Eastern Airlines Flight 401

[jimb]

It's been a VERY long time since I've build any sort of aircraft. Anyway, I purchased this Airfix Lockheed L-1011 kit back in 1994 while I was stationed at Ft. Polk, LA; but I never really had any plan for it. Several months ago, there was an Ancient Airfix Campaign on another Forum; and I figured that this "ancient Airfix" kit would fit right in. The British Airways decals in the kit were toast (that's them curled up by the wing on the left), so I had to find something else.



Then I remembered Flight 401.



For those of you who are not familiar with Eastern Airlines Flight 401 from New York-JFK to Maimi International on December 29, 1972, it was the first wide-body airliner crash in US history when it crashed into the Everglades in final approach to Miami International. Growing up in Miami in the 1970s & 1980s; I think everybody knew about Flight 401. Here is the Wikipedia link: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_401

Well, anyway, back to the build. All I needed was the Eastern Airlines decals, and TwoSix had them!



So, here it is. My "tribute" to Eastern Airlines Flight 401:

[redneckrigger]

Very nice work! Lots of decaling to be sure.

[jimb]

Thanks! Yes, quite a bit of decal work, but it went a lot smoother that I expected. The worst part of the build was the seam work! The fuselage seam just never seemed to go away.

[doogie7046]

Very nice work. I have always liked airplanes but never built any since I was a kid. I guess I was worried about building the interior then masking and painting the exterior. Did you use a clear coat over the decals?

[jimb]

Thanks.

Generally there is no interior on aircraft in this scale (1/144), so there was no worry about that. All of the windows on this build (cabin & cockpit) are decals (they're the decal sheet on the right). Yes, I did clear coat over the decals. Some airliner models do have clear windows, and actually this kit did; but I filled them in & painted right over them. Even with clear windows there is no interior.

[clayton]

I was little,but remember it. Back in 81 I flew too TX on a L 1011. Great flight.

[jimb]

Glad I could bring back some memories.

[Robert Myers]

Very nice build! I enjoyed looking at it.

[jimb]

Thanks.

[clayton]

Great job.

[gatorincebu]

Jim,
Nice model and tribute to those who went down on that flight!
I remember that crash! it was a bad one for sure.


Be Well
Gator

[jimb]

Thanks, Gator. Yes it was. Of the 179 passengers & crew, there were 99 fatalities including the entire flight crew. The final NTSB report cited the cause of the crash as pilot error, specifically: "the failure of the flight crew to monitor the flight instruments during the final four minutes of flight, and to detect an unexpected descent soon enough to prevent impact with the ground. Preoccupation with a malfunction of the nose landing gear position indicating system distracted the crew's attention from the instruments and allowed the descent to go unnoticed." Ninety-nine people dead due to a bad light bulb.

[ap40rocktruck]

Dang Jim, Super nice build. Used to like flying Eastern....

Ap40

[jimb]

Thanks, Rick.