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Delta Flight 191 and Microbursts

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  Delta Flight 191 and Microbursts   On August 2, 1985, Delta Air Lines Flight 191 was flying from Ft. Lauderdale to Los Angeles with a stop in Dallas/Ft. Worth. As they approached Dallas/Ft. Worth, the crew experienced inclement weather causing them to crash short of the airport and killing 137 people. Following an investigation by the NTSB, pilot error was deemed the cause of the crash. (Finlay, 2022) The NTSB report determined, The flight crew's decision to initiate 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-level  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.   Microbursts are a severe weather phenome
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Air Traffic Control Mishap

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  Air Traffic Control Mishap   The FAA and NTSB are currently investigating a runway incursion that happened at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on February 4 th in an apparent air traffic control error. A FedEx cargo plane was given clearance to land moments before a Southwest jet was cleared for takeoff on the same runway. As the FedEx plane descended, the pilot noticed it was overflying the Southwest jet and aborted their landing by conducting a go-around. The near miss came within approximately 150 feet. (Bodell, 2023)   I chose this event because it comes on the heels of the runway incident at JFK back in January when air traffic control prevented a collision from occurring, and the software outage just prior to that. All these events are safety issues the FAA is dealing with and at a time when it claims this is the safest in aviation history. The FAA is doing a sweeping safety review of the agency and has requested additional funding to modernize the national a
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  Wildlife Hazard Mitigation     Aircraft and bird collisions are known as bird strikes and are a very severe threat to aviation safety. Bird strikes are nothing new to the aviation world. The first one was recorded in 1905 by the Wright brothers. The most famous one would be in 2009 when Captain Sullenberger landed US Airways flight 1549 in the Hudson River after striking a flock of Canadian geese resulting in dual engine thrust loss. (Strategies, n.d.)   According to the Bird Strike Committee that was founded in 1991, bird and other animal strikes cause approximately $650 million in damage annually to civilian and U.S. military aircraft every year. Bird strikes account for 97% of wildlife hazards. While mammals account for 2% and bats and other reptiles account for 1%. (Administration, 2022) The aviation bird-strike hazard is an industry, worldwide problem that affects everyone from pilots, mechanics, airport operators, wildlife analysts, and anyone to do within the aviatio
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