WHAT Caused the Crash of Eastern Airlines Flight 401? - The Everglades Disaster

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Robert "Bud" Marquis (1929–2008) & Ray Dickinsin (1929–1988) who were the ones out frog fishing saved a lot of lives that night. They rushed to rescue survivors. Marquis received burns to his face, arms, and legs—a result of spilled jet fuel from the crashed TriStar—but continued shuttling people in and out of the crash site that night and the next day. For his efforts, he received the Humanitarian Award from the National Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation and the "Alumitech – Airboat Hero Award", from the American Airboat Search and Rescue Association. True hero.

The saddest thing is the nose gear was found in the down and locked position. Crashed due to focusing on a burned out cheap light bulb...

This was such a horrible and frustrating accident. Any little thing could have jarred the crew into noticing they were gradually losing altitude, but it just never happened until the last second. Also Frank Borman, Eastern Airlines senior VP of operations, was notified at home, so he chartered a helicopter and flew to the crash site and helped in rescuing passengers. He was a former pilot and NASA astronaut, dude was a stone cold stud. They don't make airline executives like that anymore.

This event had a huge influence even outside the aviation industry. I worked in a power plant, and as soon as the accident report was made public, it became one of the case studies we used to improve our own CRM. (They were still using it in continuing training when I retired in 2018). I could tell the lessons from this event were being taken to heart when a helper turned to me one time and said, "how about you fly the plane, and I'll fuss around with the little light?" I suspect the lessons learned from this event are profoundly relevant in any situation where people must work together, regardless the specific application. What a tragedy that those lessons often come at such a high cost.

While looking for a video on "sewing machine hook timing" to fix my sewing machine, I was suggested the Concorde video. I watched it out of curiosity. I was then suggested the "When Pilots treat the Aircraft like a toy" and I also watched it. All of a sudden I'm going down a playlist of Aviation Accidents and clicking on suggested videos. I've always had a natural interest on how stuff works, but watching all these videos about slats, slots, flaps, aircraft ding dongs, meaning of TOGA, trim wheels and so on is a new interest. I'm just a crafter. I make soft toys, plushies and accessories, so my Youtube feed is filled with sewing videos and channels. I know more about sewing and embroidery machines, needles, threads and fabrics than I will ever admit. And STILL, here I am, watching videos about how an airplane works. It just goes to show how much the crew needs to know and how much work is involved which is more than just "steering the wheel and plane go vrooom". Thanks for presenting the facts in such a clear manner, with your personal insights, and kicking away the "blame culture". PS: I hit the "subscribe" button 10 minutes in the Concorde video :) PS2: I also learned how to land an aircraft in case of an emergency, but I still can't fix the hook timing on my sewing machine :P

One other factor that you didn't mention is that the Everglades - in 1972 - there would have been no lights on the ground in the area. Especially after having left the bright lights of Miami, the pitch black of the everglades would have left no visual queues to the proximity to the ground. In fact, even today when you depart to the west of the city, the sharp drop off in lighting is VERY noticable.

I remember when this happened. My dad was a pilot and aviation insurance underwriter and his firm had a share of the hull value on the aircraft. He had access to facts of the incident early on and when I asked what happened he just told me, "Son, they weren't paying attention to things." Thanks for the detail Mentour Pilot.

I was a passenger in a Cessna 310 and saw the wreckage of Eastern flight 401 the next day as we flew just outside the prohibited airspace. It was hard to believe there was entire jet airliner there.

The fact dozens survived this crash is incredible.

As someone who is terrified of flying, i thought these videos would freak me out and make me more scared to fly. Somehow they help me relax the more i learn about planes and what goes on

After the Aeroflot crash where the captain let his son use the controls this is probably one of the most ridiculous crashes of a big airliner I know of. An absolute air worthy plane, 4 guys in the cockpit and not a single one is keeping an eye on the instruments.

NO Way! 75 people survived! WOW. Absolutely incredible. Thank you for reviewing this accident I had not heard of.

This Case even became a prime example for Emergency Management in Anaesthesia. Whenever a real Emergency comes up with a rapidly growing Anaesthesia-Team, there will always be someone who 'flies the plane', mostly a less senior collegue, whilst the more Experienced manage the situation and conduct all additional Ops.

Wonderfully researched and presented. This, for me, is the 'top shelf' that all other aviation channels should aspire to.

I was a 12 year old girl growing up in Miami when this happened. “L1011” was the first aircraft I remember. Your dissection of what went wrong and how it affected aviation was all new to me. As a 70s kid, I just thought planes just crashed. (Or sometimes were hijacked.) Through serious aviation videos like yours, I have learned that so much has improved since then, and that the tragic incidents resulted in greatly increased safety.

I was actually out in the Everglades about 5 years ago and found some of the wreckage during the dry season. It was a piece of the landing gear and some cargo netting that said Eastern on it.

The Everglades, at night, with no flashlight…… The real miracle is this didn’t end up an alligator buffet

I nearly lost my parents in an accident on December 8, 1972. My parents were scheduled to fly to Chicago aboard United flight 553. It went down in bad weather short of the runway at Midway and hit two houses killing many people. My parents missed the flight. I wish you would analyze that flight!

Had ATC just said: "We see you at 900ft" instead of "How are you guys doing up there" , the accident would have been avoided.