The Ghosts of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401

On December 29, 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing 101 of the 176 people aboard. In the months that followed, crew members who died in the crash reportedly began appearing on other Eastern Air Lines aircraft, particularly those that had received parts salvaged from the wreckage.

The Crash

Flight 401 was a Lockheed L-1011 traveling from New York to Miami. During approach, the crew became distracted by a malfunctioning landing gear indicator light. While troubleshooting, no one noticed the aircraft had begun a slow descent. The plane crashed into the Everglades at 227 miles per hour.

Captain Robert Loft and Second Officer Donald Repo were among those killed. Both men were highly experienced crew members respected by their colleagues.

Salvaged Parts

Following standard practice, Eastern Air Lines salvaged usable parts from the wreckage and installed them in other L-1011 aircraft. This decision would become the center of one of aviation’s strangest ghost stories.

Within months, flight attendants and crew members on other Eastern Air Lines L-1011s began reporting encounters with the ghosts of Loft and Repo. The sightings occurred specifically on aircraft that had received salvaged parts from Flight 401.

The Sightings

Crew members reported full-body apparitions of both men. Captain Loft was seen sitting in empty seats and standing in galleys. Second Officer Repo appeared in the lower galley and the cockpit, sometimes speaking to crew members who didn’t realize he was dead.

In one reported incident, a flight engineer doing pre-flight checks found Repo in the cockpit. They had a brief conversation before the engineer, recognizing Repo from photographs, realized he was speaking to a dead man. Repo disappeared.

Another account describes a captain seeing a man in an Eastern uniform sitting in first class before takeoff. When he approached to ask the man to move, he recognized Captain Loft’s face before it vanished.

Investigation and Aftermath

The sightings were investigated by John G. Fuller, who documented them in his 1976 book “The Ghost of Flight 401.” Fuller interviewed numerous witnesses who provided consistent accounts.

Eastern Air Lines reportedly removed all salvaged parts from Flight 401 after the sightings became widely known. Following the removal, the ghost sightings ceased.