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On 2 August 1985, Delta Air Lines Flight 191 crash-lands while on approach to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, killing 8 of the 11 crew members, 128 of the 152 passengers on board, and one person on the ground. This accident was one of the few commercial air crashes in which the meteorological phenomenon known as a microburst was a direct contributing factor.
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00:02A routine landing...
00:03Ladies and gentlemen, we are starting our approach to the episode.
00:07Turns into a sudden fight to the death.
00:10We're going to lose it all of a sudden.
00:12There it is.
00:15A passenger jet mysteriously falls from the sky
00:18and rockets towards a busy highway.
00:22Push it up. Push it way up.
00:24Delta, go around.
00:26Hey, no! Son of a...
00:27He's going to crash!
00:32A mysterious force brings down a plane claiming 137 lives.
00:37In the wreckage lies the one clue that can stop it from killing again.
01:05August 2nd, 1985.
01:09Dallas, Texas.
01:17It's a very hot day, even by Texas standards.
01:22See you all tomorrow.
01:24Temperatures soar to 101 degrees.
01:30Rain coming.
01:33Should cool things down a bit.
01:35In the late afternoon, William Mabry is heading home from work.
01:42The day's heat and humidity are having an effect on traffic at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, DFW.
01:52Roughly the size of Manhattan, DFW is the biggest airport in the world.
01:57It's also one of the busiest.
02:10The heat has triggered some afternoon thunderstorms at the airport, creating a backlog of planes waiting to take off.
02:20American 631, you are cleared for take off.
02:22Air traffic controller Gene Skipworth is in the tower today.
02:26He's been working there for 14 years.
02:30With him is controller Mike Porter.
02:34Skipworth was not asking for help.
02:35Nothing seemed unusual other than the fact that we were starting to get busy and aircraft were starting to pile
02:44up.
02:50One of the many planes heading towards Skipworth's control is Delta Airlines Flight 191.
02:57Weather 6,000 scattered.
02:592,000 scattered.
03:00Visibility 1,0.
03:02Temperature 1,0.
03:031,0.
03:051,0.
03:061,0.
03:07101 degrees, yes, sir.
03:10Captain Ed Connors and First Officer Rudy Price are two of Delta Airlines' most experienced pilots.
03:18Second Officer Nick Nasik is the other member of today's crew.
03:24The crew is flying a six-year-old L-1011 TriStar.
03:29The L-1011 is billed as one of the safest planes in the sky.
03:35There are 152 passengers and 11 crew members on board.
03:41They're scheduled to land in Dallas just before 6 in the evening.
03:48Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
03:49This is your captain speaking.
03:52Hope you're enjoying your flight so far.
03:54Traffic is backing up at Dallas.
03:57All told, we'll be about 10 to 15 minutes late getting to the gate.
04:02Please let us know if there's anything we can do to make your flight more comfortable.
04:06The delay bothers Chris Meyer.
04:09He's a frequent business traveller who's in a hurry to get home to his family for the weekend.
04:15I've been down in Florida, Fort Lauderdale, for the last two weeks.
04:19And it was a Friday afternoon and I was due to go home on flight 191.
04:26One of IBM's best-known executives is also on the flight.
04:32Don Estridge led the development of the IBM PC.
04:36He and his wife are travelling to Dallas for a family visit.
04:49On route from Florida to Texas, Delta 191 will be in communication with several controllers.
04:57Every aircraft is guided along its flight path by a series of regional air route traffic control centres.
05:04They direct each plane's speed and altitude.
05:10One niner one, descend and maintain, one zero thousand.
05:13Join the Blue Ridge zero, one zero, radial and inbound.
05:17We have a good area there to go through.
05:20Captain Connors has some concerns about the route he's been given.
05:24He sees a storm cell along that path.
05:27And he doesn't want to fly through it.
05:29Well, I'm looking at a cell at about a heading of 255.
05:34It's a pretty good-sized cell.
05:35I'd rather not go through it.
05:37I'd rather go around it one way or the other.
05:39I've had about 60 aircraft go through this area out here, 10 to 12 miles wide.
05:43They're getting a good ride, no problem.
05:46Well, I can see a cell now about heading 240.
05:50When I can, I'll turn you into Blue Ridge.
05:52It'll be about the 010 radial.
05:55010 roger.
05:57We're going to hold you to that.
05:59Captain Connors gets his way.
06:02He's given permission to fly around the storm.
06:06Once past it, he'll line up for a landing on runway 17 left.
06:12I'm glad we didn't have to go through that.
06:21Friday afternoons are a busy time at airports.
06:24The afternoon rain is making this Friday even busier.
06:28The main priority for the controller on duty is to keep the incoming planes a safe distance apart.
06:39He wants them at least four and a half kilometers from each other.
06:44That distance allows enough time for the violent air turbulence behind one plane to die down before the next plane
06:52touches down.
06:55Right now, Connors and Price are getting too close to the plane just ahead of them, a corporate Learjet.
07:03Delta 191 heavy.
07:05Turn left 10 degrees.
07:07Reduce speed to 180.
07:08To put some distance between the two planes, the controller asks the Delta crew to slow to 180 knots.
07:16Delta 191.
07:18330 kilometers an hour.
07:20Welcome.
07:23Ten degree flaps, please.
07:29You're listening to Dallas 105 FM.
07:31It's a wet one out there, folks, so drive careful.
07:34Heading home along Highway 114, William Mabry will soon be passing DFW.
07:45Flight 191 is now just 50 kilometers from the foot of the runway.
07:50Ladies and gentlemen, we are starting our approach.
08:03The crew begins their final descent into the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
08:07Attention all aircraft listening.
08:09There's a little rain shower just north of the airport.
08:11Connors now switches radio frequencies and contacts a local DFW airport traffic controller for approach instructions.
08:19Attention.
08:21As the passengers and crew of Flight 191 prepare for their landing, a deadly force takes shape in their path.
08:29Critical decisions and missed information conspire against them.
08:34The crew will soon be engaged in a 47-second struggle, which will become one of the most important moments
08:41in the history of modern aviation.
08:47August the 2nd, 1985.
08:49The crew of Delta Airlines Flight 191 has been skirting a line of heavy storms between Florida and their destination,
08:57Texas.
08:5930 kilometers from the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, First Officer Rudy Price notices rain ahead.
09:06We're going to get our airplane washed.
09:08What?
09:14It seemed like the closer we got in the DFW, the worse the weather got.
09:20And we was turning it into the rain instead of going around it.
09:33Delta 191 is still closing in on the Learjet ahead of it.
09:39Price and Connors need to slow down even further to put some distance between the two planes.
09:45Delta 191 heavy, reduce speed to 150.
09:49Speed to 150.
09:53Nine kilometers from runway 17 left, Delta 191 is handed over to another controller, Gene Skipworth, for final approach and
10:03landing.
10:10Tower, Delta 191 heavy, out here in the rain. Feels good.
10:14Delta 191 heavy, out here in the rain.
10:16Skipworth tells the crew to expect a manageable crosswind of up to 15 knots.
10:21Winds, 090 at 5, gusts to 15.
10:26Thank you, sir.
10:28First Officer Price will be at the controls for the upcoming landing.
10:34Pilots and co-pilots routinely alternate flying duties.
10:39As Flight 191 is coming in to land, William Mabry is just north of the airport.
10:46He's caught in the same storm that Price and Connors are just beginning to fly through.
10:56Before landing, check.
10:58Landing gear.
11:00Down, three green.
11:01Flaps, slats.
11:0333, 33.
11:04Green lights.
11:05The crew suddenly notices that they'll be flying into more than a bit of rain.
11:11There's lightning coming out of that one.
11:13What?
11:14There's lightning coming out of that one.
11:16Where?
11:17Right ahead of us.
11:21A thousand feet.
11:22I'll call them out to you.
11:23All right.
11:32We're not getting any bad warnings from the weather or from other pilots, which we rely on as they come
11:39through it.
11:41They need to report to us.
11:43And they do if they have turbulence or they have trouble on final or ran into anything abnormal.
11:53The Learjet ahead of Flight 191 lands safely.
11:58Connors and Price are now less than a minute behind.
12:04Without warning, the intensity of the storm increases.
12:07The L-1011 is being pounded by a driving rain.
12:12I knew we was getting ready to land.
12:14But at the same time, you felt a surge.
12:17Like the pilots was revving up the engine for something.
12:21The plane's airspeed is increasing for no apparent reason.
12:26Watch your speed.
12:28Price pulls back on the throttles to slow the plane down and maintain it at the requested 150 knots.
12:37The plane is just 180 meters from the ground.
12:41You're going to lose it all of a sudden.
12:44There it is.
12:46Then the plane drops rapidly.
12:51It's as though an invisible force is pushing it to the ground.
12:56Push it up.
12:57Push it way up.
12:59Way up.
13:00Way up.
13:00Way up.
13:02The crew is pushing the plane's jet engines to their full power, but can't get more speed or get the
13:08plane to climb.
13:11So I pulled my seatbelt out as I could, but at the same time, you could hear a pin drop.
13:17Nobody was talking.
13:19But, I mean, it got dead silence.
13:22As suddenly as it began, the crisis seems to end.
13:25The plane stops falling and begins to pick up some of the speed Connors and Price have been fighting for.
13:32That's it.
13:34But before the crew can take another breath, the plane drops again, rocking violently from side to side.
13:43And then it dips wildly to the right.
13:47And I just knew that we shouldn't be that close to the ground that soon.
13:51Hang on to the son of...
13:57About two kilometers from the runway, it plows into a field and rockets towards Highway 114.
14:05When we hit the ground, it felt like you was in a car running over road road ties.
14:10It was real bumpy.
14:12The crew somehow manages to get the plane back in the air.
14:15At that moment, Gene Skipworth catches sight of Delta 191.
14:20He's going to crash.
14:23He's got to go around.
14:26But it's too late.
14:29The plane's engines slam into William Maybury's car on Highway 114.
14:35He is killed instantly.
14:39The plane hits the ground again, north of the runway.
14:44It's traveling more than 350 kilometers an hour.
14:54I must have caught sight of him just at the last millisecond.
14:58And he cartwheeled into the tank in just an instant.
15:00And then, of course, there was fire.
15:02Not a ball of fire, but a wall of fire.
15:09It seemed like it was only a few seconds, five seconds at the most.
15:13I don't know how long it was.
15:15We was... Everything was stopped.
15:19The resulting explosion is so powerful
15:22that the rear section of the plane is blasted backwards,
15:25away from the fireball.
15:27Then all of a sudden, you look up, and it's just nothing there.
15:31It's... Everything's gone.
15:32You just see the whole big picture outside.
15:35Like the plane just opened up.
15:56Remarkably, the tail section containing the last ten rows of seats
16:00is relatively intact.
16:08People just thrown around on the ground.
16:11Some were clothes on, some without clothes on, some were burned.
16:15It was something that you can't describe
16:17unless you were there to see it.
16:20It is something that you will never get out of your mind.
16:26Help! Over here!
16:28Hang in there. Help someone.
16:31Then, as suddenly as it had started, the rain stops.
16:41It takes firefighters less than a minute to get to the crash.
16:45And when I arrived on the scene,
16:47I truly believed that there wasn't anybody
16:50that had survived this plane crash
16:52because there was just devastation everywhere.
17:04What I had pulled up on at the time was the wing section,
17:08which is the portion of the aircraft that carries the fuel.
17:11So there was a large amount of fuel and a large amount of flames.
17:15The front of the plane has all but disintegrated.
17:18I knew I had to get out there.
17:20At the time, I was a stringer for Time magazine,
17:24worked with them on a part-time basis,
17:26called their Atlanta headquarters for this portion of the country.
17:29They said, one word, go.
17:37Firefighters need only a few minutes
17:38to get the raging fire under control.
17:41They then turn their attention to pulling survivors from the plane.
17:49It wasn't until the fire started to subside a little bit
17:53that I saw the tail section,
17:54where there was some hope of some people surviving.
17:58There were these two women
18:01that were walking through the smoke.
18:03Ladies, clear the area!
18:06Get out of the way! Clear the area!
18:09And it kind of surprised me.
18:10So I knew that there was hope
18:12and that there were people out there.
18:15Only 27 people survived the crash.
18:20I had seen death before as a medic in Vietnam,
18:23but it had never been aimed at civilians
18:26and certainly not on a mass casualty situation
18:29and certainly not this suddenly.
18:32I could tell how bad it was.
18:34You could see and smell and feel the death.
18:43We felt like we did everything that we could,
18:46and we were just pleased that there were survivors.
18:57I was scheduled to sit on aisle seat 15A,
19:01and I told them that wouldn't be no good
19:03because that was a non-smoking section.
19:05I was a smoker, so I had to be in back.
19:10That probably saved my life.
19:14Captain Connors,
19:17First Officer Price,
19:19and Second Officer Nasik are killed.
19:22So are five other crew members
19:24and 128 passengers.
19:29IBM's Don Estridge and his wife
19:31are among the dead.
19:35In the tower there was silence
19:37for probably one to two minutes
19:40except for just an occasional transmission,
19:43but basically it's just quiet
19:46and you just sit there stunned
19:49and wishing you could do anything
19:52to take it back.
19:58This is a monumental crash.
20:08Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board
20:11arrive at DFW determined to find the cause.
20:16One of our field investigators
20:19would have been on scene
20:20trying to locate the flight data recorder
20:22and the cockpit voice recorder,
20:24which is, you know,
20:26a very important part of the investigation.
20:32investigators begin looking for evidence
20:35of mechanical failure.
20:37They examine the wreckage
20:39for clues that the plane
20:40was not responding
20:41to the pilot's command.
20:44It's essential
20:45in any approach
20:47or departure accident
20:50to establish what the airplane's configuration was,
20:52to assure that it was not a factor
20:54in the accident
20:55where everything was normal
20:57on this aircraft.
21:01investigators turn their attention
21:03away from the plane
21:05and to the skies.
21:10After any accident
21:12in commercial aviation,
21:14there are theories galore,
21:17a couple of them prevalent that evening.
21:20First, that lightning had struck the airplane.
21:22Secondly, that it had been hit
21:24by a mini-tornado.
21:31There's lightning coming out of that one.
21:33Where?
21:34Right ahead of us.
21:36Fifteen different witnesses,
21:38including flight crews,
21:40report seeing lightning
21:41as Flight 191
21:42was descending towards the runway.
21:46The investigators have to consider
21:48the possibility
21:49that Flight 191
21:50was hit by lightning.
21:53Lightning is always
21:54something that you have to investigate
21:57to determine
21:58the possibility
22:00that lightning
22:00disabled some part of the airplane.
22:04In 1963,
22:06a Boeing 707
22:07was struck by lightning.
22:09The lightning ignited
22:11the fuel
22:12in the plane's tank.
22:14The plane crashed.
22:16Eighty-one people died.
22:18There had been a handful
22:19of similar crashes
22:20since then.
22:23Key pieces of wreckage
22:25from Flight 191
22:26are taken to the NTSB lab
22:28in Washington, D.C.
22:34Bud Lehner is the investigator
22:36in charge
22:37of examining the wreckage
22:38as well as the data
22:40from the plane's
22:41cockpit voice recorder.
22:42Sometimes it might be
22:44very difficult to find
22:45to determine
22:46where the airplane
22:48might have been struck
22:49by lightning
22:49and where the exit point was.
22:51Lightning coming out of that one.
22:53Where?
22:54Right ahead of us.
22:56If the plane
22:57was hit by lightning,
22:58there would be evidence
22:59left behind.
23:02A device called
23:03a static discharge wick
23:05is attached to the trailing edge
23:06of an airplane's wings.
23:08It redirects
23:10static electricity
23:11into the outside air
23:12instead of into the plane
23:13where the charge
23:14could cause a fire.
23:20If the plane
23:21was hit by lightning,
23:23one of the pieces
23:23that would be visibly damaged
23:25is the static discharge wick.
23:31nothing there.
23:34With lightning ruled out,
23:36investigators go looking elsewhere.
23:40They would soon discover
23:42the real culprit.
23:43It had actually been caught
23:45on tape.
23:50a Delta Airlines
23:52L-1011 crashes
23:53after entering a storm
23:54near Dallas.
24:03137 people die.
24:06Investigators rule out
24:08mechanical problems
24:09and lightning
24:09as causes of the crash.
24:13Nothing there.
24:13The NTSB's Bud Lehner
24:16turns his attention
24:16to the plane
24:17just ahead
24:18of Delta 191,
24:20the corporate Learjet.
24:24He learns
24:25that it was less
24:25than a minute ahead
24:27and flew through
24:28the very same storm.
24:31after we had passed
24:32about five miles
24:33from the end
24:34of the runway,
24:34we entered
24:35a rain shower,
24:37what we thought
24:37was a light rain shower,
24:39and it turned out
24:40to be the heaviest rain
24:41I've ever seen
24:42before or since.
24:45In spite of the rain,
24:46Rufus Lewis
24:47managed to land
24:48his plane safely
24:49on runway 17 left.
24:52When we broke
24:53out of the clouds,
24:54we were high
24:55and hot.
24:56so we had
24:58to use
24:58all of the runway
25:00at DFW airport.
25:02We landed,
25:04were able to turn off
25:05at the end
25:06of the runway.
25:07So why was
25:09the much larger
25:10L-1011
25:10unable to land
25:12just moments later?
25:15Bud Lehner
25:16still doesn't know
25:17what slammed
25:18Flight 191
25:19into the ground.
25:20But soon,
25:21he finds the clues
25:22he needs
25:23on the plane's
25:24flight data recorder.
25:27It logs
25:29every adjustment
25:29pilots make
25:30to the plane's
25:31controls.
25:35The device
25:36also records
25:37external elements
25:38like temperature,
25:39wind speed,
25:40altitude,
25:41and air pressure.
25:42Whatever Connors
25:43and Price
25:44were fighting,
25:45there's a good chance
25:46it left its fingerprints
25:47on the flight data recorder.
25:49This flight data recorder
25:51gave us
25:51several parameters
25:53we didn't have before.
25:54engine power,
25:56longitudinal acceleration,
25:58and those kinds
26:00of parameters
26:00really enabled us
26:02to do
26:02a more in-depth analysis.
26:05The plane's data recorder
26:07has documented
26:08a combination
26:09of rapidly shifting winds.
26:11Then it shifts
26:12to a downdraft.
26:14In a matter of seconds,
26:16the plane was hit
26:16with strong winds
26:17from the front,
26:18then from above,
26:19and then from behind.
26:21There you have it.
26:23For Bud Lainer,
26:25that sequence
26:25could only mean
26:26one thing,
26:27a microburst.
26:29A microburst
26:31is a violent shaft
26:32of air
26:32falling from a storm cloud.
26:34Back in 1985,
26:36few people knew
26:37more about encounters
26:38between microbursts
26:39and airplanes
26:39than John McCarthy.
26:40If you're at the kitchen sink
26:43and you turn on the water
26:44and it goes straight down
26:46and it splashes out
26:47in all directions,
26:48and that's kind of
26:49what a microburst is,
26:50except that it is
26:52extremely bad news
26:54if you're an airplane
26:55flying through it
26:56at low altitude.
26:58A plane first faces
26:59a strong headwind
27:00which lifts the plane skyward,
27:02then a downdraft
27:03which slams it
27:04towards the ground.
27:05Finally,
27:05the microburst
27:06delivers its most dangerous punch,
27:08the tailwind.
27:09And you would get
27:10a rapid descent,
27:12a loss of lift
27:13and a rapid descent
27:14towards the ground
27:15and easily crash
27:17the airplane.
27:18A plane's wings
27:20need a steady flow of air
27:21moving over them.
27:22That's what gives them
27:23their lift.
27:24By inhibiting that flow,
27:26the tailwind reduces lift.
27:32There's no better recipe
27:33for a microburst
27:35than the weather conditions
27:36at Dallas-Fort Worth
27:37on the day of the crash.
27:39It had been extremely hot
27:40all day
27:41and hot air rises.
27:43When that hot air
27:44meets the cold,
27:45moist air
27:46in the storm clouds,
27:47it cools instantly
27:49and rushes violently
27:50back to Earth,
27:51a microburst.
27:54It is a tiny thing.
27:57Meteorologically speaking,
27:58compared to a big storm
28:00or a snowstorm
28:01or a hurricane,
28:01it's just like a needle
28:03in a haystack.
28:05At its maximum strength,
28:07it's no more than
28:08two miles across
28:09and it lasts
28:11no more than 15 minutes.
28:14It was clear that 136 people
28:17on Flight 191
28:19had become the latest victims
28:20of a microburst.
28:25Investigators had their culprit.
28:27Unbelievable.
28:29And thanks to Flight 191's
28:31advanced data recorder,
28:33they could paint
28:33a remarkably accurate
28:34picture of it.
28:36The killer had essentially
28:37been caught on tape.
28:39But what the flight
28:41data recorder
28:41doesn't explain
28:42is how such an experienced crew
28:44fell victim to a killer
28:46they were all trained
28:48to overcome.
28:49When Lehner compares
28:51the pilot's actions
28:52to the actions
28:53of the microburst,
28:54Watch your speed.
28:57He uncovers details
28:59of a fight to the death,
29:01a fight that the Delta pilots
29:03almost won.
29:04Lose it all of a sudden.
29:06There it is.
29:08He seemed to know
29:09what he was going to hit.
29:11Watch your speed.
29:12The increase in airspeed
29:14prompted First Officer Price
29:15to reduce power
29:16to his engines.
29:19Power that he would
29:20desperately need
29:21in just a few seconds.
29:24You're going to lose it
29:24all of a sudden.
29:25There it is.
29:26When Price and Connors
29:27entered the downdraft,
29:28Push it up.
29:29They were less than
29:30250 meters from the ground.
29:33The captain knew
29:34the characteristics
29:34of a microburst.
29:35He'd obviously been
29:37given an introduction
29:38to wind shear
29:39and microburst
29:41characteristics
29:42in his flight training.
29:43When Connors and Price
29:45encountered the microburst
29:46tailwind,
29:47there was very little
29:48they could do.
29:49They had insufficient speed
29:50and altitude
29:51with which to maneuver.
29:53If a pilot encounters
29:55a strong tailwind
29:56at 3,000 meters,
29:57he can point his nose down
29:59and dive
29:59to pick up speed
30:00and generate lift.
30:02It's called trading altitude
30:04for airspeed.
30:06But that trade
30:07wasn't available
30:08to Price and Connors.
30:09They were just
30:10150 meters off the ground
30:12when the tailwind struck.
30:14The only way for them
30:15to gain airspeed
30:16was from their engines.
30:17Push it up!
30:19Way up!
30:19Co-pilot responds,
30:22airplane stabilizes.
30:24I can see that
30:25most pilots would say,
30:26well, we're through with that
30:27and the rain's going to stop,
30:30we're going to land.
30:31Momentarily,
30:32their efforts seem to pay off.
30:34Their airspeed increases,
30:35their plunge is halted.
30:37But with Flight 191
30:39less than 150 meters
30:41from the ground,
30:42this particular microburst
30:43delivered the ultimate blow.
30:46A fierce crosswind
30:48that forces their plane
30:49to bank dangerously
30:50to the right.
30:53Combined with the microburst's
30:54other winds,
30:55the crew was defenseless.
31:01Toga!
31:04Toga is take-off go-around mode
31:06and what it means
31:07to a pilot
31:08in that regime of flight
31:11is let's abandon the approach.
31:13We're no longer going to try
31:14to land this airplane.
31:16We want to do everything
31:17we can now
31:17to survive the wind condition
31:20that we've entered.
31:22The skill and experience
31:23of the pilots
31:24were no match
31:25for this microburst.
31:26It was too big,
31:28its winds too powerful
31:29and unpredictable.
31:30The pilots of Delta Flight 191
31:32did their very best
31:34to recover from this situation
31:36and it didn't work out.
31:39Investigators were left
31:40with one perplexing question.
31:42Why had Connors flown
31:44into the storm
31:45in the first place?
31:46Prior to 1985,
31:48the radars on board
31:49the aircraft
31:50were built
31:51to detect thunderstorms.
31:53Essentially heavy areas
31:55of precipitation.
31:56They were not effective,
31:57they were not even designed
31:58to detect the microburst.
31:59So those radars
32:00were essentially useless
32:01at low altitudes
32:02for looking at the microburst phenomena.
32:06Microbursts are invisible
32:07but they generally emerge
32:09from storm clouds.
32:11That's why pilots
32:12are trained
32:12not to fly into storms
32:14if they see lightning.
32:18It's a pretty good-sized cell
32:20and I'd rather not go through it.
32:22I'd rather go around it
32:23one way or the other.
32:24When I can,
32:24I'll turn you into Blue Ridge.
32:26It'll be about 010 radial.
32:28010.
32:29Well, roger.
32:29Captain Connors
32:30was not a risk-taker.
32:32He was known
32:33as a cautious pilot.
32:34I'm glad we didn't
32:35have to go through that.
32:36It's hard to blame
32:37the air crew.
32:39Their job is to avoid
32:40thunderstorms
32:41and there's probably
32:43a forecast for thunderstorms
32:44every day
32:45at Dallas
32:45in the summertime.
32:47Which ones do you avoid?
32:49And it's, you know,
32:50it's a very difficult problem.
32:53Earlier in the flight,
32:55Connors had flown around
32:56bad weather.
32:59Investigators can only conclude
33:00that he underestimated
33:01the storm in his path
33:03at the foot of runway 17 left.
33:06When you're in a landing sequence
33:08at an airport like Dallas
33:10or Atlanta or Chicago
33:12and you see other airplanes ahead
33:14that are landing uneventfully,
33:16you might get the impression
33:17that there's a thunderstorm there,
33:19but I'm going to pass through it
33:20very quickly
33:21and it's not going to be
33:22a factor for me.
33:24Airports like DFW
33:26have sophisticated systems in place
33:28to provide weather information
33:29to pilots.
33:32A thunderstorm at the end
33:33of a runway
33:34is the kind of threat
33:35they were designed to identify.
33:38But this deadly storm
33:40managed to foil those systems.
33:44As flight 191
33:46was approaching the airport,
33:48the weather at DFW
33:49was changing very quickly.
33:55Attention all aircraft listening.
33:57There's a little rain shower
33:58just north of the airport.
33:59Captain Connors heard
34:00that part of the message,
34:02but then he switched
34:03his radio frequency
34:04for his final landing instructions.
34:07The Delta crew never heard
34:09the last part of this message
34:10about weather ahead.
34:14There's a little bitty thunderstorm
34:16sitting right on the final.
34:19There was an observation
34:20two minutes before the accident
34:22that there was a wall of water
34:24at the threshold of the runway.
34:26It's been my contention
34:28that that information
34:29would have been very important
34:30to the flight crew.
34:33Radar readouts
34:34from the day of the crash
34:35indicate that the storm cell
34:37Connors and Price flew into
34:38grew out of nothing
34:40in a matter of minutes.
34:43This is two minutes
34:44before the accident.
34:45The readout shows
34:47the beginnings of a weather cell
34:49at the foot of runway 17 left.
34:54This is three minutes
34:57after the accident.
34:58We have a new cell
35:00right at the threshold
35:02of the runway
35:02that wasn't evident
35:04in the previous picture.
35:09This explains why Rufus Lewis
35:11was able to land his Learjet.
35:14The microburst was just beginning
35:17to form when he was approaching
35:18the runway.
35:20Many people think
35:21that there was a huge
35:23vertical development
35:24that the pilots recognized
35:25and they just decided
35:26to go fly through it anyway.
35:28And I maintain
35:30and I think the evidence
35:31proves it
35:31that that was not the case.
35:34They didn't recognize
35:36this new developing cell.
35:38They did get into the storm
35:39beneath the cell,
35:41but it was heavy rain.
35:42They weren't worried about that.
35:44Then the hammer fell.
35:46It was too late.
35:48It's small.
35:50It's the length of a runway,
35:52roughly,
35:53and it doesn't last very long.
35:55So it's something
35:56that can happen so quickly
35:58that many accidents have occurred
36:00because nobody knew it was there.
36:03The storm arrived
36:05at the foot of runway 17 left
36:07virtually unannounced.
36:09But once there,
36:10it attracted a lot of attention.
36:13Pilots on the ground
36:14as well as trained weather observers
36:16saw the worsening storm.
36:19But they all saw it too late
36:21to warn the crew of Delta 191.
36:26The storm did show up
36:27on a radar screen
36:28at the Fort Worth
36:29Air Traffic Control Center.
36:31But at the time of the crash,
36:33the meteorologist on duty
36:35was in the cafeteria
36:36on a meal break.
36:39If the fire crew had had any idea
36:41that there would be
36:42a severe event in front of them,
36:45they would have missed the approach.
36:47Investigators conclude
36:49that the Delta crash
36:50was caused by the pilots' decision
36:52to continue their approach
36:53into the storm,
36:55a decision that was made
36:56because the crew
36:57wasn't warned about the hazard.
36:59In 1985,
37:01there were basic systems
37:02at airports
37:03that could detect
37:04dangerous winds,
37:05but they could not reliably
37:07detect a microburst.
37:08On the ground,
37:09there were systems
37:09called low-level
37:10wind shear alerting systems
37:11that primarily looked
37:13for differences
37:13of wind speed
37:14around the airport
37:15and on the airport.
37:16Unfortunately,
37:16these sensors tended
37:17to be spaced so far apart
37:18that a microburst
37:19could actually exist
37:20in between them
37:21and escape detection
37:22or at least detection
37:23in time to warn a pilot
37:24of the threat.
37:26But a microburst detection system
37:28to overcome this problem
37:29had been developed.
37:31It was being tested in Denver
37:33and working very well.
37:35What we found out
37:36is that Doppler radar,
37:38which is on the ground,
37:39is incredibly effective
37:42in detecting microbursts.
37:43In fact,
37:44it can detect about 98%
37:45of a microburst.
37:48Conventional radar
37:49uses radio waves
37:50to measure precipitation
37:51inside a storm.
37:53Doppler also sends out
37:55radio waves,
37:56but by measuring
37:57the frequency
37:57of returning waves,
37:59Doppler can also calculate
38:00the movement of the winds
38:01inside a storm.
38:04If you look
38:05through the Doppler radar,
38:06you see a part of it
38:07that's going away
38:07from the radar
38:08and a part that's coming
38:09towards the radar.
38:10And if it's small,
38:12it's absolutely a microburst.
38:14It can be nothing else.
38:16So it has,
38:17what we call
38:18an unambiguous signature
38:20of a microburst,
38:22which means we got it.
38:24Since Doppler radar
38:26could see a microburst,
38:28controllers could use it
38:29to warn crews
38:30of their presence.
38:31The Denver research
38:32resulted in an important
38:34new system at airports,
38:36Terminal Doppler Weather Radar.
38:43When the system detects
38:45dangerous conditions,
38:46it relays a warning
38:47to air traffic controllers,
38:50who can then alert pilots.
38:53Flight 236,
38:54microburst alert.
38:55Flight still not lost.
38:56One mile final.
38:57Say intentions.
38:58After the crash of Delta 191,
39:00the Federal Aviation Authority,
39:02the FAA,
39:04hurried to install
39:05Terminal Doppler weather radar
39:06at high-risk airports.
39:10Dallas-Fort Worth
39:11was one of the first.
39:13The domes containing
39:14the specialized radar
39:16are now a common fixture
39:17at major airports
39:18around the world.
39:24But radar on the ground
39:25can't get the warning
39:26to the pilots fast enough.
39:29We also have an issue
39:30of ground-based systems
39:31in that it takes time
39:32to communicate the threat
39:33to the crew.
39:35The system has to detect it
39:36on the ground.
39:37It would typically go
39:37to a control position
39:38in the control tower
39:40and be relayed by voice
39:41to the pilot,
39:42which can introduce
39:42a delay of 10, 15, 20 seconds,
39:44which could be very critical.
39:47Planes also needed
39:48on-board microbursts.
39:49detection.
39:51A team from NASA
39:53began developing
39:54such a system
39:55by flying into
39:55the most dangerous
39:56microbursts they could find.
39:58Zero.
39:59Here we go.
40:00Take it.
40:01Straight ahead.
40:03By risking their own lives,
40:06they would eventually
40:07save thousands of others.
40:17Delta Airlines flight 191
40:20is the latest
40:21in a string of crashes
40:22attributed to a microburst.
40:27Since 1964,
40:28microbursts were shown
40:30to be the cause
40:30of 26 accidents,
40:33claiming more than 500 lives.
40:37The public is unnerved.
40:40Politicians are demanding answers.
40:42The killer has to be stopped.
40:48The body count is building,
40:50and this particular crash
40:52tipped the scales
40:54as far as the federal government
40:56was concerned.
40:57The crash of Delta 191
40:59showed that seconds count
41:01when planes encounter
41:02a microburst.
41:07You're going to lose it
41:08all of a sudden.
41:09There it is.
41:11Increasing alert times
41:12push it up.
41:13We're up.
41:14To save more lives,
41:15especially if a microburst detector
41:17was mounted right on the plane.
41:20If you can provide
41:21the airplane with 10,
41:2315, 20 seconds
41:23of advance warning,
41:25pilots push the throttles up,
41:26they build airspeed,
41:27they build altitude,
41:28they build energy.
41:29It's like money in the bank.
41:30By the time they get
41:31to the microburst
41:31during a recovery,
41:32they can survive.
41:34Aviation experts
41:35had to find a way
41:36to give all pilots
41:38those critical 20 seconds.
41:40To develop that technology,
41:41they would embark
41:43on a high-risk,
41:44unprecedented research project.
41:46They would fly a 737
41:48into the most severe
41:50microbursts they could find.
41:53We did a very careful
41:54risk analysis
41:55of all the possible dangers
41:56that could occur.
41:58And initially,
41:59the first reaction was,
42:01you want to do what
42:02with an airplane?
42:02You want to fly it
42:03through a microburst?
42:05In the summer of 1991,
42:08NASA modified a Boeing 737
42:10and went hunting
42:11for microbursts.
42:15The idea was to identify
42:16onboard technology
42:18that could warn pilots
42:19of a microburst
42:20in their path.
42:24The airborne solution
42:26brings detection
42:26right into the cockpit,
42:27so the pilot sees
42:29exactly what's in front
42:30of the aircraft,
42:30and when an alert is given,
42:32there's no time delay.
42:33Ground speed 234.
42:34The NASA researchers
42:36were testing
42:37three separate systems
42:38for detecting microbursts.
42:41Modified Doppler radar
42:42housed in the 737's nose,
42:45a laser radar
42:46under its forward cargo bay,
42:48and a side-mounted
42:49infrared device
42:50to measure changes
42:51in air temperature.
42:53Each of those systems
42:54was wired to banks
42:56of computers
42:56in the plane's cabin.
42:59A spotter on the ground
43:00could find a microburst
43:01and quickly direct
43:02the plane towards it.
43:05Roger, control,
43:06515.
43:08We're rolling.
43:11Roger, understand,
43:11you're rolling.
43:12T.D.W.R.
43:13NASA control.
43:17Range.
43:18Range, 45 miles.
43:19Ground speed,
43:20240.
43:21Here we go.
43:22Take it straight ahead.
43:24Need to come left
43:25about 10 degrees,
43:2715 degrees.
43:29Well, when you
43:30spotted a microburst,
43:31it was all business.
43:32It was how do we get there,
43:33how do we get to
43:34the right altitude,
43:34the right airspeed,
43:35the right position,
43:36when to begin data collection.
43:37So people were quite busy
43:38during these flights.
43:39Yeah, it was exciting.
43:40We wanted to find them,
43:42we wanted to penetrate them.
43:44With every microburst,
43:45the three onboard detection systems
43:47were put to the test.
43:49Researchers on the plane
43:50could instantly see
43:52which instrument was doing
43:53the best job
43:54of picking up
43:54the microburst ahead.
43:57Behind the flight deck,
43:59we had pallets of equipment
44:00where the radar engineers,
44:02the laser engineers,
44:03the data recording engineers
44:04could sit and ensure
44:05that each system
44:06was performing as expected.
44:09Ground speed,
44:09two, three, four.
44:11Dead ahead,
44:11maybe one degree to the left.
44:14Let's go straight
44:15through this one.
44:15Here we go.
44:16Take it.
44:17Straight ahead.
44:20We started with
44:20very, very weak
44:21microburst.
44:22Again, we had
44:23the ground-based radar
44:24telling us
44:24what we were about
44:25to go into.
44:25So we started
44:26with very weak microbursts,
44:27gained experience,
44:28and then gradually
44:28worked up to stronger
44:29and stronger ones.
44:30You would see the rain
44:31begin to fall,
44:33and you would feel
44:33a sinking feeling.
44:34It'd be a little settling,
44:35a little like an elevator
44:36starting down.
44:38So any apprehension
44:40that the crew may have had
44:41initially by going
44:42through them
44:42was actually replaced
44:44later with joy
44:45at finding them.
44:46Here comes the center
44:47of the target,
44:47right.
44:50Now.
44:52242 on the ground speed.
44:54Wind's gone away.
44:55Look for a tailwind.
44:55Watch.
44:57Lost some altitude
44:58there, too.
44:59There.
45:00The wind's gone around
45:01the tail at 10 knots.
45:05Good strong down draft
45:06in the middle of it.
45:06Just sucked 100 feet
45:07in almost no time at all.
45:08Our good performance
45:09decreased, too.
45:10We were about 850,
45:12and we dropped to 750.
45:13Beautiful.
45:15The Langley researchers
45:17flew into dozens
45:18of microbursts
45:19over the course
45:20of their research.
45:22The project proved
45:24that the forward-looking
45:25Doppler radar
45:26was the only system
45:27that could consistently
45:28give pilots
45:29advanced warnings
45:30of a microburst ahead.
45:33What we found was
45:34that the Doppler radars
45:35could detect
45:37an extremely wide variety
45:38of microbursts.
45:39Lightning coming out
45:40of that one.
45:42If the crew
45:43of Delta-191
45:44had a system
45:45to warn them
45:46of microbursts,
45:47they could have
45:47boosted power
45:48to their engines
45:49and started climbing
45:50before they encountered it.
45:53That might have given
45:54them the speed
45:55and the altitude
45:55which they sorely lacked
45:57when they began
45:57their battle
45:58with the storm.
46:02The Langley flight tests
46:04had in effect
46:05tamed the microburst menace.
46:08After the NASA tests,
46:09the FAA certified
46:11a Doppler-based
46:12warning system
46:12for planes.
46:15Today,
46:16forward-looking
46:16Doppler radar
46:17is standard equipment
46:18on commercial flights
46:20around the world.
46:23The good news
46:24out of all
46:25of this tragedy
46:26is so many things
46:29have now happened
46:30from radar
46:31to ground-based systems
46:32to airborne systems
46:33and especially
46:34to training
46:35for pilots.
46:36We think that
46:37microburst accidents
46:39are a thing
46:41of the past.
46:45If there is
46:47one crash
46:48that we can look
46:48back on now
46:49and say
46:51this made
46:52things safer
46:53because we learned
46:55from it,
46:56it was Delta-191.
46:58The changes
46:59made after the crash
47:01of Delta-191
47:02have saved
47:03countless lives.
47:04Captain Connors
47:05and First Officer Price
47:06lost their fight
47:08against a microburst,
47:09but their struggle
47:10did manage
47:11to expose
47:12and disarm
47:13an invisible killer.
47:15Delta-191os
47:16.
47:16.
47:17.
47:31Transcription by CastingWords