How Deadly Weather Brought Down This Plane (Delta Airlines Flight 191) - DISASTER BREAKDOWN

Delta Airlines Flight 191, on final approach into Dallas Fort Worth Airport undershot the runway. The plane skidded onto a highway, striking one car with the left engine before crashing into an airport ground structure. The weather plays a large role in this accident, so just what did Delta 191 fly into on its approach?

Sources:

[HEDGE]

Speaking as a former L-1011 pilot, I want to tell you this is one of the best summations of the accident available to the general public without getting into the extreme minutia of the case. I appreciate your attention to detail (though to be fair I must point out that you used an L-1011-500 variant in the video CGI model versus the actual aircraft: N726DA was a long-fuselage -1 variant without the Frisbee fairing). At any rate, while not all-inclusive, this is a very well done video.

As an aside, I have personally flown this windshear scenario in an L-1011 simulator, and can tell you it’s a real eye opener.

RIP DL191.

[gchampi]

Ironically, this accident has probably saved more lives than any other in history. This accident lead directly to the development and use of doppler radar at airports for early warning of cloudburst/downdraft situations. This, in turn, lead to doppler radar being used by weather bureau's, as early warning for other weather events, including tornado's. Anyone who has survived a tornado strike by taking shelter when they were warned by local TV/radio/however, indirectly owes their survival to DL191...

[cjuice]

I can't imagine how terrifying it would have been to just be driving down the highway and then an airliner suddenly rolls across the road taking a car with it.

[RBlnd]

The grunt that the first officer makes as they start colliding with ground objects is really horrifying. It's just crazy that seconds before, he was talking and flying a plane, and then you're hearing his final moments and his primal reaction to it.

[OkButWasItExtra]

My dad was actually on the highway near the landing strip when this happened.

The mechanic who passed away on the ground in his car "Was just gone all of a sudden. Like he was there and then there was nothing left." - My Dad

Frightening stuff.

[helenwilliams]

Microbursts are no joke! My neighborhood in Austin was hit by one in 2003. Almost every yard had a tree pushed over, roots and all, as if a giant had just come by and shoved them to the ground. My house had 2 massive trees fall on the roof. One landed on my chimney, cracking it to the floor. A huge branch punched through the roof and into the house. No one was hurt. Weather is serious business.

[waltzawaydreaming]

I disagree that the L-1011 had a “troubled past”. None of the accidents mentioned were related to the engineering of the aircraft.

[beatlemyn]

I was a witness to this as a little girl. I was in the hospital where they took the burn victims and the playroom was above the helipad. I saw things that day nobody should see. A couple days later I was taken to the crash site to process what I had seen. It was horrific. Recently I paid a visit to Captain Connors at his resting place.

[virginiaviola]

In 1981 the plane that I was on flew into a thunderstorm between Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio. It was the most terrifying thing that has happened to me. The plane dropped and rose and dropped like a roller coaster, the lightning appeared to be flashing straight through the plane and everything was shaking. As terrifying as it was, there was no point in being afraid, because the situation is beyond your control. Either you’re going to drop from the sky and die or live and have a story to tell. We lived, but just the mention of Texas, summer, planes and thunderstorms gives me chills to this day, and I can only think there but for the Grace of God, and feel great sorrow that this plane, these pilots and these passengers weren’t so fortunate.

[pronto_]

The celica’s driver was the saddest death for me.

[chiroquacker]

In my opinion, this accident was caused by the hand of mother nature smacking the aircraft at the time when it was most vulnerable. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was an unusual if not freak occurrence that brought the aircraft down. The captain knew exactly what was happening and the flight crew did exactly what they needed to do, they just didn't have the altitude and speed to recover and the technology of the time wasn't able to give them enough warning. From what I understand, there was some criticism about the captains decision to land despite the small storm cell near the runway, but having to deal with such conditions is hardly uncommon or unusual in the summer moths in the southeastern US. 99.9999^99% of the time landing in such conditions in a wide body aircraft would not end like this landing ended.

[SK-quwo]

Seems like 1985 might be the single deadliest year for Airline disasters. Nearly a thousand lives lost between JAL 123 and Air India 182 alone.

[markmonse]

This accident was a landmark in the sense that so many improvement emanated from it that continue to this day. The fact that it was a L-1011, and its DFDR recorded so many more flight parameters than the usual FDR of the day provided a rich dataset that helped people like Dr. Ted Fujita and NCAR develop onboard windshear equipment as well as better flight simulator program. In the years since 1985, there's only been one microburst-related in the USA (USAir @ CLT in 1996 or so).

[hobonickel]

Two days after this crash I flew in and out of DFW. The charred tail section was still on the ground and I could see the huge tank the plane impacted. What a sad sight.

[teacher]

my grandpa is a retired delta airline pilot and was an investigator on this crash because at the time he had the most hours on the 3 engine planes like the DC-10 and the L-1011

[MrPvtrandall]

I was pulling into my driveway after work when word came over the radio about this horrific tragedy. I remember us all praying daily for that poor little girl who sadly died 3 days later.

[TCPUDPATM]

Damn. They did the right thing without prior experience. They were SO close!

[Muscluv]

Best explanation and illustration of a downburst I've seen, especially for non-pilots.

[Happymali]

They actually struggled with rain and strong winds during the rescue effort, so much that a gust of wind made the tail-section piece (with survivors still strapped in) roll over a bit more than 90° into an upright position.

[Wanard]

Rip everyone, especially poor cilica driver on his 28th birthday :C