# Mayday: Flight 401 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayday-flight-401/681221 "2014-02-13T04:29:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayday-flight-401/681221/1 "2014-02-13T04:29:54Z")
In a nutshell, while distracted, the crew fails to notice that they’ve nudged the flight stick and turned the autopilot off. And they are so distracted they don’t notice the chime that goes off to tell them they’ve moved to an altitude different than that of the autopilot. 1. I discovered there’s a 1978 made for TV movie with William Shatner covering the events. Excellent. 2. At no point in the program does anyone say, “They should have more than a GD ‘chime’. There should be an altimeter warning, a redundant warning after the autopilot is off, and something a little stronger than a ‘ding’.” \*\*\*\*ing ‘your lights are on’ warnings on cars are stronger. I just don’t see how, even in 1972, anyone thought a single chime similar to the ‘fasten seatbelt’ heard for airplanes is enough for a situation like that. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayday-flight-401/681221/2 "2014-02-13T05:08:20Z")
Is that the movie with Ernest Borgnine as the ghost of the pilot, promising “there will never be another crash of an L-1011”? ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayday-flight-401/681221/3 "2014-02-13T05:11:20Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Is that the movie with Ernest Borgnine as the ghost of the pilot, promising “there will never be another crash of an L-1011”? Nah. Two different movies. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayday-flight-401/681221/4 "2014-02-13T19:19:27Z")
This crash helped to start the discussion of the sterile cockpit rule. This crash is what lead to it finally being mandated by the FAA: > **[Eastern Air Lines Flight 212](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_212)** > > Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 was a controlled flight into terrain accident of a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 during approach to Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina. The incident occurred on September 11, 1974, killing 72 of the 82 people on board. The scheduled flight was from Charleston Municipal Airport to Chicago O'Hare, with an intermediate stop in Charlotte. > An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that multiple crew errors were the pr... Stephen Colbert’s father and brothers died on this flight. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mayday-flight-401/681221/5 "2014-02-13T21:23:29Z")
I read the title and thought this was going to be about the Buffalo flight that crashed (the anniversary of it was yesterday) as I recall that was also due to distraction in the cockpit but Googling tells me that was Flight 3407.