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Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011-1 Tristar jet that crashed into the Florida Everglades at 11:42 pm December 29, 1972, causing 101 fatalities (99 initial crash fatalities, two died shortly afterward). The Captain, along with one of 2 flight crew members, two of 10 flight attendants and 97 of 163 passengers, died. There were 75 survivors. The crash occurred as a result of the entire flight crew becoming preoccupied with a burnt-out landing gear indicator light, and failing to notice the autopilot had inadvertently been disconnected. As a result, while the flight crew was distracted with the indicator problem, the aircraft gradually lost altitude and crashed. It was the first crash of a wide-body aircraft and at the time, the second-deadliest single-aircraft disaster in the United States.〔"Who's at the Controls?" ("Fatal Distraction") ''Mayday''〕 == The crash == Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, operating a four-month-old Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar〔NTSB report, page 1 (PDF page 9 of 52)〕〔NTSB report, appendix C (pages 30-31, PDF pages 38-39 of 52)〕 (registration the tenth example delivered to the carrier)〔Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster - Volume 1, p. 99〕 carrying 163 passengers and 13 crew members,〔 left New York's JFK Airport on Friday, December 29, 1972 at 9:20 p.m., en route to Miami International Airport.〔NTSB report, page 3 (PDF page 11 of 52)〕 The aircraft was number 310 in Eastern's fleet, delivered to the airline on August 18 that year. The flight was under the command of Captain Robert Albin 'Bob' Loft, 55, a veteran Eastern Air Lines pilot ranked 50th in seniority at Eastern. 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. His flight crew included First Officer Albert John Stockstill, 39, who had 5,800 hours of flying experience, and Second Officer (flight engineer) Donald Louis 'Don' Repo, 51, who had 15,700 hours of flying experience.〔NTSB report, appendix B (pages 27-29, PDF pages 35-37 of 52)〕 A company employee—technical officer, Angelo Donadeo, 47, returning to Miami from an assignment in New York—accompanied the flight crew for the journey.〔Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster - Volume 1, p. 98. Note: Donadeo was not a member of the flight crew, his official status was as a "non-revenue passenger"〕 The ten woman flight attendant crew on Flight 401 included: Mercedes Ruiz, Sue Tebbs, Adrienne Hamilton (lead flight attendant), Trudy Smith, Dorothy Warnock, Patricia Ghyssels, Beverly Jean Raposa, Patricia 'Patty' Georgia, Stephanie Stanich, and Sharon Transue. Pat Ghyssels (seated on jumpseat 3L) and Stephanie Stanich (seated on jumpseat 4L) died in the crash. The flight was routine until 11:32 p.m., when the flight began its approach into Miami International Airport. 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, did not illuminate.〔 This was discovered to be due to a burned-out light bulb.〔NTSB report, page 9 (PDF page 17 of 52)〕 The landing gear could have been manually lowered either way.〔Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster - Volume 1, p. 101〕 The pilots cycled the landing gear but still failed to get the confirmation light.〔 Loft, who was working the radio during this leg of the flight, told the tower that they would discontinue their approach to their airport and requested to enter a holding pattern. The approach controller cleared the flight to climb to , and then hold west over the Everglades.〔 The cockpit crew removed the light assembly,〔Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster - Volume 1, p. 102〕 and second officer Repo was dispatched to the avionics bay beneath the flight deck to confirm via a small porthole if the landing gear was indeed down.〔NTSB report, page 4 (PDF page 12 of 52)〕 Fifty seconds after reaching their assigned altitude, captain Loft instructed first officer Stockstill to put the L-1011 on autopilot.〔 For the next eighty seconds, the plane maintained level flight. Then, it dropped , 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.〔 In the next seventy seconds, the plane lost only , but this was enough to trigger the altitude warning C-chord chime located under the engineer's workstation.〔 The engineer (second officer Repo) had gone below, and there was no indication by the pilot's voices recorded on the CVR that they heard the chime. In another fifty seconds, the plane was at half its assigned altitude.〔NTSB report, page 5 (PDF page 13 of 52)〕 As Stockstill started another turn, onto 180 degrees, he noticed the discrepancy. The following conversation was recovered from the flight voice recorder later: :: Stockstill: We did something to the altitude. :: Loft: What? :: Stockstill: We're still at 2,000 feet, right? :: Loft: Hey—what's happening here?〔 Less than 10 seconds after this exchange, the jetliner crashed at . The location was west-northwest of Miami, from the end of runway Nine Left (9L).〔 The plane was traveling at when it flew into the ground. With the aircraft in mid-turn, the left wingtip hit the surface first, then the left engine and the left landing gear,〔NTSB report, page 8 (PDF page 16 of 52)〕 making three trails through the sawgrass, each five feet wide and more than long. When the main part of the fuselage hit the ground, it continued to move through the grass and water, breaking up as it went.〔Job, Macaurthur. Air Disaster - Volume 1, p. 109,107. Paraphrased excerpt on Flight 401's crash sequence: "The TriStar's port outer wing structure had struck the ground first, followed by the No. 1 engine and the port main undercarriage. The disintegration of the aircraft that followed scattered wreckage over an area long and wide in a southwesterly direction. Only small fragments of metal marked the wingtip's first contact, followed further on by three massive swaths cut through the mud and sawgrass by the aircraft's extended undercarriage before two of the legs were sheared off. Then came scattered parts from the No. 1 (port) engine, and fragments from the port wing itself and the port tailplane. from the wingtips initial contact with the ground, the massive fuselage had begun to breakup, scattering components from the underfloor galley, the cargo compartments, and the cabin interior. At along the wreckage trail, the outer section of the starboard wing tore off, gouging an crater in the soft ground as it did so. From this point on, the breakup of the fuselage became more extensive, scattering metal fragments, cabin fittings, and passenger seats widely. The three major sections of the fuselage—the most intact of which was the tail assembly—lay in the mud towards the end of the wreckage trail ... The fact that the tail assembly—rear fuselage, No. 2 tail-mounted engine, and remains of the empennage—finally came to rest substantially further forward than other major sections, was probably the result of the No. 2 engine continuing to deliver thrust during the actual breakup of the aircraft ... No complete cross section of the passenger cabin remained, and both the port wing and tailplane were demolished to fragments ... Incongruously, not far from the roofless fuselage center section with the inner portion of the starboard wing still attached, lay a large, undamaged and fully inflated rubber dingy, one of a number carried on the TriStar in the event of an emergency water landing. The breakup of the fuselage had freed it from its stowage and activated its inflation mechanism."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Eastern Air Lines Flight 401」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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