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: I remember Dec. 29, 1972 very well. Those were
: the days of $99 weekend round-trip tickets on
: Eastern between Miami and NYC. You could fly
: out of Miami anytime Friday and return
: anytime Monday for just $99. I took
: advantage of this low fare many, many times.
: On the morning of Friday, Dec. 29 I boarded
: an Eastern L1011 and flew to NYC. I met a
: friend from Atlanta there and we were going
: to spend the long weekend in the city and
: celebrate the New Year in Times Square. The
: next morning when we awoke, my friend went
: down to the lobby to get a newspaper and see
: what was going on and I was very surprised
: when he returned and told me there were no
: newspapers left at the stand. Then he
: started delaying, stalling and taking his
: time about leaving our hotel room. Finally,
: exasperated, I said that I was going out as I
: was not about to spend my few days in NYC in
: a hotel room. Little did I know that my
: friend was trying to keep me from me the news
: that flight 401, on which I was booked to
: return to Miami on Monday the 1st had crashed
: in the Everglades.
: It was not an easy weekend to get through.
: Always a white-nuckled flyer, this tragedy
: was too close for comfort. Finally, Monday
: arrived and I had to face the dreaded flight
: home. I remember that Eastern's L1011's back
: then had a sort of bar at the rear of the
: plane on the coach section. I asked for a
: seat by the bar and was told that the plane
: we were flying was not an L1011. When I said
: that I always flew flight 401 and it had been
: an L1011 for almost half a year I was told
: that unfortunately, since the crash they were
: minus one plane. I believe we flew on a
: DC-8. I found myself sitting next to a young
: couple who had been booked on flt. 401 the
: night it crashed but had at the last minute
: decided to stay in the city for New Year's.
: All three of us were very nervous. A few
: drinks helped the 2 1/2 hour flight pass
: faster.
: I flew flight 401 many times after that. It
: was a very convenient 9pm direct flight to
: Miami out of Kennedy airport. Although I was
: always a little nervous, I never had the
: slightest mishap and I certainly never saw
: any of the ghosts so many claim haunted some
: of the L1011's.
: My sympathy to those who lost loved ones on
: flight 401 and to the survivors. "There
: but for the Grace of God..."
:
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