My understanding is that the autopilot-disengage was too sensitive. As the crew were leaning over to try to remove the translucent button covering the bulb, Loft nudged his control yoke, which disengaged the autopilot. That sent the aircraft into a slow descent. Lockheed designed the two control yokes so that each could have different "force settings" required to disengage the autopilot. Unfortunately, Loft's was set too low. Also, Lockheed should have built-in a louder audible signal that the autopilot had disengaged. If any of those features were in place--particularly the latter--Flight 401 wouldn't have crashed. And, who can forget about the hauntings? Loft and Repo haunting L-1011s that had parts salvaged from Aircraft N310EA (the one that crashed). Loft was the pilot; Repo was the flight engineer. Loft was killed in the crash, while Repo died two days later in a hospital.