What is the story of Flight 401?

Shortly before midnight on December 29, 1972, the Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar crashed into the Florida Everglades, causing 101 total fatalities. Three of the four cockpit crew members, two of the 10 flight attendants, and 96 of the 163 passengers were killed; 75 people survived.



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The National Transportation Safety Board's final report cited the cause of the crash as pilot error. It found the preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments.

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All of the bodies were recovered, 99 perished that night, two more would die from their injuries. Infantino and other survivors are holding a memorial service today at 4 p.m. at the site of the Valujet Flight 592 memorial, on the Tamiami Trail, 12 miles west of Krome Avenue. It is open to the public.

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There have been an average of 1,200 almost empty ghost flights a month since the start of 2020, when numbers jumped at the start of the Covid pandemic. Most of these – about 80% – were to or from foreign destinations.

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This crash also was the basis for the earlier TV movie The Ghost of Flight 401, which had Ernest Borgnine as its captain.

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The ”ghost plane” crash that killed four people — and triggered a sonic boom from F-16 fighter jets flying to DC to intercept it — left a “crater” indicating a near-nosedive into the ground, pulverizing the aircraft.

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#1: The Tenerife Airport Disaster The deadliest aviation accident in history actually occurred while on the ground, not in the air. In 1977, two fully loaded Boeing 747 passenger jets collided in the middle of a runway on Tenerife Island, killing 583 people.

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The flight was commanded by Captain Robert Albin Bob Loft, age 55, a veteran pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern Air Lines. Captain Loft had been with the airline for 32 years and had accumulated a total of 29,700 flight hours throughout his flying career. He had logged 280 hours in the L-1011.

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The flight was commanded by Captain Robert Albin "Bob" Loft, age 55, a veteran pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern Air Lines. Captain Loft had been with the airline for 32 years and had accumulated a total of 29,700 flight hours throughout his flying career. He had logged 280 hours in the L-1011.

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Yet such disappearances are not that uncommon: according to records assembled by the Aviation Safety Network, 100 aircraft have gone missing in flight and never been recovered since 1948.

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