Eastern Air Lines Flight 401
The wreckage of the plane in a field | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | December 29, 1972 |
| Summary | Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error and loss of situational awareness |
| Site | Florida Everglades near Miami International Airport Miami-Dade County, Florida, U.S. 25°51′53″N 80°35′43″W / 25.86472°N 80.59528°W |
| Aircraft | |
| N310EA, the aircraft involved in the accident | |
| Aircraft type | Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar |
| Operator | Eastern Air Lines |
| IATA flight No. | EA401 |
| ICAO flight No. | EAL401 |
| Call sign | EASTERN 401 |
| Registration | N310EA |
| Flight origin | John F. Kennedy Int'l Airport |
| Destination | Miami International Airport |
| Occupants | 176 |
| Passengers | 163 |
| Crew | 13 |
| Fatalities | 101 |
| Injuries | 75 |
| Survivors | 75 |
Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 was a scheduled flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York, United States, to Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, United States. Shortly before midnight on December 29, 1972, the Lockheed L-1011-1 TriStar crashed into the Florida Everglades. All three cockpit crew members, two of the 10 flight attendants, and 96 of the 163 passengers were killed. Seventy-five people survived, with 58 of them suffering serious injuries.
The crash occurred while the entire flight crew were preoccupied with a burnt-out landing gear indicator light. The captain bumped the yoke on the aircraft, causing it to turn off the autopilot. Due to the focus on the landing gear and the minimal changes in the cockpit, the pilots did not notice. Because of this, the aircraft gradually lost altitude and crashed. This was the first hull loss and fatal crash of a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar. It was also the first severe widebody aircraft crash.