On August 2, 1985, Delta Airlines Flight 191, carrying 167 people was tragically involved in a downburst. Travelling from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, to Los Angeles, CA, the flight had a scheduled stop in Dallas, Texas. On approach, the captain of Flight 191 recognized thunderstorms forming over Louisiana and redirected the flight as to avoid turbulent weather. However, there was also poor weather in and around Dallas and an isolated thunderstorm had formed very close to the airport. The first sign of trouble was the First Captain noticing lightning in some clouds they were approaching. At 800 feet above ground level, the airspeed increased without crew intervention. The captain ordered the first captain to increase speed and altitude to try to compensate, however the force of the micro-burst was entirely more than the plane could handle. As the pilots lost control, the plane was forced into a field very close to the runway, and then bounced back into the air. It landed on a very busy highway, killing an oncoming motorist and 136 of the 167 members on board Flight 191. This ranks as one of the most lethal airplane accidents in history.
I find this story rather amazing. It is extremely scary, and may change my idea of flying from now on. However, more than anything I’m struck by the fact that it was such a freak accident. Very specific things have to happen for a micro-burst to occur, so for this particular plane to get caught and demolished in the process, can’t be a coincidence. I’m sure no one on Flight 191 thought August 2 would be there last day to live, nor that the motorist that crashed into the plane on the highway thought it would be his. Yet 136 people lost their lives in entirely freak occurrence events and unpreventable weather forces. I realize that they have developed more sophisticated wind detecting radars since this incident, but it is still frightening to think that now airplanes just go around micro-bursts if they occur. This still seems very dangerous to even toy with flying in potential micro-bursts because of their awesome power.
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