Eastern Airlines flight EAL410 operated with a Lockheed 1-1011 crashed at 23:42 eastern standard time, December 29, 1972, 10.7 miles west-northwest of Miami International Airport, Miami, Florida. The aircraft was destroyed. Of the 163 passengers and 13 cremembers aboard, 94 passengers and 5 crewmembers received fatal injuries. Two survivors died later as a result of their injuries.
Following a missed approach because of a suspected nose gear malfunction, the aircraft climbed to 2, 000 feet mean sea level and proceeded on a westerly heading. The three flight crew members and a jumpseat occupant became engrossed in the malfunction.
The National Transportation Safely Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the flightcrew to monitor the flight instruments during the final 4 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.