NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD
WASHINGTON, D.C
AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT
Adopted: August 15, 1986
DELTA AIR LINES, INC
LOCKHEED L-1011-385-1, N726DA,
DALLAS/FORT WORTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, TEXAS
AUGUST 2, 1985
SYNOPSIS
On August 2, 1985, at 1805:52 central daylight time, Delta Air Lines flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011-385-1, N726DA, crashed while approaching to land on runway 17L at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas. While passing through the rain shaft beneath a thunderstorm, flight 191 entered a microburst which the pilot was unable to traverse successfully. The airplane struck the ground about 6,300 feet north of the approach end of runway 17L, hit a car on a highway north of the runway killing the driver, struck two water tanks on the airport, and broke apart. Except for a section of the airplane containing the aft fuselage and empennage, the remainder of the airplane disintegrated during the impact sequence, and a severe fire erupted during the impact sequence. Of the 163 persons aboard, 134 passengers and crewmembers were killed; 26 passengers and 3 cabin attendants survived.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable causes of the accident were the flightcrew's decision to inítiate and continue the approach into a cumulonimbus cloud which they observed to contain visible lightning; the lack of specific guidelines, procedures, and training for avoiding and escaping from low-altitude wind shear; and the lack of definitive, real-time wind shear hazard information. This resulted in the aircraft's encounter at low altitude with a microburst-induced, severe wind shear from a rapidly developing thunderstorm located on the final approach course.
1. FACTUAL INFORMATION
1.1 History of the Flight
On August 2, 1985, Delta Air Lines (Delta) flight 191 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight between Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Los Angeles, California, with an en route stop at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Texas (DFW Airport). Flight 191, a Lockheed L-1011-385-1 airplane, departed Fort Lauderdale on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan with 152 passengers and a crew of 11 on board at 1510 eastern daylight time. The DFW Airport terminal weather forecast contained in the flightcrew's dispatch document package stated, in part, that there was a possibility of widely scattered rain showers and thunderstorms, becoming isolated after 2000 central daylight time.[1] The dispatch package also contained company Metro Alert No. T87, valid to 2100, which stated that "an area of isolated thunderstorms is expected over Oklahoma and northern and northeastern Texas... a few isolated tops to above
- ↑ All times herein are central daylight based on the 24-hour clock.
