Pines mayor remembers Eastern 401 flight crew before Everglades crash

PEMBROKE PINES—

Eastern Airlines Flight 401 conjures up haunted memories for Pembroke Pines Mayor Frank Ortis.

On Dec. 29, 1972, Ortis, then 29, was an aircraft technician at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport when the packed flight took off for Miami.

But the flight never made it.

Just before it was expected to land, the aircraft smashed into the Everglades; 101 people died in the wreckage.

Ortis said his signature was the last name listed on the airport's log book.

"It was devastating," said Ortis. "I know exactly what happened … they were ready to land, while they were fixing the light, they hit the 'yoke' and started a progressive downward slant."

Earlier that night, Ortis was assigned to perform the routine inspection on that aircraft flying to Miami. He checked the gears, tire pressure and checked for leaks and worn tires. He gave the official OK.

With a few minutes to spare before the flight taxied out of the terminal, Ortis said a quick word to the pilot and wished the crew a "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year."

Two hours later, he was riding a bus out of the JFK terminal when he heard someone shout, "Hold the bus!" The airport's staff had just heard news of the crash.

Ortis wasn't involved with the mechanical and management errors aboard flight 401 that night that led to the crash, but he recalls the feeling of "horror that went on forever."

The flight was ordered to hold over the pitch black Everglades to fix an electrical light problem before landing. But at the same time, a crew member accidentally flicked off the autopilot.

Hovering over the vast and dark Everglades, the crew didn't notice the plane's gradual descent into the swamp until it was too late.

Since the crash 40 years ago, new technology and training regimens have been implemented.

Flight staff now are required to receive intensive crew resource management training and each plane has an emergency switch that sounds off once the plane drops below a certain altitude.

Story:    http://www.sun-sentinel.com