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Lessons Learnt from the Crash of Eastern 401
The crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 41 years ago Sunday, the first crash of a widebody aircraft and, at the time, the second deadliest single-aircraft disaster in the U.S., led to wide-ranging changes in on board safety that continue to positively affect air travel today. The four-month-old L-1011 TriStar jet crashed into the Florida Everglades on December 29, 1972 at 11:42 p.m., caused 101 fatalities and there were 75 survivors.... (www.frequentbusinesstraveler.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Don't recycle parts of crashed planes... Hauntings occur.... evidently.
Not sure why you brought that up
"The Ghost of Flight 401" is why... It's the first thing I thought as well!
Disagree, Justin. We recycled crashed planes and put them in the "Training Center"! We used them for "Mock Evacuations". As far as hauntings...yes! Just after FLT 401 went down...I was on a "stretch DC-8 in Chicago. I was in first class, as passengers were boarding and a "OMC" entered the cabin. No baggage. In an Eastern Uniform. He didn't speak but he sat in 5B. I turned away and he was gone. I asked the Flight Crew if an "OMC" had introduced himself and they said..."NO". I asked my flying partners located in the aft cabin, if they had seen him and they said "NO", as well. Eastern Second Officer Repo made many appearances after Flt 401. Mostly with Eastern but ventured out to other airlines. He was a troubled soul and had to find his way. He finally did.
As far as what we have learned from Eastern FLT 401...Nothing!
We still, after that crash... slam Airplanes into seawalls, mountains and hillsides. What or where do we go from here? Training?
As far as what we have learned from Eastern FLT 401...Nothing!
We still, after that crash... slam Airplanes into seawalls, mountains and hillsides. What or where do we go from here? Training?
It's evident from the crash of an Asiana bird some 40 years later that some ate the cover instead of reading the book. It too had the auto pilot switched off and nobody was looking at the airspeed indicator and altimeter. You'll have to explain to me how this lesson was learned by anyone but the NTSB.
Indeed, the auto pilot was off, however the crew didn't know it. On that plane bumping the wheel will disconnect the A/P and apparently that was what happened. The "A/P disconnected" warning was a muted affair in those days.
In the article there were 3 people in the office. It doesn't take all three to check a light bulb at the expense of flying the airplane. In the two instances 40 years apart the flight crew failed to fly the airplane with the same result. I'm not sure it matters how muted the warning horn was or is. It is incumbent on the front end gang to pilot the aircraft, a big part of which is a scan of the instruments. Fly first. If you have enough fuel the gear light can wait. If you don't have enough fuel you screwed the pooch differently. You the pilot are ultimately responsible for flying the aircraft not the AP not the AT, you with the arms and legs.
Too true. I think growing up flying small planes and learning the aviation thought pattern through having to manually fly and navigate, plus the opportunity to scare yourself in small planes, is invaluable. I've heard that because of the military situation in Korea it's very difficult to do any private flying, thus it's possible the Asiana pilots never came up via that small plane route. There is a movement in the world to put people into the airline industry ab initio and teach them large aircraft/multi-crew methods from the start. I don't like that idea.
I'm not a big fan of that either. At some point a pilot has to learn how to fly rather than guide with electronics. Preacher makes the point below that the #3 was below checking the gear. That still leaves two above in the office. How many does it take to check a light bulb?. Somebody should be flying the iron or at least guiding it along and monitoring systems. If the #3 comes back up and says the LG is OK, the light bulb is of little consequence and can wait for the maintenance crew chief's inspection and opinion. Get it on the ground and worry about it then with a squawk.
I don't much care whether Korean pilots can fly SEL airplanes for practice. They are evidently not taught to fly or as I've maintained in the Asiana incident their culture has taken president in the cockpit putting hundreds of PAX at risk or worse. You can learn to fly in other vehicles. The similarities of the EA401 incident and the crash some 40 years later screams that we haven't been paying attention as electronics get more and more sophisticated. AF 443 and most recently Asiana 214 warn us all that history will repeat if we don't give it proper respect and quarter.
I don't much care whether Korean pilots can fly SEL airplanes for practice. They are evidently not taught to fly or as I've maintained in the Asiana incident their culture has taken president in the cockpit putting hundreds of PAX at risk or worse. You can learn to fly in other vehicles. The similarities of the EA401 incident and the crash some 40 years later screams that we haven't been paying attention as electronics get more and more sophisticated. AF 443 and most recently Asiana 214 warn us all that history will repeat if we don't give it proper respect and quarter.
In their defense, if there is any, the 3rd man had gone below into the electronics bay to try and get a visual on the gear