbought one, but, well, I don't know.
I kind of hate ours.
Close to midnight, the planebegan its final approach to
Miami International Airport.
The cabin lights had been dimmed.
Many of the passengers wereasleep through the windows.
They could see the sprawling city lightsof Miami growing closer in the cockpit.
(13:59):
First engineer repo was methodicallyworking through the landing checklist.
Radar up flat panels, checked gear down.
That's when Captain Bob Loftnoticed something unusual.
The small green light on hisinstrument panel that should have
illuminated to show that the noselanding gear was properly locked in
(14:22):
the down position, hadn't lit up.
The two main landing gear indicatorswere showing green, but the nose
gear indicator remained dark.
This was concerning, but not immediately.
Alarming.
Captain Bob Loft decided to cyclethe landing gear, so that means he
(14:42):
raised it back up and he lowered it.
Essentially the equivalent ofturn it off and back on, turn it
off and turn it back on again.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh my goodness gracious.
The sound of the landing gearmechanism echoed throughout the cabin.
Some passengers noticed the grindingnoise several times, but none of them
(15:06):
vocalized concern to anyone else.
It was just one of those routine issuesthat sometimes happens in air travel.
I would for sure notice if the landinggear went up and back down again.
Me too.
Because of this podcast, I woulddefinitely be like, do you need me to
climb underneath and make sure it's down?
That's what I'm saying.
I would.
So volunteer for that job.
(15:26):
Are you kidding to go check?
I'm in fucking in.
The indicator light still did not come on.
Captain Bob Loft now faced a dilemma.
The nose landing gear might beproperly locked down and the light
might just be burnt out or the gearmight not be secured, which would
(15:50):
lead to a very dangerous landing.
It was not a risk that he was willingto take because he is no nonsense.
Bob, with the name like Bob,you know, he's no nonsense.
He is no goddamn nonsense.
Bob radioed the tower and theywould need to go around because
(16:11):
they didn't have confirmationthat their nose gear was locked.
The tower instructed them topull up, climb straight ahead to
2000 feet, and contact approachcontrol on a different frequency.
Flight engineer repo performed atest nicknamed the Christmas tree.
How cute is that?
It's nicknamed the Christmas tree,because guess what you do turn on?
(16:33):
Every light you turn on every singlelight, you literally light that dash up.
So he turned on every single lightin the cockpit to check if all
of the bulbs were still working.
When they did this test, the nose gearindicator light failed to illuminate,
confirming their suspicion that thebulb itself might be burnt out rather
(16:54):
than a problem with the landing gear.
So they are at 2000 feet right now.
They are circling away from the airportWhile they're figuring all of this out.
First officer Albert stock still wasstill flying the plane, but Captain
Bob needed his help to investigatethe indicator light, so Bob instructed
(17:14):
him to engage the autopilot.
Turn the autopilot on.
I'm tired of the shit.
Jesus.
Take the wheel.
I don't wanna dig anymore, grandpa.
And it turns out that's too damn bad.
You keep digging.
Name the movie and we'llsend you a sticker.
(17:35):
The Tristar autopilot was.
So sophisticated that it actuallyhad the ability to land the plane.
Yes, Zach.
That's right.
This thing, basically the technology ofbeing able to like parallel park a car.
That's how mind blowing this is to me,that a plane could land itself crazy.
I think landing a plane is probablyharder than parallel Parking a car.
(17:59):
I learned parallel parking at16 in one attempt, and then
I've done it great ever since.
Do you think you could land a plane?
I do actually.
Yeah.
I think you could too.
I would love to try.
I know, I guess the way to God, if theyever ask, is anybody a pilot in here?
I'll be like, no, but I want to be,oh my, so Albert programmed it to
maintain an altitude of 2000 feet.
(18:20):
While they tried to fix theindicator light, what happened
next would become the textbookexample, and I'm not exaggerating.
It's literally in textbooks ofhow a minor technical issue can
escalate into catastrophe when crewcoordination breaks down says a story
about teamwork and communication,and it doesn't have a happy ending.
(18:43):
Okay, captain Bob asked Albert to helphim remove the indicator light, but
the light fixture was proving difficultto extract from the instrument panel.
The two pilots struggled with thetiny light while flight engineer
repo monitored the instruments.
This is where we see a realbreakdown in cockpit discipline.
(19:05):
First Officer Albert was designatedas the pilot flying for this flight.
Right.
He's the one in chargeof piloting the aircraft.
Yet here he is trying to fix a lightwhile simultaneously being responsible
for monitoring the aircraft's flight path.
(19:26):
Hmm.
Which is a really important thing to do.
Yeah.
It's one of those things that, uh,you know, flights are in the air
and if you're not paying attention,it might not be in the air anymore.
Yes, that's so true.
And it's important to remember that thisis 1972 and there really was no formal
training for dividing responsibilitiesin the cockpit during, they probably
(19:49):
couldn't even see they had hot box,that thing so hard with cigarette smoke.
A wink wink.
It's actually true.
I'm sure that plane is just, youknow, they were wreaking of smoke.
Oh God, yes.
So it didn't smell good anymore.
No, I guess it didn't.
I'd be having an asthma attack so fast.
(20:09):
And make your head spin.
You haven't stoppedhaving those for a week.
That's so true.
Or two or three or four.
Yeah.
Ooh.
At least I have my voice back.
I promised the people thatwould happen and it did.
The concept of crew resource management,standardized procedures for how pilots
should communicate and delegate tasks.
(20:30):
But that didn't exist yet, Zach, becauseit was the early seventies, because it
was the early seventies, and it was agoddamn free for all with your mustaches.
Everywhere.
This accident would literally becomeone of the main catalysts for developing
that training, which is now standardthrough the aviation industry.
(20:54):
So let's hop back into this planefor a moment where Bob and Albert are
literally fighting a light bulb right now.
I don't want to be back in the plane.
It's gonna crash.
Well, the good news isAlbert finally removes it.
Heck yeah.
Yes.
(21:14):
However, now he can't get it back in Zach.
So, captain Bob offered some guidance,noting that Albert had it sideways.
Hmm.
Turn it on its side.
Folks, I'm not a pilot and I certainlyhave not been in many aircraft from the
(21:34):
1970s, so I'm not entirely sure whatthis light bulb looked like or how it
went in or out, but it is concerning thatthey were trying to put it in sideways.
I think it just means that it's kindof like taillight bulbs where you have
(21:54):
offset pins and they go in and then yourotate it, but instead he was trying to
put it in where the pins weren't lined up.
That makes more sense.
I am literally picturing like atiny little Christmas tree lights,
like abit little one, and I'mpicturing him like putting it
in sideways, literally sideways.
So the glass is like.
(22:15):
Hitting the hole.
There's some stupid peopleout there, but I'm not sure
that that's what was going on.
That's concerning.
Yours makes way more sense.
It was turned like 90 degrees.
Yeah.
So that the pins weren't lining up that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's go with stacks.
(22:36):
Meanwhile, air traffic controlhas instructed them to turn left.
Heading 300.
I don't know exactly what thatmeans 'cause I'm not a pilot,
but turn left is what I got.
So make the plane go leftthan it's currently going.
Captain Bob acknowledged theinstruction, but his primary focus
(22:57):
remained on the damn light bulb.
Damnit that light bulb.
Frustrated with thecontinuing light problem.
Bob told his flight engineer to godown and visually check if the nose
wheel was actually extended, whichis what I said I would absolutely
volunteer to do in a heartbeat.
This sounds like sucha cool operation to me.
(23:18):
It's like driving a convertiblebaby, getting the wind in your hair.
That's insane.
That is so cool.
In the LA 10 11, there was avery small compartment below
the cockpit floor nicknamed.
The hell hole.
And it was an accent point thatallowed the crew members to
physically see the nose landing gearmechanism through a viewing port.
(23:40):
As flight engineer repo left hisstation to check the landing gear,
something crucial changed In the cockpitdynamic, the crew member whose primary
responsibility was to monitor the aircraftsystems was no longer at his post.
The other two pilots were stillpreoccupied with the light bulb.
(24:03):
Who is flying this plane?
The machines can't trust ai.
Ai, out in the passenger cabin, richardPolowski was looking out his window
when he noticed something concerninghe could see a tower in the distance.
And it looked like they weredescending toward it as a
(24:27):
relatively experienced flyer.
This seemed really strange to him.
Pulaski had noticedsomething the pilots hadn't.
The plane was gettingcloser to the ground.
It was not maintaining.
2000 feet flight engineer repo nowin the electronics, babe beneath the
(24:47):
cockpit, reported back that he couldn'tsee anything because it was dark,
like pitch black in there, obviously.
Take a flashlight dummy.
He's in the hella hole.
Captain Bob realized that he had forgottento turn on the external lights, which
would illuminate the landing gear.
Once reminded, he activatedthe nose wheel light, duh.
(25:09):
In the Miami control tower controller,Charlie Johnson noticed something
concerning on his radar screen.
Eastern Airlines.
Flight 4 0 1 seemed to have descendedfrom 2000 feet to only 900 feet,
but he wasn't overly alarmed.
(25:31):
It wasn't unusual to get false readingsfor several radar sweeps in a row.
That's alarming.
It's not weird for it to multipletimes say, this is not good.
That's more alarming than thefact that he was not alarmed,
just saying Johnson radioed toask how things were coming along.
(25:53):
Captain Bob replied that they'd like toturn around and come back in for landing.
He believed that they'd soon getconfirmation that the gear was locked
and he wanted to return to the airport.
Johnson instructed them to turn left.
Heading 180 deep in the Everglades.
Bob Marcus was huntingfrogs with a friend.
When Eastern Airlines flight 40 1 roared past him overhead.
(26:17):
We have another bob, but this Bobis like the opposite of Captain Bob.
'cause this Bob is straight up redneck.
He is hunting rocks.
He is in that swamp.
He's doing his thing.
He's got his high waters on him.
He's got, oh, inside the cockpit, asudden realization struck the pilots
(26:39):
First, officer Albert noticed thatsomething had happened to their altitude.
Captain Bob Loft asked what was happening,confusion evident in his voice as he tried
to make sense of their actual altitude.
And those were the last wordsrecorded on the cockpit.
Voice recorder, twoseconds later at 11:42 PM.
(27:06):
The first sounds of impact were recorded.
Eastern Airlines Flight 4 0 1 crashedinto the murky waters of the Everglades
at a speed of 227 miles per hour.
Jesus, I don't know if anybody's evercrashed into anything, you know, holding
water before that is a fast D cell.
(27:29):
What's crazy is they were goingthat fast because they were not
prepared for any sort of landing.
Yeah.
So they had not slowed down at all.
They had just run out of sky.
Mm-hmm.
The left wing hit first,followed by the left engine
and the left main landing gear.
(27:51):
The impact was so violent that theaircraft immediately shattered into
multiple pieces spreading debrisacross a quarter mile of swamp land.
In those final moments, the pilots hadfinally realized their perilous situation,
but it was far too late to recover.
(28:12):
The aircraft had descended from2000 feet to the surface of
the Everglades in four minutes.
All while the crew's attention wasfixated on a problem that in retrospect
didn't exist, was so trivial.
A burnt out indicator light for a landinggear that was in all likelihood properly
(28:37):
extended and locked the entire time.
Now zag.
This story is particularly interestingto me because usually with our cases,
this is where it kind of ends andwe pivot to like the investigation.
Mm-hmm.
And like do, do, do, do, do.
However ever they landed in aswamp and crazy shit's about
(28:58):
to go down in this swamp.
So we are going to transportourselves to the Florida Everglades.
The initial impact with the swampcreated a massive fireball as fuel
tanks ruptured and ignited, butthen something remarkable happened.
The soft water log terrain ofthe Everglades absorbed much of
(29:21):
the crash energy preventing acatastrophic explosion that would've
instantly killed everybody onboard.
Yeah, everybody.
Period.
It wasn't already dead.
Correct.
Instead, the aircraft broke intosegments with some sections remaining
partially intact remarkably,75 people survived the crash.
(29:44):
Nearly half of the peopleon board, it's a dog.
Oh, it is heavy.
Come here
fucking pebbles.
People that have a pit bull will get it.
They understand.
They understand.
They are the sweetest,grossest animals on the planet.
That's so sweet.
But they're so sweet.
They're so sweet.
And they're so gross.
Okay.
(30:05):
All right.
He's, and that's our story.
Yeah.
He's eating, but we're just gonna kind ofcharge forward 'cause we gotta keep going.
Remarkably, 75 people survived the crash.
Nearly half of the people onboard, however, the survivors
found themselves in a nightmare.
They were injured, they weredisoriented, and they were stranded
(30:27):
in a pitch black everglade swamp.
Mm-hmm.
With them gators.
With them gators.
All right.
Let's talk about some of the passengers.
Richard Pulaski, the passengerwho had noticed the unusual
descent regained consciousness tofind himself seriously injured,
(30:47):
Despite feeling minimal pain dueto shock, he could see his torn
clothes and exposed skin on his arms.
He knew that he needed to stay calm.
And he needed to finda way outta the swamp.
Many survivors are called the terrifyingmoment of impact, the sudden flash
of fire that swept through the cabin.
(31:08):
The inability to breathe as the flamesconsumed, the oxygen, and then the
darkness as they lost consciousness.
Ron Infantino, who was the newlywedwas knocked unconscious by the crash.
When he came to, he foundhimself alone in the swamp, far
away from any of the survivors.
(31:29):
He was badly wounded, and his new wife,Lily, who had been sitting next to him,
was nowhere to be seen in the darkness.
He could hear the sounds of othersurvivors calling for help, but
he couldn't move to reach them.
The swamp water had doused the initialflames, but a new danger lurked.
(31:50):
20,000 kilograms of jet fuel hadleaked into the surrounding water.
The survivors were literally.
Soaking in it.
And they knew with open wounds.
Yes, which is really bad.
Also, a single spark could ignitethe fuel and kill everyone who
(32:11):
had survived the initial crash.
hopefully all the cigarettes went out.
Alright, let's go back to our frog hunter.
Frog Hunter, Bob Marcus had seenthe aircraft go down and immediately
spraying into action, navigatinghis airboat toward the plane.
I know he's so cool.
He navigated his airboattoward the crash site.
(32:33):
He jumped into the swamp to help.
He immediately felt the sting ofthe jet fuel on his skin, which
would cause burns that he wouldneed to treat for about a week.
So he's in it to be the heroes.
He I know.
I know.
We love him.
Bob Marcus quickly spotted a survivorwho was in grave danger, a badly wounded
(32:55):
man, still strapped to his seat, andon the verge of drowning in the water.
Oh, upside down chair.
Mm-hmm.
The man kept pleading for help saying thathe couldn't hold his head up much longer.
So my guess is that he's probablyeither on his side or at an angle.
Mm-hmm.
Where yeah, his head is, hehas to like hold his head up
(33:16):
to keep it from going under
Marcus.
Bob Marcus pulled him up, preventinghim from drowning throughout the night.
Bob would go on to save dozens of lives,keeping many people from drowning in
the murky waters of the Everglades.
Now this is 1972, Bob Marcus isunable to just whip his cell phone
(33:37):
out and go ahead and call for help.
Instead, he's like air boatingthese things to the shore.
Yeah, he's like him and his frogs and hisairboat are saving the day isolated from
the other survivors and unable to move.
Ron Infantino now had a newreason to fear for his life.
(33:58):
Swamp puppies, also known as alligators
and snakes.
So they're swamp puppies and thereare note ropes and he can hear them.
And see the glow of their eyes.
Oh, hell yeah.
Hell yeah, brother.
So, initially they werescared by the crash.
Yeah.
However, enough time has passed.
Now that they're like, oh,what's going on in the water?
(34:23):
I see some thrashing.
I see some people unable to move.
It's giving fear.
That was you and not me.
I have not said that.
I know I was making fun of youstill though, because you've
been saying it's giving.
I've actually been reallytrying to not You've noticed
how much you were doing it then?
Yes.
In his injured state, heknew that he was defenseless.
(34:48):
Then remarkably he heardsomething unexpected.
Christmas caroling.
Bet you didn't see that one coming.
Don't remember that detail.
To rally the survivor spirits flightattendant, Trudy Smith and others
began singing Christmas carols.
They knew instinctively that rescuewould not come quickly as no one
(35:09):
knew their exact location in themiddle of the swamp at midnight.
Yeah.
The surreal scene of survivor singingjoy to the world in the dark swamp
after such a devastating crash seemsalmost unbelievable, but it happened,
which is a testament to human resiliencein the face of tragedy or just good
(35:34):
old fashioned, shock and desperation.
Fake it till you make it.
Amen.
Mm-hmm.
Within minutes of the crash, coastGuard helicopters were sent out
to search for the site, but in thepitch Black night, they flew right
over the wreckage without seeing it.
Bob Marcus tried to signal the distanthelicopters with his flashlight.
(35:54):
Bob Marcus, with his frogs.
Yeah.
He's got a flashlight and a flashlight.
He could see that they were going inthe wrong direction, so he waved his
light at them until he actually sawthem turn back towards the crash site.
Bob Marcus, the real hero, less than halfan hour after the crash, the Coast Guard,
the Coast Guard, did I say Coast Guard?
(36:15):
The Coast Guard arrived, but thenearest landing site was a hundred
meters away from the wreckagebecause they're in a swamp.
Marcus got on his little air elbowand he rushed over to meet the
helicopters and guide the rescuersBack to the crash site once again.
Bob Marcus, say Vng the dayrescue worker Don Schneck.
(36:42):
What a name.
Rescue worker.
Don Schneck was one of the firstresponders on the scene making
his way through the wreckage.
He discovered Captain Bob Loft hadsurvived the initial crash, but Bob was
in bad shape with lacerations, brokenribs, and he was very clearly in shock.
(37:02):
Despite don Schneck'sattempts to reassure him.
Bob said that he knew he was going to die.
Feeling inadequate.
As the only rescuerinitially on the scene.
SNE was relieved to look back towardMiami and see a line of lights
approaching as more help arrived.
Thank God.
First officer Bert Stockstillwas killed during the crash.
(37:27):
Albert, he, he was the one that wasin the cargo area trying to look
at the, in the hell hole, right?
No, this was Albert.
Oh, okay.
This was the one who wassupposed to be flying the plane.
He did a bad job, but next, sorry.
It's not his fault hewas told to do something.
Anyway, our first officer, AlbertStockstill, was killed during the
(37:49):
crash and Captain Bob soon diedat the scene from his injuries.
Now, first engineer repo.
Who was in the hell hole?
He initially survived and hewas transported to a hospital
as was Angelo Donadio.
Mm-hmm.
By dawn, all the wounded had beentransported to Miami hospitals.
(38:10):
The final toll was devastating.
99 people lost their lives while 77survived with varying degrees of injury.
Ron Infantino was among those fightingfor survival in the hospital when a
priest came to give him last rights.
He realized just how precarious hiscondition was throughout this ordeal.
(38:35):
He continued asking if anyonehad seen his wife Lily, but in
the chaotic hospital environment,no one could give him answers.
The crash was headline newsaround the world, obviously.
Mm-hmm.
It was the first crash of a wide bodyjumbo jet, ever, ever, and it produced
the largest number of deaths in UScivil aviation history at that time.
(39:00):
I mean, this is hugenews for investigators.
It presented a perplexing mystery.
How could the newest, mostsophisticated airliner, a available,
apparently iner working conditionsimply fly into the ground?
While on autopilot.
Mm-hmm.
The crash site itself provided importantinitial clues for investigators.
(39:24):
The trail of debris was enormouslylong, suggesting that the plane hit
the swamp almost in level flight,not in a steep uncontrolled dive.
Yeah.
They were coasting.
They were coasting.
Its descent had clearlybeen slow and gradual.
Beer number two,
if I get to 10 tonight, Nope.
(39:46):
Absolutely not.
That will not happen.
Its dissent had clearly been slowand gradual, which was puzzling.
If the pilots had lost control,the plane would likely have
crashed at a much steeper angle.
Mm-hmm.
National Transportation SafetyBoard investigators documented
the final settings of manyinstruments in the cockpit.
(40:08):
One crucial discovery stood out.
The autopilot was set to maintainan altitude of 2000 feet.
So why didn't it?
Because it's not abnormal for radarto give false abuse tits all the time.
Did that get her?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Thank God my phone fell outta my packet.
(40:29):
That's why women don't have pockets.
You're not responsible enough for 'em.
Mm.
We got a sleep in baby in the nextroom, so we're trying to be whispery.
She's not really a baby.
She turned three yesterday.
She's still my baby.
She's so crazy.
Investigators interviewedmaintenance expert Angelo Dio,
(40:50):
who had survived the crash.
All he could tell them was thatthe crew was trying to fix a
light bulb before the crash.
A detail that initially seemedinsignificant, but would prove
crucial to understand this accident.
Within days, the plane's flightdata recorder and cockpit voice
(41:12):
recorder, the famous black box, theywere recovered from the wreckage.
Investigators hoped that they wouldprovide answers to this mystery before
they could fully analyze the data.
However, flight engineer Don Repo diedin the hospital from his injuries.
There were three in that cockpit andall three of them did end up dying.
(41:34):
Ron Infantino still hospitalized,was finally given the devastating
news that he had been dreadingthe body of his wife, Lily.
His wife of only 20 days hadbeen found under the plains wing.
He later described her as a wonderfulperson, noting that at 27 years old,
(41:56):
she had been his first and only love
is sad.
Only if you let it be sad.
I mean, that's so fucked.
They were married for 20 days and getthis, this is probably, this will make
me tear up a little bit in a crueltwist of fate, he learned that he
(42:16):
and Lily had casually switched seatsearlier during the flight when she
had gotten up to use the restroom.
They hadn't even thought twice about it.
That simple decision had massiveconsequences as he was thrown clear
of the aircraft during the crash,while she remained trapped under
(42:37):
the wing and drowned in the swamp.
Well, that would be ahard thing to deal with
Zach shows and demonstratesemotions in a very unusual way.
This is his sad face, butit's also my happy face.
He just has one face.
It's the only face he's got.
I mean, what am I gonna say about it?
(42:57):
It was 1972.
It's 2025.
How about that is horrible.
And as somebody who is married toyour first and only love you, you
can understand the devastation.
I can't, 'cause I haven't lost you.
I can't possibly fathom what he'sfeeling, especially the survivor's
(43:20):
guilt, feeling like he kind of killedhis wife because he switched seats.
There you go.
That's what we were looking for.
There's a human.
There's a human in there.
After all,
the Everglades environment proved botha blessing and a curse for survivors.
The soft water log terrain had absorbedmuch of the crash energy, preventing
(43:41):
a catastrophic explosion and allowingmany to survive the initial impact.
The thick, muddy swamp water had evenclogged some of the survivor's wounds,
preventing them from bleeding to death.
But that same mud introduceda deadly new threat.
Germs GMEs.
(44:02):
Yeah.
Their wounds had become infectedwith a deadly organism found in
the black mud of the Everglades.
The organism produces aninfection called gas gangrene.
So people have heard of gangrene.
And it will cause, I believe it will likedestroy your healthy tissue and often you
(44:24):
need to have parts of your body amputated.
Hell yeah.
Yeah.
Let me read what I actually wrote,'cause I did write about this, but
that's what I remember it being.
It's a rapidly spreading bacterialinfection that will kill a
person in two days if untreated.
The bacteria thrive in environmentswithout oxygen and release toxins
that destroy surrounding tissue.
(44:46):
It can only be effectively treated.
In a hyperbaric chamber and youcan't exactly put 70 something
people in a hyperbaric chamber.
For people that don't know that isa pressurized container filled with
high levels of oxygen that forcesoxygen into the wounds and will kill
the bacteria that doesn't like oxygen.
(45:07):
Right.
So that makes sense.
The bacteria doesn't like oxygen.
Give it much oxygen to kill it.
Yeah, you know, most high-endhospitals have 'em, but it's the
size of one hospital room andit's not the size of a building.
Well, I've got good news, Zach,because only eight of the surviving
passengers Got it, actually had it.
(45:28):
Yes.
But hyperbaric chambers did haveto be found for all of them.
Because the only alternativetreatment is amputation.
Ron Infant's arm was severelyinfected with the gas gangrene.
Doctors initially told him thatthey would need to amputate his
arm because all of the hyperbaricchambers were already being used.
(45:51):
So they're at, mercy Hospital andunfortunately, they don't just
have infinite, chambers for people.
So, but also reality, like youcannot just build one in a matter
of minutes for these people.
No, that is not a thing.
No.
So the doctors are breaking the news,this guy that he is going to lose his arm.
How?
However, before the surgery begins.
An unused chamber was locatedat a navy base in Panama City.
(46:19):
Yep.
Oh man.
After spending 40 hours in thechamber, the pressurized oxygen
did kill the bacteria and itsaved his arm and his life.
Unreal.
While doctors worked to save thesurvivors, investigators examined
what remained of the aircraft.
They meticulously tested its flightcontrols, its engines, the instruments,
(46:41):
and the electrical and hydraulic systems.
What they found, or rather whatthey did not find was surprising.
The plane was virtually new and itwas in perfect mechanical condition.
No equipment failure was foundthat could have caused this crash.
In fact, some parts of this plane werein such good condition that the NTSB
(47:08):
gave them back to Eastern Airlinesso that they could be installed
in other aircraft in the fleet.
That's bad juju.
Don't do that.
It is bad juju.
The autopsy of Captain Bob Loftyielded a very gruesome discovery.
He had a large undetectedtumor growing in his brain.
(47:29):
Hmm.
It pressed into the part of hisbrain responsible for vision.
Medical records revealed that betweenthe ages of 50 and 52, vision in the
pilot's left eye had rapidly deteriorated.
Investigators initially theorized afterfinding this discovery that the captain
may have had reduced peripheral visionor blind spots that prevented him from
(47:52):
noticing critical altitude warnings.
However, captain Pop's family andfriends reported that he actually had
excellent vision and that he was evenan accomplished marksman who shot doves.
Hmm.
His recent medical exams hadshown only minor vision issues
that were corrected with glasses.
Investigators still had notdetermined the most crucial question.
Why did flight 4 0 1 startdescending in the first place?
(48:15):
Could the sophisticated autopilotwhich was supposed to maintain 2000
feet have malfunctioned the plane's.
Autopilot computers hadsurvived the crash, and they
were removed for examination.
11 days after the crash, thesesame computers were installed
on another L 10 11 Tristar test.
(48:35):
Pilots flew the same route asflight 4 0 1, and the autopilot held
that plane perfectly at 2000 feet.
Hmm.
So if the autopilot was working correctly.
If Bob was able to see what on earthhad gone wrong, it just wasn't set
correctly, then it wasn't set to maintain.
(48:56):
It was sent to land as investigatorsreplayed recordings from the cockpit
voice recorder, they heard somethingrevealing and altitude warning alarm
had clearly sounded in the cockpit.
As the plane descended through1700 feet, warning the crew
that they were dangerously low.
How could experienced pilotsmiss such an important warning?
(49:19):
The cockpit transcript providedthe answer at the exact moment
that that alarm sounded.
Both pilots were completely absorbedwith fixing the landing gear.
Light and flight engineer repo was inthe hell hole, checking the landing gear.
There was no one paying attentionto hear this alarm sound.
(49:43):
The warning chime came out of aspeaker at repo's workstation and
no one was sitting to hear it.
That alarm, which is clearly audibleon the cockpit voice recorder,
wasn't registered in the mindsof anybody on the flight deck.
Not because they weren't trying topay attention, but because their
attention had become so narrowlyfocused on a single problem.
(50:06):
Psychologists call this phenomenon,attention tunneling, and it is a
very common factor in many accidentsacross different industries.
This is something that when I amteaching new drivers how to drive on
track, I don't necessarily call itattention tunneling, but I absolutely
talk about becoming hyper fixated onone thing, and that can be so dangerous.
(50:33):
You really need to havesituational awareness, right, and
be able to shift your attention.
Investigators also discovered that pilotshad admitted placing considerable trust
in the modern autopilots, flying in themodern autopilots flying their planes.
(50:55):
They may have become overly dependent onthe technology, assuming that once the
autopilot was engaged, they didn't need toworry about basic flight parameters like
altitude, but they still hadn't determinedthe most critical piece of information.
If the autopilot was working correctly,why did the plane crash into a swamp?
(51:17):
The answer came in a dramatic form.
When the NTSB conducted apublic hearing in Miami.
Two months after the crash, beforethe hearing, an Eastern Airlines
pilot named Daniel Gellert wroteto the chairman of the NTSB.
Offering to testify on his own initiative.
(51:38):
So this guy Daniel Geller, hadexperienced flying the L 10 11 Tristar
and had noticed some very concerningbehaviors with its autopilot system.
It's important to understand that theworld of airline piloting in 1972 is
very different than the world is today.
It was considered professionally riskyfor a pilot to bypass his airlines
(52:02):
chain of command and raise concernsdirectly with federal investigators.
Airlines were far more insular thanthey are now, and pilots who spoke out
would often face career repercussions.
Yeah.
They just lose their jobsand they're done forever.
Yeah.
Despite this risk.
(52:22):
Geller testified that during a recentflight on a Tristar, he had accidentally
dropped a map on the cockpit floor.
As he bent down to pick it up,he nudged his control column.
He noticed immediately that theplane's autopilot had been affected.
The altitude hold function had disengagedwithout any warning light or sound.
(52:46):
The NTSB discovered the ER'sexperience was not unique.
In fact, 17 days after the accident,Eastern Airlines had quietly posted a
notice on a company bulletin board andmailed it to all of its Tri-Star pilots.
The bulletin warned againstaccidentally bumping the control
(53:07):
wheel while the autopilot was engaged.
They knew, hmm.
Or at least they found outthis was a crucial insight.
Modern airliners had pressuresensitive switches built into
their control wheels or sticks.
The idea is that if a pilot needs totake control quickly, they shouldn't
need to waste precious secondslooking for the autopilot disconnect
(53:29):
button on the instrument panel.
Instead, they can apply firmpressure to the controls.
The autopilot willautomatically disengage.
It's a sensible safety feature.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
We talked about this in the arrow slot.
That makes sense to me.
Episode, yes, but also not like a bump.
It needs to be like a wonk.
Yes.
(53:49):
So in the aero flawed episode, right, itwas 30 seconds of continuous pressure.
This is obviously much moredramatic because it's like bumping
it and it's like, oh, okay.
I get it.
I guess I'm done.
Okay, I'm done.
I'm off.
Yeah.
However, again, like airlock.
The pilots didn't know.
The pilots didn't know.
Pilots gotta know.
(54:11):
The flight data recorder revealedthe precise moments that flight
4 0 1 began to descend 11:37 PM.
By studying the cockpit voice recordertranscript, investigators could
determine exactly what was happeningin the cockpit at that moment.
So Captain Bob was turning in hisseat to speak to flight engineer repo,
(54:32):
telling him to go down and check whetherthe nose wheel was properly extended.
The investigators concluded that asCaptain Bob turned in his seat, he
had inadvertently bumped his controlwheel and it had enough pressure to
disengage the altitude hold function ofthe autopilot without anyone noticing.
This simple unconscious nudge hadstarted a gradual descent that would
(54:56):
continue unchecked for over fourminutes on a dark moonless night
over the Futureless Everglades, thepilots had no visual reference to
alert them if they were descending.
The aircraft's descent was so gradual only200 feet per minute without instruments.
It was imperceptible.
A training director for EasternAirlines eventually revealed
(55:19):
that before the Everglades crashpilots, or never taught about the
disengage function of the autopilot.
The L 10 elevens autopilot used analtitude whole disconnect feature that was
far more sensitive than other aircraft.
Worse when it disengaged,there was no audible warning,
only a small visual indicator.
(55:41):
You'd think that we would've learnedour lesson with that one, but,
but we didn't.
The NTSB reached a sobering conclusion.
The crash was due to piloterror, but a very specific kind.
The crew became so distracted by aminor mechanical problem that they
failed to notice that their aircraft wasgradually descending towards the ground.
(56:03):
They misunderstood the nuances ofthe sophisticated autopilot system,
and they hadn't been properlytrained on its potential pitfalls.
Okay, so this is really kind ofone of the saddest parts of this
story, because this whole thingwas about the nose gear, right?
The nose gear indicator light,and it was fine the whole time.
It was fine the whole time theinvestigators looked into it and it was
(56:27):
locked and loaded and ready to land.
It was perfectly fine.
It literally was a burnt out light bulb.
A piece of the plane thatfailed was worth 12 cents.
That small failure only becamecatastrophic because of how
the humans responded to it.
Eastern Airlines Flight 4 01 became a pivotal accident.
Though its true importance wasn'tfully understood until years later when
(56:50):
other incidents would end up happening.
It focused attention on the fact that thestandard procedures from managing cockpit
operations weren't just inadequate.
They were potentially dangerous.
So what's interesting is that, um, youknow, in 1977, so we're in 1972 with this
(57:13):
crash in 1977, just four years after.
Two Boeing 7 47 jumbo jetswould collide on a runway.
Tenerif Tenerif killing 583 people inwhat still remains to this day, the
deadliest aviation incident in history.
(57:33):
Go ahead and listen to that episode.
If you haven't.
We have covered that.
And just like flight 4 0 1, thetenor reef disaster involved
miscommunications in the cockpit anda breakdown in crew coordination.
By the late 1970s, investigators hadestablished that approximately 70%
of airline crashes were due to humanerror rather than mechanical failure.
(57:56):
So the tenor disaster and flight 40 1 involved highly qualified crews.
These.
Captains with just tens of thousandsof flight hours and 10 Arif.
The pilot was literally onthe magazine in the airplane.
Right?
And instead of the second officer, oryou know, whoever else was in the cockpit
(58:19):
questioning their decision making,they just went along with it and it had
absolutely catastrophic consequences.
Okay, in the months following the crash,something strange began happening on
other Eastern Airlines flights, crewmembers and passengers reported seeing
lifelike apparitions of flight fouroh ones deceased crew, particularly
(58:44):
Captain Bob and flight engineer repo.
Many of these ghost sightingsoccurred on aircraft that had been
fitted with the salvaged partsfrom the original flight wreckage.
Remember that the NTSB hadallowed the Eastern to reuse
some of the undamaged components.
This is a practice that was commonat the time, but has been banned.
(59:09):
Yeah, it's not permitted anymore.
One flight attendant reportedseeing Captain Bob sitting in
first class when she spoke to him.
He vanished.
On another flight, a captain sawwhat appeared to be flight engineer
repo in the forward gallery.
When approached the apparitionsaid, watch out for fire on the
airplane before disappearing.
(59:31):
Later, during pre-flight checks,engineers discovered an electrical
problem that could have set off a fire.
The ghost story spread quicklythroughout Eastern Airlines
and eventually to the public.
A book titled The Ghost of Flight4 0 1 was published in 1976 that
documented a bunch of these supernaturalclaims and the book suggested that
(59:53):
the ghosts were benevolent spiritstrying to protect passengers from
further airline incidents and mishaps.
Eastern Airlines officials responded tothe ghost stories in complete denial,
obviously, because you can't publiclysay, yes, our planes are haunted.
Come fly with us.
However, I mean, that would be agreat PR campaign in my opinion, but
(01:00:15):
bitch, they might be, they might be.
There was enough concern that the airlineremoved all of flight 4 0 1 salvaged
parts from any aircraft in its fleet.
Okay.
This accident quite literallychanged how pilots communicate
in cockpits around the world.
(01:00:36):
But, you know, it really took tArif, in my opinion, to set in
concrete the importance of talkingback and standing up for your ideas.
When you're in a cockpit and youknow, there's, there's an idea floated
that's like, oh, don't love that.
That's not right.
Protocol.
(01:00:57):
Um, so it is interesting that these twoincidents happened only four years apart.
Yeah, the seventies, man.
They were wild.
Okay, Zach, that is our story for today.
It was a long one.
You were very patient.
We had some dog interruptions.
I appreciate you and if you enjoyedthis episode, please rate, view,
subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
(01:01:19):
You can follow us on Instagramat Final Boarding Call pod.
We are on Facebook.
We've got email.
You can feel free to email us it'sfinal boarding call podcast@gmail.com.
And join us next week where we'llbe talking about a crazy roller
coaster gone terribly wrong.
Until then, remember to stow yourtrade tables, fasten your seat belts,
(01:01:42):
and prepare for the unexpected.
Because not every tripreaches its final destination.
Goodbye.
Picture this, you're ona night flight to Miami.
The cabin is quiet aspassengers doze or read.
Looking forward to Florida sunshine.
In the cockpit, three experiencedpilots guide a magnificent new aircraft
smoothly through the night sky.
(00:20):
Then something small goes wrong,just a tiny light bulb burns out.
This was a minor technical issue, a burntout light bulb worth 12 cents, and it
led to the destruction of a $25 millionaircraft and it claimed 101 lives.
(00:43):
So stow your tray tables, fasten your seatbelts, and prepare for extreme turbulence
because this is final boarding call
Hello and welcome to Final Boarding Call.
I am your disaster obsessed host Alice.
And I am Zach, a reluctant, homebodyhusband who is becoming more and
(01:07):
more of a homebody every day.
When I look at the worldoutside, I think, no thanks.
Oh my gosh, this podcastprobably is not helping.
Well, I told you what Simon saidwhen he was listening to it.
He said, it turns out thisis not a bedtime podcast.
Oh my gosh.
Did he listen to it right before bed?
(01:28):
Oh yeah.
Oh, Simon.
No.
Okay, well shout out to the Night Terror.
Terrible night.
Yes.
Yes.
Simon is a, a drifter buddy of ours.
Um, he's great and he will hearthis shout out at some point.
He'll, he's awesome.
Um, we appreciate the listen.
Yes.
This is probably not.
A great bedtime podcast,but very fun for road trips.
(01:51):
Or if you're really freaky listeningto it in the plane, which is usually
how I re-listen to our episodes.
I'm usually in a plane stopbeing on plane so damn much.
And you couldn't, it's, it'sliterally half of my life.
Zach and I were actually in Disneyrecently, and we had a great time.
It was super duper fun and tocelebrate our wonderful Disney trip.
(02:17):
Our next episode is a roller coasterdisaster, so state heck Yeah, I know.
Stay tuned to that.
I didn't quite have time to finishit for this recording because we
just got back from Disney, butit's some final destination stuff.
Oh, man.
Like roller coaster's gone so wrong.
Okay.
Before we dive in.
(02:37):
A quick reminder to our listeners,what should they do, Zach?
They should rate and subscribewherever they get their podcasts.
Hell yeah, brother.
Yep.
I guess listen, rate reviewwherever they get their podcasts.
Yeah.
Rate, review, subscribe, tell a friend.
Yeah, we're not picky.
Okay, well, I don't mean to burstyour bubble, but I know this story.
(03:03):
No, are you kidding?
I do.
Yeah.
I don't remember.
How do you know this?
Um.
I mean, it was something with you.
Did I ruin my own podcast?
You probably did.
Did I make you listen to somebodyelse covering this story?
(03:23):
Is that It was, it was a podcastthat somebody else did, wasn't it?
I'm sure it was.
Was it a My favorite murder?
I don't know.
I don't, I don't remember.
I mean, it's been a while.
And I did make you listento it, but you know what?
You probably don't remember the details.
I never do.
Okay.
So we're gonna do this damn thing.
Sources, before we get too far aheadof ourselves, gotta list the sources.
(03:46):
So, season standardplane crash police.com,
season five.
Episode nine of air disasterstitled Fatal Distraction.
Great episode.
Also ment, I need to figureout how he pronounces this.
Is it Mentor, pilot.
Mentor, mentor, pilot.
He's definitely from.
(04:08):
Europe, because he has an accent inhis videos, but he does an episode
on YouTube of this called WhatCaused the Everglades Disaster.
His videos are really incredible.
They are similar to our podcast, butit's just him, so less fun banter.
And he also is a pilot, so probablymore factual than our podcast.
(04:33):
Okay, and lastly, the podcast.
My favorite Murder episode 500did feature this case as well.
Alright, Zach, I'mtaking you back in time.
December 29th, 1972.
Disco Popin, the mustaches, they're hairy.
(04:58):
The pants are tight except forthe bottoms where they're huge.
It's 1972 Parachute pants style.
Not like bell bottoms, but like extreme,
elastic bell bottoms spandex,bell bottoms, Spanx span.
Yeah.
Sh off.
Everything okay.
(05:19):
Camel tail.
Now.
December 29th is a verybusy time for travel.
People are going home from Christmas.
It's, it's like a nightmareto be in the airport.
Between Christmas and New Year's,it's the worst across America.
(05:39):
Airports work crowded with travelersheading home or escaping for
warmer climates during the winter.
Zach's enjoying a beer.
A New York's JFK airport.
Eastern Airlines Flight 4 0 1 waspreparing for its routine trip
to Miami, but there was nothingroutine about this aircraft.
(06:02):
Flight 4 0 1 was assigneda Lockheed L 10 11 Tristar.
This was a massive cutting edge jetlinerthat had only been in commercial service.
We under a year.
This thing is brand spanking new.
Only had a couple ofmillion people inside it.
Yes, yes.
(06:23):
The L 10 11 was America's answer tothe European Airbus and the Boeing 7
47 . With its distinctive third enginemounted in the tail and its spacious
cabin that could seat up to get this sack.
400 passengers.
It's a lot of people.
She a big, she a big girl.
(06:44):
The Tri-Star represented the pinnacleof aviation technology for its time.
Eastern's particular plane tail memberN three 10 EA was practically brand new.
It was delivered to the airlineonly four months earlier.
(07:04):
It probably still smelledgood, which is crazy.
Not like baby vomit.
No God
To understand howadvanced the aircraft was.
Consider that many airlinersfrom the 1960s still had analog
instruments and required navigatorsfor trans oceanian flights.
It's a fun word to say.
(07:25):
The L 10 11.
By contrast, featured computerizedflight management systems, automated
navigation, and the world's mostsophisticated autopilot ever.
In that time period, we'vegotten more sophisticated.
But in 1972, this was like cutting edge
(07:45):
The flight crew for that flight consistedof three highly experienced pilots in
command was Captain Robert Bob Loft.
So we'll call him Bob.
Bob Oron.
I mean, thank God I finallypicked an episode that had names
that I could easily pronounce.
I really, I was strugglingthere for a while.
(08:07):
So we got Bob, right?
Lemme tell you about Bob.
He's 55 years old.
He's a veteran pilot withalmost 30,000 flight hours.
That's a lot of flight hours.
That's so many flight hours.
I think that's the highestnumber that we've heard so far.
Yes, I think it is as well.
Um, our listeners can fact check us, butI think 30,000 is the highest we've had.
(08:29):
This is equivalent to spending overthree continuous years in the air just
flying nonstop for three straight years.
Nope.
Though the Tristar wasrelatively new to Eastern's.
Fleet Loft had already, I'mgonna call him Bob instead.
Bob had already loggedabout 280 hours flying it.
He had been with Eastern for morethan 30 years and was known as
(08:51):
a competent, no-nonsense pilot.
So he didn't like to party.
You know, I probably would've gottenalong with him, if I'm being honest.
He was a rule following guy.
His first officer was Albert Stockstill, a39-year-old with 5,800 total flight hours
and 306 hours on the Tristar specifically.
(09:15):
And then flight engineer donald repo 51.
He rounded out the crew with over15,700 hours of flying experience,
including 53 hours on the L 10 11.
The three men formed what shouldhave been an ideal team to handle any
(09:36):
situation that might arise together.
They had nearly 52,000 hoursof flight experience, almost
six years of continuous flight.
The passengers filing ontoflight 4 0 1 that evening.
We're a cross section of America.
We're talking families doing Christmastrips, tourists heading to Florida's
(09:59):
beaches and business travelers.
My mom, sister, and I would flyright after Christmas, or right
before Christmas to my Nana's house.
Mm-hmm.
In Florida.
Not Miami, Daytona Beach area,but, um, the retired folks.
Okay.
Among them was an off-duty EasternAirlines maintenance expert
(10:22):
named Angelo Donadio, who iscatching a ride back to Miami.
The flight was also carrying newlyweds,Ron and Lily Infantino, who had been
married for only 20 days, and they hadjust spent Christmas with Ron's family.
(10:44):
As all of them settled into theirseats, they had no reason to think
that this flight would be any differentfrom countless others that they'd
taken before the weather in Miami.
That evening was perfect.
Clear skies, very light wind temperaturesin the low seventies as our captain Bob.
(11:05):
Guided the aircraft awayfrom JFK's terminal.
He probably knew that itwas gonna be an easy flight.
The route from New York to Miami was oneof Eastern Airlines, very common routes.
One they had done thousands of timesand the weather conditions were ideal.
During the flight, the pilotsused the Tristar Autopilot, which
(11:27):
was revolutionary for its time tounderstand how significant this was.
Remember that in 1972, mosthome appliances did not even
have digital displays, butthis aircraft could fly itself.
It's a big deal.
It's pretty cool.
Dad was just at home drunk.
(11:48):
Mom was cooking in the kitchen.
Redacted, redacted.
The initial part of the flight wascompletely uneventful passengers watched
the in-flight movie, which that to meis even crazier that this plane had,
they had in-flight movies back then.
(12:08):
Yes.
That's wild to me.
Autopilot.
I'm like, eh, in flight movie in 1972.
Crazy.
Uh oh.
Did I wake up the baby?
No, but I heard, I, Iswear I heard her yell.
Mama.
Okay.
I am gonna take the decibelsdown just a little bit.
We're gonna get a littlemore A SMR Quit yelling.
(12:30):
Sorry.
I just got really excitedabout in-flight movies.
They watched the in-flight movie, theyenjoyed their meal service, or they
just relaxed right in the cockpit.
The crew began preparing fortheir approach to Miami First.
Officer Stock Sill was handling theflying duties while Captain Bob Loft
monitored the instruments and flightengineer repo went through the landing
(12:55):
checklist as they began their descenttowards the twinkling lights of Miami.
None of them could have imaginedthat a tiny burnt out light bulb was
about to change their lives forever.
Close to plane was brand new.
This plane was brand new.
Got it.
(13:16):
It's really frustrating.
So it's like when you buy somethingfrom the store that comes with batteries
and then it dies like the next dayand you're like, are you kidding me?
Or you buy a printer and you printfour times and it's outta ink.
Yeah.
Zach and I, we really got alemon of a printer, um, recently.
So if anybody has good printersuggestions, let us know.
(13:36):
We're not gonna buy it 'cause we justbought one, but, well, I don't know.
I kind of hate ours.
Close to midnight, the planebegan its final approach to
Miami International Airport.
The cabin lights had been dimmed.
Many of the passengers wereasleep through the windows.
They could see the sprawling city lightsof Miami growing closer in the cockpit.
(13:59):
First engineer repo was methodicallyworking through the landing checklist.
Radar up flat panels, checked gear down.
That's when Captain Bob Loftnoticed something unusual.
The small green light on hisinstrument panel that should have
illuminated to show that the noselanding gear was properly locked in
(14:22):
the down position, hadn't lit up.
The two main landing gear indicatorswere showing green, but the nose
gear indicator remained dark.
This was concerning, but not immediately.
Alarming.
Captain Bob Loft decided to cyclethe landing gear, so that means he
(14:42):
raised it back up and he lowered it.
Essentially the equivalent ofturn it off and back on, turn it
off and turn it back on again.
Yeah, exactly.
Oh my goodness gracious.
The sound of the landing gearmechanism echoed throughout the cabin.
Some passengers noticed the grindingnoise several times, but none of them
(15:06):
vocalized concern to anyone else.
It was just one of those routine issuesthat sometimes happens in air travel.
I would for sure notice if the landinggear went up and back down again.
Me too.
Because of this podcast, I woulddefinitely be like, do you need me to
climb underneath and make sure it's down?
That's what I'm saying.
I would.
So volunteer for that job.
(15:26):
Are you kidding to go check?
I'm in fucking in.
The indicator light still did not come on.
Captain Bob Loft now faced a dilemma.
The nose landing gear might beproperly locked down and the light
might just be burnt out or the gearmight not be secured, which would
(15:50):
lead to a very dangerous landing.
It was not a risk that he was willingto take because he is no nonsense.
Bob, with the name like Bob,you know, he's no nonsense.
He is no goddamn nonsense.
Bob radioed the tower and theywould need to go around because
(16:11):
they didn't have confirmationthat their nose gear was locked.
The tower instructed them topull up, climb straight ahead to
2000 feet, and contact approachcontrol on a different frequency.
Flight engineer repo performed atest nicknamed the Christmas tree.
How cute is that?
It's nicknamed the Christmas tree,because guess what you do turn on?
(16:33):
Every light you turn on every singlelight, you literally light that dash up.
So he turned on every single lightin the cockpit to check if all
of the bulbs were still working.
When they did this test, the nose gearindicator light failed to illuminate,
confirming their suspicion that thebulb itself might be burnt out rather
(16:54):
than a problem with the landing gear.
So they are at 2000 feet right now.
They are circling away from the airportWhile they're figuring all of this out.
First officer Albert stock still wasstill flying the plane, but Captain
Bob needed his help to investigatethe indicator light, so Bob instructed
(17:14):
him to engage the autopilot.
Turn the autopilot on.
I'm tired of the shit.
Jesus.
Take the wheel.
I don't wanna dig anymore, grandpa.
And it turns out that's too damn bad.
You keep digging.
Name the movie and we'llsend you a sticker.
(17:35):
The Tristar autopilot was.
So sophisticated that it actuallyhad the ability to land the plane.
Yes, Zach.
That's right.
This thing, basically the technology ofbeing able to like parallel park a car.
That's how mind blowing this is to me,that a plane could land itself crazy.
I think landing a plane is probablyharder than parallel Parking a car.
(17:59):
I learned parallel parking at16 in one attempt, and then
I've done it great ever since.
Do you think you could land a plane?
I do actually.
Yeah.
I think you could too.
I would love to try.
I know, I guess the way to God, if theyever ask, is anybody a pilot in here?
I'll be like, no, but I want to be,oh my, so Albert programmed it to
maintain an altitude of 2000 feet.
(18:20):
While they tried to fix theindicator light, what happened
next would become the textbookexample, and I'm not exaggerating.
It's literally in textbooks ofhow a minor technical issue can
escalate into catastrophe when crewcoordination breaks down says a story
about teamwork and communication,and it doesn't have a happy ending.
(18:43):
Okay, captain Bob asked Albert to helphim remove the indicator light, but
the light fixture was proving difficultto extract from the instrument panel.
The two pilots struggled with thetiny light while flight engineer
repo monitored the instruments.
This is where we see a realbreakdown in cockpit discipline.
(19:05):
First Officer Albert was designatedas the pilot flying for this flight.
Right.
He's the one in chargeof piloting the aircraft.
Yet here he is trying to fix a lightwhile simultaneously being responsible
for monitoring the aircraft's flight path.
(19:26):
Hmm.
Which is a really important thing to do.
Yeah.
It's one of those things that, uh,you know, flights are in the air
and if you're not paying attention,it might not be in the air anymore.
Yes, that's so true.
And it's important to remember that thisis 1972 and there really was no formal
training for dividing responsibilitiesin the cockpit during, they probably
(19:49):
couldn't even see they had hot box,that thing so hard with cigarette smoke.
A wink wink.
It's actually true.
I'm sure that plane is just, youknow, they were wreaking of smoke.
Oh God, yes.
So it didn't smell good anymore.
No, I guess it didn't.
I'd be having an asthma attack so fast.
(20:09):
And make your head spin.
You haven't stoppedhaving those for a week.
That's so true.
Or two or three or four.
Yeah.
Ooh.
At least I have my voice back.
I promised the people thatwould happen and it did.
The concept of crew resource management,standardized procedures for how pilots
should communicate and delegate tasks.
(20:30):
But that didn't exist yet, Zach, becauseit was the early seventies, because it
was the early seventies, and it was agoddamn free for all with your mustaches.
Everywhere.
This accident would literally becomeone of the main catalysts for developing
that training, which is now standardthrough the aviation industry.
(20:54):
So let's hop back into this planefor a moment where Bob and Albert are
literally fighting a light bulb right now.
I don't want to be back in the plane.
It's gonna crash.
Well, the good news isAlbert finally removes it.
Heck yeah.
Yes.
(21:14):
However, now he can't get it back in Zach.
So, captain Bob offered some guidance,noting that Albert had it sideways.
Hmm.
Turn it on its side.
Folks, I'm not a pilot and I certainlyhave not been in many aircraft from the
(21:34):
1970s, so I'm not entirely sure whatthis light bulb looked like or how it
went in or out, but it is concerning thatthey were trying to put it in sideways.
I think it just means that it's kindof like taillight bulbs where you have
(21:54):
offset pins and they go in and then yourotate it, but instead he was trying to
put it in where the pins weren't lined up.
That makes more sense.
I am literally picturing like atiny little Christmas tree lights,
like abit little one, and I'mpicturing him like putting it
in sideways, literally sideways.
So the glass is like.
(22:15):
Hitting the hole.
There's some stupid peopleout there, but I'm not sure
that that's what was going on.
That's concerning.
Yours makes way more sense.
It was turned like 90 degrees.
Yeah.
So that the pins weren't lining up that.
Yeah.
Okay.
Let's go with stacks.
(22:36):
Meanwhile, air traffic controlhas instructed them to turn left.
Heading 300.
I don't know exactly what thatmeans 'cause I'm not a pilot,
but turn left is what I got.
So make the plane go leftthan it's currently going.
Captain Bob acknowledged theinstruction, but his primary focus
(22:57):
remained on the damn light bulb.
Damnit that light bulb.
Frustrated with thecontinuing light problem.
Bob told his flight engineer to godown and visually check if the nose
wheel was actually extended, whichis what I said I would absolutely
volunteer to do in a heartbeat.
This sounds like sucha cool operation to me.
(23:18):
It's like driving a convertiblebaby, getting the wind in your hair.
That's insane.
That is so cool.
In the LA 10 11, there was avery small compartment below
the cockpit floor nicknamed.
The hell hole.
And it was an accent point thatallowed the crew members to
physically see the nose landing gearmechanism through a viewing port.
(23:40):
As flight engineer repo left hisstation to check the landing gear,
something crucial changed In the cockpitdynamic, the crew member whose primary
responsibility was to monitor the aircraftsystems was no longer at his post.
The other two pilots were stillpreoccupied with the light bulb.
(24:03):
Who is flying this plane?
The machines can't trust ai.
Ai, out in the passenger cabin, richardPolowski was looking out his window
when he noticed something concerninghe could see a tower in the distance.
And it looked like they weredescending toward it as a
(24:27):
relatively experienced flyer.
This seemed really strange to him.
Pulaski had noticedsomething the pilots hadn't.
The plane was gettingcloser to the ground.
It was not maintaining.
2000 feet flight engineer repo nowin the electronics, babe beneath the
(24:47):
cockpit, reported back that he couldn'tsee anything because it was dark,
like pitch black in there, obviously.
Take a flashlight dummy.
He's in the hella hole.
Captain Bob realized that he had forgottento turn on the external lights, which
would illuminate the landing gear.
Once reminded, he activatedthe nose wheel light, duh.
(25:09):
In the Miami control tower controller,Charlie Johnson noticed something
concerning on his radar screen.
Eastern Airlines.
Flight 4 0 1 seemed to have descendedfrom 2000 feet to only 900 feet,
but he wasn't overly alarmed.
(25:31):
It wasn't unusual to get false readingsfor several radar sweeps in a row.
That's alarming.
It's not weird for it to multipletimes say, this is not good.
That's more alarming than thefact that he was not alarmed,
just saying Johnson radioed toask how things were coming along.
(25:53):
Captain Bob replied that they'd like toturn around and come back in for landing.
He believed that they'd soon getconfirmation that the gear was locked
and he wanted to return to the airport.
Johnson instructed them to turn left.
Heading 180 deep in the Everglades.
Bob Marcus was huntingfrogs with a friend.
When Eastern Airlines flight 40 1 roared past him overhead.
(26:17):
We have another bob, but this Bobis like the opposite of Captain Bob.
'cause this Bob is straight up redneck.
He is hunting rocks.
He is in that swamp.
He's doing his thing.
He's got his high waters on him.
He's got, oh, inside the cockpit, asudden realization struck the pilots
(26:39):
First, officer Albert noticed thatsomething had happened to their altitude.
Captain Bob Loft asked what was happening,confusion evident in his voice as he tried
to make sense of their actual altitude.
And those were the last wordsrecorded on the cockpit.
Voice recorder, twoseconds later at 11:42 PM.
(27:06):
The first sounds of impact were recorded.
Eastern Airlines Flight 4 0 1 crashedinto the murky waters of the Everglades
at a speed of 227 miles per hour.
Jesus, I don't know if anybody's evercrashed into anything, you know, holding
water before that is a fast D cell.
(27:29):
What's crazy is they were goingthat fast because they were not
prepared for any sort of landing.
Yeah.
So they had not slowed down at all.
They had just run out of sky.
Mm-hmm.
The left wing hit first,followed by the left engine
and the left main landing gear.
(27:51):
The impact was so violent that theaircraft immediately shattered into
multiple pieces spreading debrisacross a quarter mile of swamp land.
In those final moments, the pilots hadfinally realized their perilous situation,
but it was far too late to recover.
(28:12):
The aircraft had descended from2000 feet to the surface of
the Everglades in four minutes.
All while the crew's attention wasfixated on a problem that in retrospect
didn't exist, was so trivial.
A burnt out indicator light for a landinggear that was in all likelihood properly
(28:37):
extended and locked the entire time.
Now zag.
This story is particularly interestingto me because usually with our cases,
this is where it kind of ends andwe pivot to like the investigation.
Mm-hmm.
And like do, do, do, do, do.
However ever they landed in aswamp and crazy shit's about
(28:58):
to go down in this swamp.
So we are going to transportourselves to the Florida Everglades.
The initial impact with the swampcreated a massive fireball as fuel
tanks ruptured and ignited, butthen something remarkable happened.
The soft water log terrain ofthe Everglades absorbed much of
(29:21):
the crash energy preventing acatastrophic explosion that would've
instantly killed everybody onboard.
Yeah, everybody.
Period.
It wasn't already dead.
Correct.
Instead, the aircraft broke intosegments with some sections remaining
partially intact remarkably,75 people survived the crash.
(29:44):
Nearly half of the peopleon board, it's a dog.
Oh, it is heavy.
Come here
fucking pebbles.
People that have a pit bull will get it.
They understand.
They understand.
They are the sweetest,grossest animals on the planet.
That's so sweet.
But they're so sweet.
They're so sweet.
And they're so gross.
Okay.
(30:05):
All right.
He's, and that's our story.
Yeah.
He's eating, but we're just gonna kind ofcharge forward 'cause we gotta keep going.
Remarkably, 75 people survived the crash.
Nearly half of the people onboard, however, the survivors
found themselves in a nightmare.
They were injured, they weredisoriented, and they were stranded
(30:27):
in a pitch black everglade swamp.
Mm-hmm.
With them gators.
With them gators.
All right.
Let's talk about some of the passengers.
Richard Pulaski, the passengerwho had noticed the unusual
descent regained consciousness tofind himself seriously injured,
(30:47):
Despite feeling minimal pain dueto shock, he could see his torn
clothes and exposed skin on his arms.
He knew that he needed to stay calm.
And he needed to finda way outta the swamp.
Many survivors are called the terrifyingmoment of impact, the sudden flash
of fire that swept through the cabin.
(31:08):
The inability to breathe as the flamesconsumed, the oxygen, and then the
darkness as they lost consciousness.
Ron Infantino, who was the newlywedwas knocked unconscious by the crash.
When he came to, he foundhimself alone in the swamp, far
away from any of the survivors.
(31:29):
He was badly wounded, and his new wife,Lily, who had been sitting next to him,
was nowhere to be seen in the darkness.
He could hear the sounds of othersurvivors calling for help, but
he couldn't move to reach them.
The swamp water had doused the initialflames, but a new danger lurked.
(31:50):
20,000 kilograms of jet fuel hadleaked into the surrounding water.
The survivors were literally.
Soaking in it.
And they knew with open wounds.
Yes, which is really bad.
Also, a single spark could ignitethe fuel and kill everyone who
(32:11):
had survived the initial crash.
hopefully all the cigarettes went out.
Alright, let's go back to our frog hunter.
Frog Hunter, Bob Marcus had seenthe aircraft go down and immediately
spraying into action, navigatinghis airboat toward the plane.
I know he's so cool.
He navigated his airboattoward the crash site.
(32:33):
He jumped into the swamp to help.
He immediately felt the sting ofthe jet fuel on his skin, which
would cause burns that he wouldneed to treat for about a week.
So he's in it to be the heroes.
He I know.
I know.
We love him.
Bob Marcus quickly spotted a survivorwho was in grave danger, a badly wounded
(32:55):
man, still strapped to his seat, andon the verge of drowning in the water.
Oh, upside down chair.
Mm-hmm.
The man kept pleading for help saying thathe couldn't hold his head up much longer.
So my guess is that he's probablyeither on his side or at an angle.
Mm-hmm.
Where yeah, his head is, hehas to like hold his head up
(33:16):
to keep it from going under
Marcus.
Bob Marcus pulled him up, preventinghim from drowning throughout the night.
Bob would go on to save dozens of lives,keeping many people from drowning in
the murky waters of the Everglades.
Now this is 1972, Bob Marcus isunable to just whip his cell phone
(33:37):
out and go ahead and call for help.
Instead, he's like air boatingthese things to the shore.
Yeah, he's like him and his frogs and hisairboat are saving the day isolated from
the other survivors and unable to move.
Ron Infantino now had a newreason to fear for his life.
(33:58):
Swamp puppies, also known as alligators
and snakes.
So they're swamp puppies and thereare note ropes and he can hear them.
And see the glow of their eyes.
Oh, hell yeah.
Hell yeah, brother.
So, initially they werescared by the crash.
Yeah.
However, enough time has passed.
Now that they're like, oh,what's going on in the water?
(34:23):
I see some thrashing.
I see some people unable to move.
It's giving fear.
That was you and not me.
I have not said that.
I know I was making fun of youstill though, because you've
been saying it's giving.
I've actually been reallytrying to not You've noticed
how much you were doing it then?
Yes.
In his injured state, heknew that he was defenseless.
(34:48):
Then remarkably he heardsomething unexpected.
Christmas caroling.
Bet you didn't see that one coming.
Don't remember that detail.
To rally the survivor spirits flightattendant, Trudy Smith and others
began singing Christmas carols.
They knew instinctively that rescuewould not come quickly as no one
(35:09):
knew their exact location in themiddle of the swamp at midnight.
Yeah.
The surreal scene of survivor singingjoy to the world in the dark swamp
after such a devastating crash seemsalmost unbelievable, but it happened,
which is a testament to human resiliencein the face of tragedy or just good
(35:34):
old fashioned, shock and desperation.
Fake it till you make it.
Amen.
Mm-hmm.
Within minutes of the crash, coastGuard helicopters were sent out
to search for the site, but in thepitch Black night, they flew right
over the wreckage without seeing it.
Bob Marcus tried to signal the distanthelicopters with his flashlight.
(35:54):
Bob Marcus, with his frogs.
Yeah.
He's got a flashlight and a flashlight.
He could see that they were going inthe wrong direction, so he waved his
light at them until he actually sawthem turn back towards the crash site.
Bob Marcus, the real hero, less than halfan hour after the crash, the Coast Guard,
the Coast Guard, did I say Coast Guard?
(36:15):
The Coast Guard arrived, but thenearest landing site was a hundred
meters away from the wreckagebecause they're in a swamp.
Marcus got on his little air elbowand he rushed over to meet the
helicopters and guide the rescuersBack to the crash site once again.
Bob Marcus, say Vng the dayrescue worker Don Schneck.
(36:42):
What a name.
Rescue worker.
Don Schneck was one of the firstresponders on the scene making
his way through the wreckage.
He discovered Captain Bob Loft hadsurvived the initial crash, but Bob was
in bad shape with lacerations, brokenribs, and he was very clearly in shock.
(37:02):
Despite don Schneck'sattempts to reassure him.
Bob said that he knew he was going to die.
Feeling inadequate.
As the only rescuerinitially on the scene.
SNE was relieved to look back towardMiami and see a line of lights
approaching as more help arrived.
Thank God.
First officer Bert Stockstillwas killed during the crash.
(37:27):
Albert, he, he was the one that wasin the cargo area trying to look
at the, in the hell hole, right?
No, this was Albert.
Oh, okay.
This was the one who wassupposed to be flying the plane.
He did a bad job, but next, sorry.
It's not his fault hewas told to do something.
Anyway, our first officer, AlbertStockstill, was killed during the
(37:49):
crash and Captain Bob soon diedat the scene from his injuries.
Now, first engineer repo.
Who was in the hell hole?
He initially survived and hewas transported to a hospital
as was Angelo Donadio.
Mm-hmm.
By dawn, all the wounded had beentransported to Miami hospitals.
(38:10):
The final toll was devastating.
99 people lost their lives while 77survived with varying degrees of injury.
Ron Infantino was among those fightingfor survival in the hospital when a
priest came to give him last rights.
He realized just how precarious hiscondition was throughout this ordeal.
(38:35):
He continued asking if anyonehad seen his wife Lily, but in
the chaotic hospital environment,no one could give him answers.
The crash was headline newsaround the world, obviously.
Mm-hmm.
It was the first crash of a wide bodyjumbo jet, ever, ever, and it produced
the largest number of deaths in UScivil aviation history at that time.
(39:00):
I mean, this is hugenews for investigators.
It presented a perplexing mystery.
How could the newest, mostsophisticated airliner, a available,
apparently iner working conditionsimply fly into the ground?
While on autopilot.
Mm-hmm.
The crash site itself provided importantinitial clues for investigators.
(39:24):
The trail of debris was enormouslylong, suggesting that the plane hit
the swamp almost in level flight,not in a steep uncontrolled dive.
Yeah.
They were coasting.
They were coasting.
Its descent had clearlybeen slow and gradual.
Beer number two,
if I get to 10 tonight, Nope.
(39:46):
Absolutely not.
That will not happen.
Its dissent had clearly been slowand gradual, which was puzzling.
If the pilots had lost control,the plane would likely have
crashed at a much steeper angle.
Mm-hmm.
National Transportation SafetyBoard investigators documented
the final settings of manyinstruments in the cockpit.
(40:08):
One crucial discovery stood out.
The autopilot was set to maintainan altitude of 2000 feet.
So why didn't it?
Because it's not abnormal for radarto give false abuse tits all the time.
Did that get her?
Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Thank God my phone fell outta my packet.
(40:29):
That's why women don't have pockets.
You're not responsible enough for 'em.
Mm.
We got a sleep in baby in the nextroom, so we're trying to be whispery.
She's not really a baby.
She turned three yesterday.
She's still my baby.
She's so crazy.
Investigators interviewedmaintenance expert Angelo Dio,
(40:50):
who had survived the crash.
All he could tell them was thatthe crew was trying to fix a
light bulb before the crash.
A detail that initially seemedinsignificant, but would prove
crucial to understand this accident.
Within days, the plane's flightdata recorder and cockpit voice
(41:12):
recorder, the famous black box, theywere recovered from the wreckage.
Investigators hoped that they wouldprovide answers to this mystery before
they could fully analyze the data.
However, flight engineer Don Repo diedin the hospital from his injuries.
There were three in that cockpit andall three of them did end up dying.
(41:34):
Ron Infantino still hospitalized,was finally given the devastating
news that he had been dreadingthe body of his wife, Lily.
His wife of only 20 days hadbeen found under the plains wing.
He later described her as a wonderfulperson, noting that at 27 years old,
(41:56):
she had been his first and only love
is sad.
Only if you let it be sad.
I mean, that's so fucked.
They were married for 20 days and getthis, this is probably, this will make
me tear up a little bit in a crueltwist of fate, he learned that he
(42:16):
and Lily had casually switched seatsearlier during the flight when she
had gotten up to use the restroom.
They hadn't even thought twice about it.
That simple decision had massiveconsequences as he was thrown clear
of the aircraft during the crash,while she remained trapped under
(42:37):
the wing and drowned in the swamp.
Well, that would be ahard thing to deal with
Zach shows and demonstratesemotions in a very unusual way.
This is his sad face, butit's also my happy face.
He just has one face.
It's the only face he's got.
I mean, what am I gonna say about it?
(42:57):
It was 1972.
It's 2025.
How about that is horrible.
And as somebody who is married toyour first and only love you, you
can understand the devastation.
I can't, 'cause I haven't lost you.
I can't possibly fathom what he'sfeeling, especially the survivor's
(43:20):
guilt, feeling like he kind of killedhis wife because he switched seats.
There you go.
That's what we were looking for.
There's a human.
There's a human in there.
After all,
the Everglades environment proved botha blessing and a curse for survivors.
The soft water log terrain had absorbedmuch of the crash energy, preventing
(43:41):
a catastrophic explosion and allowingmany to survive the initial impact.
The thick, muddy swamp water had evenclogged some of the survivor's wounds,
preventing them from bleeding to death.
But that same mud introduceda deadly new threat.
Germs GMEs.
(44:02):
Yeah.
Their wounds had become infectedwith a deadly organism found in
the black mud of the Everglades.
The organism produces aninfection called gas gangrene.
So people have heard of gangrene.
And it will cause, I believe it will likedestroy your healthy tissue and often you
(44:24):
need to have parts of your body amputated.
Hell yeah.
Yeah.
Let me read what I actually wrote,'cause I did write about this, but
that's what I remember it being.
It's a rapidly spreading bacterialinfection that will kill a
person in two days if untreated.
The bacteria thrive in environmentswithout oxygen and release toxins
that destroy surrounding tissue.
(44:46):
It can only be effectively treated.
In a hyperbaric chamber and youcan't exactly put 70 something
people in a hyperbaric chamber.
For people that don't know that isa pressurized container filled with
high levels of oxygen that forcesoxygen into the wounds and will kill
the bacteria that doesn't like oxygen.
(45:07):
Right.
So that makes sense.
The bacteria doesn't like oxygen.
Give it much oxygen to kill it.
Yeah, you know, most high-endhospitals have 'em, but it's the
size of one hospital room andit's not the size of a building.
Well, I've got good news, Zach,because only eight of the surviving
passengers Got it, actually had it.
(45:28):
Yes.
But hyperbaric chambers did haveto be found for all of them.
Because the only alternativetreatment is amputation.
Ron Infant's arm was severelyinfected with the gas gangrene.
Doctors initially told him thatthey would need to amputate his
arm because all of the hyperbaricchambers were already being used.
(45:51):
So they're at, mercy Hospital andunfortunately, they don't just
have infinite, chambers for people.
So, but also reality, like youcannot just build one in a matter
of minutes for these people.
No, that is not a thing.
No.
So the doctors are breaking the news,this guy that he is going to lose his arm.
How?
However, before the surgery begins.
An unused chamber was locatedat a navy base in Panama City.
(46:19):
Yep.
Oh man.
After spending 40 hours in thechamber, the pressurized oxygen
did kill the bacteria and itsaved his arm and his life.
Unreal.
While doctors worked to save thesurvivors, investigators examined
what remained of the aircraft.
They meticulously tested its flightcontrols, its engines, the instruments,
(46:41):
and the electrical and hydraulic systems.
What they found, or rather whatthey did not find was surprising.
The plane was virtually new and itwas in perfect mechanical condition.
No equipment failure was foundthat could have caused this crash.
In fact, some parts of this plane werein such good condition that the NTSB
(47:08):
gave them back to Eastern Airlinesso that they could be installed
in other aircraft in the fleet.
That's bad juju.
Don't do that.
It is bad juju.
The autopsy of Captain Bob Loftyielded a very gruesome discovery.
He had a large undetectedtumor growing in his brain.
(47:29):
Hmm.
It pressed into the part of hisbrain responsible for vision.
Medical records revealed that betweenthe ages of 50 and 52, vision in the
pilot's left eye had rapidly deteriorated.
Investigators initially theorized afterfinding this discovery that the captain
may have had reduced peripheral visionor blind spots that prevented him from
(47:52):
noticing critical altitude warnings.
However, captain Pop's family andfriends reported that he actually had
excellent vision and that he was evenan accomplished marksman who shot doves.
Hmm.
His recent medical exams hadshown only minor vision issues
that were corrected with glasses.
Investigators still had notdetermined the most crucial question.
Why did flight 4 0 1 startdescending in the first place?
(48:15):
Could the sophisticated autopilotwhich was supposed to maintain 2000
feet have malfunctioned the plane's.
Autopilot computers hadsurvived the crash, and they
were removed for examination.
11 days after the crash, thesesame computers were installed
on another L 10 11 Tristar test.
(48:35):
Pilots flew the same route asflight 4 0 1, and the autopilot held
that plane perfectly at 2000 feet.
Hmm.
So if the autopilot was working correctly.
If Bob was able to see what on earthhad gone wrong, it just wasn't set
correctly, then it wasn't set to maintain.
(48:56):
It was sent to land as investigatorsreplayed recordings from the cockpit
voice recorder, they heard somethingrevealing and altitude warning alarm
had clearly sounded in the cockpit.
As the plane descended through1700 feet, warning the crew
that they were dangerously low.
How could experienced pilotsmiss such an important warning?
(49:19):
The cockpit transcript providedthe answer at the exact moment
that that alarm sounded.
Both pilots were completely absorbedwith fixing the landing gear.
Light and flight engineer repo was inthe hell hole, checking the landing gear.
There was no one paying attentionto hear this alarm sound.
(49:43):
The warning chime came out of aspeaker at repo's workstation and
no one was sitting to hear it.
That alarm, which is clearly audibleon the cockpit voice recorder,
wasn't registered in the mindsof anybody on the flight deck.
Not because they weren't trying topay attention, but because their
attention had become so narrowlyfocused on a single problem.
(50:06):
Psychologists call this phenomenon,attention tunneling, and it is a
very common factor in many accidentsacross different industries.
This is something that when I amteaching new drivers how to drive on
track, I don't necessarily call itattention tunneling, but I absolutely
talk about becoming hyper fixated onone thing, and that can be so dangerous.
(50:33):
You really need to havesituational awareness, right, and
be able to shift your attention.
Investigators also discovered that pilotshad admitted placing considerable trust
in the modern autopilots, flying in themodern autopilots flying their planes.
(50:55):
They may have become overly dependent onthe technology, assuming that once the
autopilot was engaged, they didn't need toworry about basic flight parameters like
altitude, but they still hadn't determinedthe most critical piece of information.
If the autopilot was working correctly,why did the plane crash into a swamp?
(51:17):
The answer came in a dramatic form.
When the NTSB conducted apublic hearing in Miami.
Two months after the crash, beforethe hearing, an Eastern Airlines
pilot named Daniel Gellert wroteto the chairman of the NTSB.
Offering to testify on his own initiative.
(51:38):
So this guy Daniel Geller, hadexperienced flying the L 10 11 Tristar
and had noticed some very concerningbehaviors with its autopilot system.
It's important to understand that theworld of airline piloting in 1972 is
very different than the world is today.
It was considered professionally riskyfor a pilot to bypass his airlines
(52:02):
chain of command and raise concernsdirectly with federal investigators.
Airlines were far more insular thanthey are now, and pilots who spoke out
would often face career repercussions.
Yeah.
They just lose their jobsand they're done forever.
Yeah.
Despite this risk.
(52:22):
Geller testified that during a recentflight on a Tristar, he had accidentally
dropped a map on the cockpit floor.
As he bent down to pick it up,he nudged his control column.
He noticed immediately that theplane's autopilot had been affected.
The altitude hold function had disengagedwithout any warning light or sound.
(52:46):
The NTSB discovered the ER'sexperience was not unique.
In fact, 17 days after the accident,Eastern Airlines had quietly posted a
notice on a company bulletin board andmailed it to all of its Tri-Star pilots.
The bulletin warned againstaccidentally bumping the control
(53:07):
wheel while the autopilot was engaged.
They knew, hmm.
Or at least they found outthis was a crucial insight.
Modern airliners had pressuresensitive switches built into
their control wheels or sticks.
The idea is that if a pilot needs totake control quickly, they shouldn't
need to waste precious secondslooking for the autopilot disconnect
(53:29):
button on the instrument panel.
Instead, they can apply firmpressure to the controls.
The autopilot willautomatically disengage.
It's a sensible safety feature.
Mm-hmm.
Right.
We talked about this in the arrow slot.
That makes sense to me.
Episode, yes, but also not like a bump.
It needs to be like a wonk.
Yes.
(53:49):
So in the aero flawed episode, right, itwas 30 seconds of continuous pressure.
This is obviously much moredramatic because it's like bumping
it and it's like, oh, okay.
I get it.
I guess I'm done.
Okay, I'm done.
I'm off.
Yeah.
However, again, like airlock.
The pilots didn't know.
The pilots didn't know.
Pilots gotta know.
(54:11):
The flight data recorder revealedthe precise moments that flight
4 0 1 began to descend 11:37 PM.
By studying the cockpit voice recordertranscript, investigators could
determine exactly what was happeningin the cockpit at that moment.
So Captain Bob was turning in hisseat to speak to flight engineer repo,
(54:32):
telling him to go down and check whetherthe nose wheel was properly extended.
The investigators concluded that asCaptain Bob turned in his seat, he
had inadvertently bumped his controlwheel and it had enough pressure to
disengage the altitude hold function ofthe autopilot without anyone noticing.
This simple unconscious nudge hadstarted a gradual descent that would
(54:56):
continue unchecked for over fourminutes on a dark moonless night
over the Futureless Everglades, thepilots had no visual reference to
alert them if they were descending.
The aircraft's descent was so gradual only200 feet per minute without instruments.
It was imperceptible.
A training director for EasternAirlines eventually revealed
(55:19):
that before the Everglades crashpilots, or never taught about the
disengage function of the autopilot.
The L 10 elevens autopilot used analtitude whole disconnect feature that was
far more sensitive than other aircraft.
Worse when it disengaged,there was no audible warning,
only a small visual indicator.
(55:41):
You'd think that we would've learnedour lesson with that one, but,
but we didn't.
The NTSB reached a sobering conclusion.
The crash was due to piloterror, but a very specific kind.
The crew became so distracted by aminor mechanical problem that they
failed to notice that their aircraft wasgradually descending towards the ground.
(56:03):
They misunderstood the nuances ofthe sophisticated autopilot system,
and they hadn't been properlytrained on its potential pitfalls.
Okay, so this is really kind ofone of the saddest parts of this
story, because this whole thingwas about the nose gear, right?
The nose gear indicator light,and it was fine the whole time.
It was fine the whole time theinvestigators looked into it and it was
(56:27):
locked and loaded and ready to land.
It was perfectly fine.
It literally was a burnt out light bulb.
A piece of the plane thatfailed was worth 12 cents.
That small failure only becamecatastrophic because of how
the humans responded to it.
Eastern Airlines Flight 4 01 became a pivotal accident.
Though its true importance wasn'tfully understood until years later when
(56:50):
other incidents would end up happening.
It focused attention on the fact that thestandard procedures from managing cockpit
operations weren't just inadequate.
They were potentially dangerous.
So what's interesting is that, um, youknow, in 1977, so we're in 1972 with this
(57:13):
crash in 1977, just four years after.
Two Boeing 7 47 jumbo jetswould collide on a runway.
Tenerif Tenerif killing 583 people inwhat still remains to this day, the
deadliest aviation incident in history.
(57:33):
Go ahead and listen to that episode.
If you haven't.
We have covered that.
And just like flight 4 0 1, thetenor reef disaster involved
miscommunications in the cockpit anda breakdown in crew coordination.
By the late 1970s, investigators hadestablished that approximately 70%
of airline crashes were due to humanerror rather than mechanical failure.
(57:56):
So the tenor disaster and flight 40 1 involved highly qualified crews.
These.
Captains with just tens of thousandsof flight hours and 10 Arif.
The pilot was literally onthe magazine in the airplane.
Right?
And instead of the second officer, oryou know, whoever else was in the cockpit
(58:19):
questioning their decision making,they just went along with it and it had
absolutely catastrophic consequences.
Okay, in the months following the crash,something strange began happening on
other Eastern Airlines flights, crewmembers and passengers reported seeing
lifelike apparitions of flight fouroh ones deceased crew, particularly
(58:44):
Captain Bob and flight engineer repo.
Many of these ghost sightingsoccurred on aircraft that had been
fitted with the salvaged partsfrom the original flight wreckage.
Remember that the NTSB hadallowed the Eastern to reuse
some of the undamaged components.
This is a practice that was commonat the time, but has been banned.
(59:09):
Yeah, it's not permitted anymore.
One flight attendant reportedseeing Captain Bob sitting in
first class when she spoke to him.
He vanished.
On another flight, a captain sawwhat appeared to be flight engineer
repo in the forward gallery.
When approached the apparitionsaid, watch out for fire on the
airplane before disappearing.
(59:31):
Later, during pre-flight checks,engineers discovered an electrical
problem that could have set off a fire.
The ghost story spread quicklythroughout Eastern Airlines
and eventually to the public.
A book titled The Ghost of Flight4 0 1 was published in 1976 that
documented a bunch of these supernaturalclaims and the book suggested that
(59:53):
the ghosts were benevolent spiritstrying to protect passengers from
further airline incidents and mishaps.
Eastern Airlines officials responded tothe ghost stories in complete denial,
obviously, because you can't publiclysay, yes, our planes are haunted.
Come fly with us.
However, I mean, that would be agreat PR campaign in my opinion, but
(01:00:15):
bitch, they might be, they might be.
There was enough concern that the airlineremoved all of flight 4 0 1 salvaged
parts from any aircraft in its fleet.
Okay.
This accident quite literallychanged how pilots communicate
in cockpits around the world.
(01:00:36):
But, you know, it really took tArif, in my opinion, to set in
concrete the importance of talkingback and standing up for your ideas.
When you're in a cockpit and youknow, there's, there's an idea floated
that's like, oh, don't love that.
That's not right.
Protocol.
(01:00:57):
Um, so it is interesting that these twoincidents happened only four years apart.
Yeah, the seventies, man.
They were wild.
Okay, Zach, that is our story for today.
It was a long one.
You were very patient.
We had some dog interruptions.
I appreciate you and if you enjoyedthis episode, please rate, view,
subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
(01:01:19):
You can follow us on Instagramat Final Boarding Call pod.
We are on Facebook.
We've got email.
You can feel free to email us it'sfinal boarding call podcast@gmail.com.
And join us next week where we'llbe talking about a crazy roller
coaster gone terribly wrong.
Until then, remember to stow yourtrade tables, fasten your seat belts,
(01:01:42):
and prepare for the unexpected.
Because not every tripreaches its final destination.
Goodbye.
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