40th Commemoration of the Crash of Delta 191
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| Courtesy: Ft. Worth Star-Telegram Used with permission |
The story begins with Dr. Ted Fujita examining the crashes of Ozark Flight 809 in St. Louis (1973) and Eastern Flight 66 at JFK in New York (1975). Ted published a paper in the journal Monthly Weather Review (February, 1977) hypothesizing the existence of a "downburst" -- a previously undiscovered feature of thunderstorms -- that could cause extreme wind shear which in turn would cause planes to crash.
In the summer of 1978, Ted ran Project NIMROD and found a downburst via radar and measured its characteristics. A couple of weeks later, I was storm chasing with my friend meteorologist Steve Amburn and I was able to take a series of seven photos that -- for the first time -- showed what a downburst looked like and its life-cycle. One of the photos is below.
A time-lapse video of a downburst, showing the tell-tale curl at lower left, is here.
In spite of this evidence, from 1977 to 1985, the "consensus" was that Ted was wrong. During that same period, there were an incredible nine crashes and incidents involving commercial airliners in the U.S., two crashes in foreign nations, and a very close call involving Air Force One with President Reagan aboard in 1983!
Delta 191 became one of the most important events in the history of aviation safety. Delta called in Dr. Fujita and the data collected and evaluated proved his hypothesis a downburst was responsible for that crash. A computer-generated animation, using Fujita's analysis, is here.
Delta 191 became one of the most important events in the history of aviation safety. Delta called in Dr. Fujita and the data collected and evaluated proved his hypothesis a downburst was responsible for that crash. A computer-generated animation, using Fujita's analysis, is here.
Once downbursts were finally accepted, effective measures could be taken to stop the crashes. Only one involving a U.S. airline has occurred since, in 1994.
Downbursts are just as dangerous as ever. There was a downburst-related crash in Mexico in 2018. It is a combination of training and technology that has allowed us to conquer them in the United States. I devote three chapters of Warnings to this scientific success story. I covered this topic on this blog on past anniversaries:
Downbursts are just as dangerous as ever. There was a downburst-related crash in Mexico in 2018. It is a combination of training and technology that has allowed us to conquer them in the United States. I devote three chapters of Warnings to this scientific success story. I covered this topic on this blog on past anniversaries:
It is a terrible thing to lose a friend or family member in an airline crash. My hope for survivors and relatives of those killed or injured find some small measure of solace in the fact that this crash led to the elimination of future crashes and the saving of more than one thousand lives.
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