Frank Lapidus Frank's role in the first half of season four was diminished, and some planned storylines were carried over into the fifth season. Frank's introduction, along with the three other new characters from the freighter introduced in season four, was well received, as was his return in season five. "Lost" executive producer Damon Lindelof confirmed in an interview that Lapidus would be a series regular for the show's sixth and final season. Originally from The Bronx, New York, Frank was the intended pilot of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815, which crashed on an island in the South Pacific. He is first encountered
SS Oceanic (1965) service. Home Lines (incorrectly) marketed her as "the largest ship ever designed for year-round cruises". In their marketing material, Home Lines also used British tonnage measurement for the ship (giving her tonnage as ), even though she was registered in Panama, and by Panamanian measurements she was only . "Oceanic" was delivered to Home Lines in March 1965. On 31 March, she left on a transatlantic crossing with fare-paying passengers (only 200 of them) from Genoa to New York City. She made a short series of transatlantic crossings, following which she entered cruise service from New York to the Bahamas