sirable event. b. An unforeseen incident. 2. Lack of intention; chance. 3. Logic. A circumstance or an attribute that is not essential to the nature of something.With this in mind, there is rarely just one cause for an accident as this NTSB abstract implies. The flight crew could have done many things to avoid this accident. For example, fly the airplane instead of turning on the autopilot or been proficient with exchanging the landing gear indicator light bulb or the mechanical gear indicator system. If maintenance had been more thorough and replaced the twenty-five cent bulb, this flight would have landed without incident. If the controller in the tower had been sure that the gear was locked, the flight would not have crashed. If the approach controller, in the radar room had been more precise or insistent, ninety-nine people would not have died! Any one of these could have prevented this tragedy; therefore, all of these and possibly more are the true cause of it! CVR transcript of the December 29, 1972 Accident of Eastern Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar in theEverglades near Miami, FL, USA.23.32:35 RDO-1 Miami Tower, Eastern 401 just turned on final23.32:45 TWR Who else called? 23.32:48 CAM-1 Go ahead and throw 'em out23.32:52 RDO-1 Miami Tower, do you read, Eastern 401? Just turned on final 23.32:56 TWR Eastern 401 Heavy, continue approach to 9 left 23.33:00 RDO-1 Coninue approach, roger 23.33:00 CAM-3 Continuous ignition. No smoke CAM-1 Coming on CAM-3 Brake system CAM-1 Okay CAM-3 Radar CAM-1 Up, off CAM-3 Hydraulic panels checked CAM-2 Thirty-five, thirty three CAM-1 Bert, is that handle in? CAM-? * * * CAM-3 Engine crossbleeds are open23.33:22 CAM-? Gear down CAM-? * * * CAM-1 I gotta CAM-? ..... 23.33:25 CAM-1 I gotta raise it back up 23.33:47 CAM-1 Now I'm gonna try it down one more time CAM-2 All right 23.33:58 CAM [sound of altitude alert horn] CAM-2 (Right) gear. CAM-2 Well, want to tell 'em we'll take it arou...
