Today’s podcast goes into the circumstances around Eastern Airlines flight 401, and how that crash brought about big changes to the field of aviation once the findings came out.  Like other catastrophes, there were a series of issues that led to the crash, including some that could have solved the problem without further issue.  But today we each feel the legacy of Flight 401, and the 101 people who were killed that night either in, or because of, the crash into the Florida Everglades.

As always, you can download the episode here, find us on iTunes, or listen to the podcast on the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcast include:

• Wikipedia: Eastern Airlines Flight 401
• NTSB: File No. 1-0016, Aircraft Accident Report, Eastern Airlines, INC L-1011, N310EA, Miami, Florida, December 29, 1972
• Aviation-Safety.net: ASN Aircraft accident Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar 1 N310EA Everglades, FL
• Google Sites: Eastern Airlines Flight 401
• Miami Herald via Archive.org: “It felt like a wild rollercoaster ride...”
• Frequent Business Traveler: Lessons Learnt from The Crash of Eastern 401
• FlightGlobal: Flight International Airline Price Index (1972)

A couple notes.  I know that in several articles, it’s mentioned that it was found during the autopsy that the captain of the plane had a golfball sized tumor that possibly pushed against the vision center in his brain.  I left this out, because it was documented that it likely didn’t have any impact on the accident.

And a final note from me.  I tend to talk with my hands, something that I’ve developed with age, and didn’t realize at the time but at the 20ish minute mark, you may hear my hands on my desk, trying to accentuate my point with a bit of a bang.  My apologies for that.  Being back in the habit of recording regularly will work that out of me.