Within our aviation family, all accidents are personal to us. To those who lost their lives and to the survivors who have suffered, our hearts and our thoughts will be with you always.
We will never forget.
Nuala
--Previous Message--
: Although I was not an Eastern employee, I
: was employed by their competitor, National
: airlines. The night of Dec. 29th, 1972, I
: was working the ticket counter. National had
: a 9PM departure also, Flt.601. It was a
: 747-100, affectionately called "Fat
: Albert". At about 8:35PM, several
: people arrived at the counter seeking to get
: seats on NA601. I checked and was informed
: the flight was sold out and there were a
: large number of "stand-by`s"
: waiting at the gate area. I then checked the
: other two carriers serving Mia, Eastern and
: Delta. I was able to book those people on
: Eastern 401. Because of the tight timing, I
: asked and was granted permission by my
: Station manager to use the courtesy car and
: drive them over to the Eastern terminal. I
: did so, and to the best of my knowledge,
: they all made the flt. I got off duty at
: 11:30 PM and when I got in my car at the
: employees parking lot, I turned on the radio
: and first heard a news bulletin stating that
: a "jumbo" jet from JFK to MIA had
: crashed in the everglades. When I heard the
: phrase "jumbo" my immediate
: thought was that it was National`s 747. As I
: drove home, the news announcer then
: mentioned that it was an Eastern aircraft
: involved in the crash. I`m not usually the
: emotional type, but I pulled off the VanWyck
: expressway, stopped the car and cried. The
: faces of those passengers I had driven over
: to Eastern and 401 were very fresh on my
: mind. I never really got their names because
: of the timing and I left that detail to the
: Eastern ticket agent. All I made sure of was
: that he held those seats. I did not sleep
: much that night, and the memories of that
: fateful evening still live in my mind. I
: have read the books, seen the films and
: still think about that night. For quite a
: while after that, I felt somewhat
: responsible for the fate of those anonymous
: passengers. I don`t know if any survived or
: all perished, but seeing this site gives me,
: I hope, an opportunity to offer my deepest
: condolences to the families of both the
: passengers and crew lost that night.
:
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