Captain Loft had been with the company for over 32 years; a total of 29,700 flight hours. Have scientists finally solved the mystery of Europes bog body phenomenon. Hawkins County, Tennessee, USA. [15][16][17], These stories speculated that parts of the crashed aircraft were salvaged after the investigation and refitted into other L-1011s. So without in any way wanting to make light of it, after all the events that led to the sightings of Second Officer Don Repo and Captain Bob Loft were truly . This person greeted the male (in his late 40s or early 50s) who was wearing a pilot's uniform and a captain's hat that read Eastern Air Lines. It's OK to think I am nuts. It could well be the ghosts of Captain Robert Loft or Second Officer Don Repo, keeping watch and making sure your flight arrives safely. [5]:3, The cockpit crew removed the light assembly,[6]:102 and Second Officer Repo was dispatched to the avionics bay beneath the flight deck to check via a small porthole whether the landing gear was indeed down. [1] As the plane made its way across the marshlands of the Florida Everglades, Stockstill is heard to say, We did something to the altitude. While he has not yet been reported in planes over Heathrow, the airport itself is said to contain the spirit of the highwayman, Dick Turpin [3] who was sentenced to death for his crimes of brutal robbery in 1739. To Captain Robert McKenzie. His flight crew were all experienced veterans. [5]:5. Death. Marcus has been Editor-in-Chief for several years due to his excellent knowledge in these fields. Officer Repo died the next day. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to receive the latest articles directly in your inbox. The town is just 20 miles north of Miami, and its beaches are a hit with retirees, snowbirds, and Quebecoise who j Florida is a strange place. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. Previously sponsored memorials or famous memorials will not have this option. Captain Bob Loft and Second Officer Don Repo. In the cockpit: Capt. [5]:23 Investigators believe this was due to the crew being distracted by the nose gear light, and because the flight engineer was not in his seat when it sounded, so would not have been able to hear it. Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 left New York's JFK airport, bound for Miami International Airport, on December 29, 1972. For months, hunters, poachers, and wildlife enthusiasts started reporting strange unearthly sights and encounters around the crash site. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed. He also named the mighty Columbia River after his ship, SS Columbia Rediviva. In the cockpit was Capt. You may not republish the article in its entirety. On one particular occasion, on Flight Tri-Star 138, while performing her normal duties, she could clearly see the face of Repo in the oven door in the planes kitchen. Learn more about managing a memorial . Iain Russell tells his story. No complete cross-section of the passenger cabin remained, and both the port wing and tailplane were demolished to fragments. Alligators coming out in hordes to feast, snakes attacking rescue workers, organisms in the swamp infecting wounds and causing irreparable damage. The entire article and the contents within are published by, wholly-ownedandcopyright of UFO Insight. Captain Robert Cleveland was born in Virginia around 1744 and moved with his family to western North Carolina around 1766. Most believe their presence was a result of the fact that Eastern Airlines, to save money, used salvaged parts from this crashed plane. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters. Of all the soldiers, Loft is the most orderly . The flight is referenced as part of the Bob Welch song "The Ghost of Flight 401" on his 1979 album Three Hearts. Then came scattered parts from the No. 17 Mar 1917. The flight is uneventful. Failed to delete memorial. Captain Loft died in the wreck remains of Flight 401 before he could be transported to a hospital. But the rumours of the flight haunting had already spread far and wide. Robert Loft, 55, a seasoned pilot with 32 years under his belt. An email has been sent to the person who requested the photo informing them that you have fulfilled their request, There is an open photo request for this memorial. 1) He was from the County of Culpeper in Virginia being born about the year 1750. Television and books told the stories of the Flight 401 Ghosts. [6]:107109, Robert "Bud" Marquis (19292008),[7] an airboat pilot, was out frog gigging with Ray Dickinsin (19291988) when they witnessed the crash. Morris Town Aprl 28th 1777. [2] The attendant in question would approach a gentleman who was standing in the galley to ask him if required assistance. Parts of the aircraft that had crashed operating Flight 401 were salvaged after the crash investigation and refitted into other L-1011s. After lowering the gear, First Officer Stockstill noticed that the landing gear indicator, a green light identifying that the nose gear is properly locked in the "down" position, had not illuminated. She would insist, however, and began to describe the person she witnessed. The following conversation was recovered from the flight voice recorder later: Less than 10 seconds after this exchange, the jetliner crashed: The location was west-northwest of Miami, 18.7mi (30.1km) from the end of runway 9L. That's because last year, my flight from Chicago to Miami was visited by ghosts - and I'm pretty sure it was the crew Eastern Airlines Flight 401. Failed to report flower. Robert Loft, the captain of Flight 401, was killed. Try again later. Cockpit area microphone (CAM): [Sound of click], CAM: [Sound of six beeps similar to radio altimeter increasing in rate]. He had logged 280 hours in the L-1011. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Robert Loft, 55; First Officer Albert Stockstill, 39, and Second Officer Donald Repo, 51, all of Miami-Dade. In 1635, his occupation is listed as owner of three cranes inn in Charlestown, Middlesex, Massachusetts . James Hall, Flight Operations and Safety, Miami office, had the grueling task of notifying all the families of the crash victims. Get notified of the best booming posts weekly. Year should not be greater than current year. The following conversation was retrieved from the flight voice recorder later: Less than 10 seconds after this exchange, the jetliner crashed. Captain Bob Loft and Second Officer Don Repo died in the crash, as did ninety-nine other people on board in what was one of the worst commercial air disasters in United States history. There is a problem with your email/password. 1 If any Part of the Things mentioned can be recovered so that I . . Captain Loft had accumulated a total 29,700 flight hours and had logged 280 hours in the L-1011 This account already exists, but the email address still needs to be confirmed. Robert FitzRoy (1805-1865) was the captain of HMS Beagle, which sailed around the world with Charles Darwin on board.FitzRoy is often remembered as the grim argumentative man who was vulnerable to fits of temper and depression, and eventually took his life. The flight was routine until 23:32 when the plane began its approach into Miami International Airport. Perhaps the final conversation heard by the control tower between Captain Loft and First Officer Stockstill is the best place to start when unfolding the tragic circumstances of 29th December 1972. Posted by Dawn Quinn on 9/26/2002, 10:27 pm. Back row: Pat Ghyssels, Trudy Smith, Adrianne Hamilton . Flowers added to the memorial appear on the bottom of the memorial or here on the Flowers tab. Only when he vanished into thin air did he suspect it was one of the ghost pilots whom so many employees spoke about. Bound for Miami, Flight 401 took off from New York's JFK at 9:20 p.m. Aside from Casper The Friendly Ghost, Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters cartoon series and romantic comedies involving pottery wheels, when we hear about ghosts, the first thing that comes to mind normally is fear and being in danger. Shortly before midnight on December 29, 1972. [10], N310EA, the aircraft involved in the accident. The passengers enjoyed a routine flight until 11:32 PM when the flight was near its destination in Florida and the crew were preparing for landing. Thanks for your help! [6]:102,108 Stockstill was killed on impact, while Captain Loft died in the wreckage of the flight deck before he could be transported to a hospital. Perhaps if we one day can understand the reasons for that, we can understand more of afterlife existence generally speaking. [5]:4 This altitude alert, designed to warn the pilots of an inadvertent deviation from the selected altitude, went unnoticed by the crew. The author does not own the rights to this content. Robert Frederick Loft, 67. . 2) He first entered the service in 1776. The crash occurred while the entire flight crew were preoccupied with a burnt-out landing gear indicator light. [23], According to Robert J. Serling's 1980 book From the Captain to the Colonel: An Informal History of Eastern Airlines, the claim that wreckage from Flight 401 was installed and later removed from other Eastern aircraft was false, and no Eastern employees had ever claimed to have seen or believed in the alleged ghost sightings. From 2005 to 2007, Captain Sanders served as Executive Officer and ultimately served his first tour as Commanding Officer of Navy Legal Service Office North Central. He finally noticed the hiccup but it was too late. Then, it dropped 100ft (30m), and then again flew level for two more minutes, after which it began a descent so gradual it could not be perceived by the crew. The film was based on Fullers book, and it concentrated on the ghost sightings that came into being after the incident. [17] Over time, the reporting of ghost sightings stopped. Captain Hight is a 1994 graduate of Boston . The other flight crew members were First Officer John Stockhill, a flight engineer, and Donald Luis Repo, an aircraft mechanic, and flight engineer. In total, the flight crew and 97 of the 163 passengers were killed in the horrific crash, as . Captain Bob Loft and Second Officer Don Repo died in the crash, as did ninety-nine other people on board in what was one of the worst commercial air disasters . As spine-tingling as other ghostly aerial sightings are, however, the ones connected to Flight 401 are arguably the most consistent. He married Sarah Taylor on 3 October 1614, in Hertfordshire, England. On his 1979 albumThree Hearts, musician Bob Welch also recorded a song titled The Ghost of Flight 401. Make sure that the file is a photo. Flight 401 was under the command of Captain Robert Albin Loft, 55, a veteran Eastern Airline pilot. . [5]:23 In this mode, once the pilot releases pressure on the yoke (control column or wheel), the autopilot maintains the pitch attitude of the aircraft until the yoke is again moved. The pilots of flight 401, from left to right: Bob Loft, Bert Stockstill, and Don Repo. The accident and the subsequent ghost story were mentioned by Dan Aykroyd during his appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson on June 6, 1984. As he was a VIP, the vice presidents was allowed on . She has a fascination with the paranormal and ghost stories, especially those that included haunted houses. Only when they dropped their altitude shortly after did they realize the error, by which time it was too late. Then as flight 401 approaches Miami International Airport the crew lowers the landing gear and a warning light goes on indicating that the front landing . By this time, Frank Borman was the CEO of Eastern Airlines who called the stories a haunting garbage and considered suing the producers of the 1978 made-for-TV movie The Ghost of Flight 401 for tarnishing Eastern Airlines reputation. Fuller recounts stories of paranormal events aboard other Eastern aircraft and the belief that these were caused by equipment salvaged from the wreckage of Flight 401. This memorial has been copied to your clipboard. The individual looked outside to see what the pilot was looking at and after turning to look back at the next seat over, Robert Loft had disappeared. The story of the crash and its aftermath were documented in John G. Fuller's 1976 book The Ghost of Flight 401. Flight 401 departed JFK Airport in New York on Friday, December 29, 1972, at 21:20, with 163 passengers and 13 crew members on board. These reports received extensive publicity by the news media. Aug 09, 2019. However, Captain Loft died before he could be rescued from the wreckage. Robert Bud Marquis, an airboat pilot, was out frog hunting with his bud Ray Dickinsin when they beheld the crash. Mr. Loft was born in Vancouver, Wash., on Aug. 2, 1944. Thus, the switching to CWS in channel A possibly did not occur in channel B, thus depriving the first officer of any indication the mode had changed (channel A provides the captain's instruments with data, while channel B provides the first officer's). Eastern Airlines Flight 401 departed New York's JFK airport at 9:20 in the evening enroute to Miami International Airport. Mariners Learning System is a leading provider of technology-based learning solutions focused towards educating the boating community. The NTSB classified the injuries of one nonrevenue passenger and one other passenger as nonfatal, as their deaths occurred more than seven days after the accident. The two pilots, Captain Robert Loft and First Officer Albert Stockstill, Flight Engineer Donald Repo, 96 passengers and 2 flight attendants died. Is this inscription on the Great Pyramid similar to the strange hieroglyphics of Roswell UFO? Captain Robert is a local expert on inshore fishing, and he knows all the best spots for catching . In early 1973, the captain of an Eastern flight from Newark to Miami was told that there was a passenger in first class not listed on the flight manifest, attired in an Eastern Airlines captain . Perhaps they carried with them a sense of guilt at missing the altitude drop? The Lockheed L-1011 had 163 passengers and 13 crew members, with . Eastern Airlines Flight 401 departed New York's JFK airport at 9:20 in the evening enroute to Miami International Airport. Fuller describes anecdotes of strange happenings aboard other Eastern aircraft. 2023 Copyright Miami Haunts. Mariners Learning System provides a methodical, well-organized . Captain Robert Long was born on 3 November 1590, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England. Scared but calm, she went to find other colleagues and returned with two other flight attendants. Your email address will not be published. Captain Robert Loft and First Officer Don Repo were among those who had perished in the crash, and the crew of other Eastern Airlines planes insisted their ghosts made appearances on-board later . Robert Albin Loft believed it was just a faulty bulb issue. A TV movie. The slight forward pressure on the stick would have caused the aircraft to enter a slow descent, maintained by the CWS system. Captain Robert Nairac, a British spy, was murdered by the Irish Republican Army. Stockstill: We did something to the altitude. Try again later. I don't blame you and would probably be thinking the same thing. Husband of Sarah Roberts; Sarah Frost (Roberts) and Sarah Frost. 29 Dec 1972 (aged 55) Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA. 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