Eastern Air Lines Flight 401: A Turning Point in Aviation

On December 29, 1972, Eastern Air Lines Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011, was approaching Miami at night. As the crew prepared to land, they noticed that a landing gear light wasn’t working. They got distracted trying to fix it… and no one realized the plane was slowly descending. Moments later, the jet crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing 101 people. The cause? Pilot distraction over a $12 lightbulb. But the story didn’t end there — other Eastern Air Lines crews later reported seeing the g