The Fate of Eastern Airlines Flight 401 (Full Black Box Transcript)

 

I was kind of surprised to find myself feeling nostalgic while watching this video. Then I realized - AHA! I had already made a blog post about this doomed flight, featuring a complete transcript of the black box recording of the crew kerfuffling around with a burned-out light bulb as the plane went down.

The inepititude of these guys floors me: these are the kinds of pilots you DON'T want to have. Laurel and Hardy could have flown this plane better, I think. While the plane heads for doom, they're trying to fix the light with a pair of pliers and a kleenex. Unlike many of these catastrophic cases, there were survivors.

December 29, 1972
Everglades National Park, Florida
Eastern Air Lines, Flight 401
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar1
N310EA

The crew was preoccupied with a landing gear problem and was trying to replace the landing gear light while on autopilot and in a holding pattern. As the captain got up to help, he inadvertently pushed on the yoke releasing the autopilot. With no ground reference and
under nighttime conditions, the aircraft gradually descended until it crashed into the Everglades,18.7 miles west-northwest of Miami killing 100 out of 176 aboard. The failure of the crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final 4 minutes of flight, and to detect a descent
soon enough to prevent impact with the ground.

TWR = Tower
APP = Approach
CAM = Cockpit area mike
CAM 1 = Primarily Captain
CAM 2 = Primarily First Officer
Cam 3 = Primarily Flight Engineer
?? = unknown.
### = expletive
RT = Radio transmission



23.32:52

RT Miami Tower, do you read, Eastern 401? Just turned on final.

23.32:56

TWR Eastern 401 Heavy, continue approach to 9 left.

23.33:00

RT Continue approach, roger.

23.33:00

CAM 3 Continuous ignition. No smoke.

CAM 1 Coming on.

CAM 3 Brake system.

CAM 1 Okay.

CAM 3 Radar.

CAM 1 Up, off.

CAM 3 Hydraulic panels checked.

CAM 2 Thirty-five, thirty three.

CAM 1 Bert, is that handle in?

CAM ???

CAM 3 Engine crossbleeds are open.

23.33:22

CAM ? Gear down.

CAM ? ??

CAM 1 I gotta.

CAM ? ??

23.33:25

CAM 1 I gotta raise it back up.

23.33:47

CAM 1 Now I'm gonna try it down one more time.

CAM 2 All right.

23.33:58

[sound of altitude alert horn]



CAM 2 Right gear.

CAM 2 Well, want to tell 'em we'll take it around and circle around and ... around?

23.34:05

RDO 1 Well ah, tower, this is Eastern, ah, 401. It looks like we're gonna have to circle, we don't have a light on our nose gear yet.

23.34:14

TWR Eastern 401 heavy, roger, pull up, climb straight ahead to two thousand, go back to approach control, one twenty eight six.

23.34:19

CAM 2 Twenty-two degrees.

CAM 2 Twenty-two degrees, gear up

CAM 1 Put power on it first, Bert. That-a-boy.

CAM 1 Leave the ... gear down till we find out what we got.

CAM 2 All right.

CAM 3 You want me to test the lights or not?

CAM 1 Yeah.

CAM ? ... seat back.

CAM 1 Check it.

CAM 2 Uh, Bob, it might be the light. Could you jiggle that, the light?

CAM 3 It's gotta, gotta come out a little bit and then snap in.

CAM ? ??

CAM ? I'll put 'em on.

23.34:21

RT Okay, going up to two thousand, one twenty-eight six.

23.34:58

CAM 2 We're up to two thousand

CAM 2 You want me to fly it, Bob?

CAM 1 What frequency did he want us on, Bert?

CAM 2 One twenty-eight six.

CAM 1 I'll talk to 'em.

CAM 3 It's right ...

CAM 1 Yeah, ...

CAM 3 I can't make it pull out, either.

CAM 1 We got pressure.

CAM 3 Yes sir, all systems.

CAM 1 ??



23.35:09

RDO 1 All right ahh, Approach Control, Eastern 401, we're right over the airport here and climbing to two thousand feet. in fact, we've just

23.35:20

APP Eastern 401, roger. Turn left heading three six zero and maintain two thousand, vectors to 9 Left final.

23.35:28

RT Left three six zero.

23.36:04

CAM 1 Put the ... on autopilot here.

CAM 2 All right.

CAM 1 See if you can get that light out.

CAM 2 All right.

CAM 1 Now push the switches just a ... forward.

CAM 1 Okay.

CAM 1 You got it sideways, then.

CAM ? Naw, I don't think it'll fit.

CAM 1 You gotta turn it one quarter turn to the left.

23.36:27

APP Eastern 401, turn left heading three zero zero.

RT Okay.

23.36:37

RT Three zero zero, Eastern 401.

23.37:08

CAM 1 Hey, hey, get down there and see if that damn nose wheel's down. You better do that.

CAM 2 You got a handkerchief or something so I can get a little better grip on this? Anything I can do with it?

CAM 1 Get down there and see if that, see if that ### thing ...

CAM 2 This won't come out, Bob. If I had a pair of pliers, I could cushion it with that Kleenex.

CAM 3 I can give you pliers but if you force it, you'll break it, just believe me.

CAM 2 Yeah, I'll cushion it with Kleenex.

CAM 3 Oh, we can give you pliers.

23.37:48

APP Eastern, uh, 401 turn left heading two seven zero.

23.37:53

RT Left two seven zero, roger.

23.38:34

CAM 1 To hell with it, to hell with this. Go down and see if it's lined up with the red line. That's all we care. ### around with that ### twenty-cent piece ...

CAM ? ??



23.38:46

RT Eastern 401 I'll go ah, out west just a little further if we can here and, ah, see if we can get this light to come on here.

23.38:54

APP All right, ah, we got you headed westbound there now, Eastern 401.

23.38:56

RT All right.

CAM 1 How much fuel we got left on this ###

CAM ? Fifty two five.

CAM 2 It won't come out, no way.

23.39:37

CAM 1 Did you ever take it out of there?

CAM 2 Huh?

CAM 1 Have you ever taken it out of there?

CAM 2 Hadn't till now.

CAM 1 Put it in the wrong way, huh?

CAM 2 In there looks ... square to me.

CAM ? Can't you get the hole lined up?

CAM ? ??

CAM ? Whatever's wrong?

CAM 1 What's that?

23.40:05

CAM 2 I think that's over the training field.

CAM ? West heading you wanna go left or ...

CAM 2 Naw that's right, we're about to cross Krome Avenue right now.

23.40:17

CAM [Sound of click]

CAM 2 I don't know what the ### holding that ### ...

CAM 2 Always something, we could'a made schedule.

23.40:38

CAM [Sound of altitude alert]




CAM 1 We can tell if that ### is down by looking down at our indices.

CAM 1 I'm sure it's down, there's no way it couldn't help but be.

CAM 2 I'm sure it is.

CAM 1 It freefalls down.

CAM 2 The tests didn't show that the lights worked anyway.

CAM 1 That 's right.

CAM 2 It's a faulty light.

23.41:05

CAM 2 Bob, this ### just won't come out.

CAM 1 All right leave it there.

CAM 3 I don't see it down there.

CAM 1 Huh?

CAM 3 I don't see it.

CAM 1 You can't see that indis ... for the nose wheel ah, there's a place in there you can look and see if they're lined up.

CAM 3 I know, a little like a telescope.

CAM 1 Yeah.

CAM 3 Well ...

CAM 1 It's not lined up?

CAM 3 I can't see it, it's pitch dark and I throw the little light I get ah nothing.

23.41:31

CAM 4 Wheel-well lights on?

CAM 3 Pardon?

CAM 4 Wheel-well lights on?

CAM 3 Yeah wheel well lights always on if the gear's down.

CAM 1 Now try it.

23.41:40

APP Eastern, ah 401 how are things coming along out there?

23.41:44

RT Okay, we'd like to turn around and come, come back in.

CAM 1 Clear on left?

CAM 2 Okay



23.41:47

APP Eastern 401 turn left heading one eight zero.

23.41:50

CAM 1 Huh?

23.41:51

RT One eighty.

23.42:05

CAM 2 We did something to the altitude.

CAM 1 What?

23.42:07

CAM 2 We're still at two thousand right?

23.42:09

CAM 1 Hey, what's happening here?

CAM ?

[Sound of click]

23.42:10

CAM ?

[Sound of six beeps similar to radio altimeter increasing in rate]

23.42:12

[Sound of impact]