Delta Flight 191 and Microbursts
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