Delta Air Lines Flight 191

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Delta Air Lines Flight 191

CG render of N726DA
Accident summary
Date	August 2, 1985
Type	Microburst-induced wind shear
Site	Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport ,Texas
Passengers	152
Crew	11
Injuries	27
Fatalities	135 (1 on the ground)
Survivors	29
Aircraft type	Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar
Operator	Delta Air Lines
Tail number	N726DA
Flight origin	Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Stopover	Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport
Destination	Los Angeles International Airport

Delta Air Lines Flight 191 was an airline service from Fort Lauderdale, Florida's Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, bound for Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, by way of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. On the afternoon of August 2, 1985, Delta Air Lines flight 191 crashed while on a routine approach to the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 8 of 11 crew members and 126 of the 152 passengers on board and one person on the ground: a total of 135 deaths. This accident is one of the few commercial air crashes in which the meteorological phenomenon known as microburst-induced wind shear was a direct contributing factor.

[edit] Aircraft

A Delta Air Lines L1011

The airplane used on that day was N726DA, a Lockheed L-1011-385-1 TriStar, a workhorse in Delta's fleet at the time. The flight was piloted by Captain Edward "Ted" Conners^[1], First Officer Rudolph Price and Second Officer Nick Nassick.

[edit] Crash

NTSB map indicating locations of passengers according to lack of injury, types of injuries, and deaths

As the aircraft flew over Louisiana, a thunderstorm formed directly in its path. The aircraft began its descent procedures over Louisiana, heading over the planned descent route. Captain Conners then recognized the forming thunderstorm and took action to change the plane's heading to avoid the turbulent weather.

At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, weather was also poor and an isolated thunderstorm developed near DFW. The Captain and copilot noticed the isolated storm ahead, but decided to proceed through it anyway, which resulted in the aircraft getting caught up in a microburst.

At about 1500 feet above ground level (460 m), First Officer Price (as heard in the cvr) reported seeing lightning in one of the clouds ahead.

At 800 feet (240 m) above ground level, the aircraft accelerated without crew intervention. Although it was supposed to land at 149 knots IAS (276 km/h), it accelerated instead to 173 knots IAS (320 km/h). Price tried to stabilize the aircraft's speed, but Conners had recognized the aircraft's speed increase as a sign of wind shear, and he warned Price to watch the speed. "You're going to lose all of the sudden" Price says. Suddenly, the airspeed dropped from 173 to 133 knots IAS (320 to 246 km/h), and Price pushed the throttles forward, giving temporary lift. The airspeed then suddenly dropped to 119 knots IAS (220 km/h); on the cockpit voice recording Conners can be heard saying "Hang on to the son of a bitch!"

When Price tried to avoid a stall by pushing the nose down, the aircraft's vertical speed increased to 1,700 ft/min (520 m/min) before it came into contact with the ground.

Delta Flight 191 first impacted the ground on a field about 6,300 feet north of the approach end of runway 17L and bounced back into the air. Then, while crossing State Highway 114, it came down again, with an engine striking a black 1971 Toyota Celica vehicle, killing its occupant, William Hodge Mayberry. The aircraft skidded onto the airfield in Irving, collided with two 4-million US gallon (15,000 m³) water tanks at a speed of 220 knots, and exploded into flames. Most of the survivors of Flight 191 were located in the rear section of the aircraft, which broke free from the main fuselage before the aircraft hit the water tanks.

Most of the survivors sat in the smoking section. Authorities took most of the survivors to Parkland Memorial Hospital^[1].

Two of the passengers who initially survived the impact died more than 30 days after the accident. On the ground, an airline employee who assisted the rescue of the passengers became hospitalized overnight after feeling chest and arm pains.^[2]

Delta Airlines Flight 191 has the second highest death toll of any aviation accident involving a Lockheed L-1011 anywhere in the world after Saudia Flight 163.

[edit] Investigation

After a lengthy investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board deemed the cause of the crash to be attributable to pilot error, combined with extreme weather phenomena associated with microburst-induced wind shear.^[3][2]

The NTSB attributed the accident to lack of the ability to detect microbursts aboard aircraft; the radar equipment aboard aircraft at the time was unable to detect wind changes, only thunderstorms. After the investigation, NASA researchers at Langley Research Center modified a Boeing 737 as a testbed for an on-board Doppler weather radar. The resultant airborne wind shear detection and alert system was installed on many commercial airliners in the United States after the FAA mandated that all commercial aircraft must have on-board windshear detection systems^[4].

[edit] Legacy

The crash of Delta Flight 191 was later the subject of a television movie called Fire and Rain.

The crash of Delta Flight 191 was also shown on an episode of When Weather Changed History on The Weather Channel.

"Slammed to the Ground" of Mayday (Air Crash Investigation or Air Emergency) on Discovery Channel Canada and National Geographic dramatized the disaster.

The flight number "191" has been associated with numerous crashes and incidents over the years, including the deadliest crash in United States History. It has even prompted some airlines to stop the use of this number. See flight 191 for more information.

[edit] Passengers

• Don Estridge, known to the world as the father of the IBM PC, died aboard this flight along with his wife, Mary Ann^[5], two IBM summer interns, and six additional family members of IBM employees.^[6]

[edit] See also

• Microburst
• Lists of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
• Air safety
• Flight 191
• Pan Am Flight 759

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript
• Accident photos
• AirDisaster.com Special Report
• Pre-accident photos from Airliners.net
• DFW Delta Flight 191 - Essay from Mica Calfee, a firefighter-paramedic who responded to the crash
• NTSB executive summary report
• "Like a Wall of Napalm"
• Delta 191 In Their Words
• Advertisement for animations used in court
• Delta Flight 191 Approach and Crash - 2 Aug 1985 at YouTube
• Animation of the crash, indicating wind vectors and synchronized to voice recorder data (description here)
• The crash of Flight 1141/Crash resurrects memories of 1985
• Vanderbilt Television News Archive

Coordinates: 32°55′06″N 97°01′25″W / 32.91833°N 97.02361°W / 32.91833; -97.02361

v • d • e ← 1984 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1985 1986→ Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 (January 1) — Galaxy Airlines Flight 203 (January 21) — China Airlines Flight 006 (February 19) — Polar 3 (February 24) — Aeroflot Flight CCCP-65856 (May 3) — TWA Flight 847 (June 14) — Air India Flight 182 (June 23) — Air India Flight 301 (June 23) — Aeroflot Flight 7425 (July 10) — Delta Air Lines Flight 191 (August 2) — Japan Airlines Flight 123 (August 12) — British Airtours Flight 28M (August 22) — Bar Harbor Airlines Flight 1808 (August 25) — Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 (September 6) — EgyptAir Flight 648 (November 23) — Arrow Air Flight 1285 (December 12) Bold indicates accidents resulting at least 50 deaths Orange color indicates the deadliest accident in 1985