A Terrible Ride: The Shocking Truth Behind Delta Flight 191

During my family's 1985 vacation, one event stayed with me for a lifetime. We were flying to Denver with a connection in Dallas, and what transpired that day would be the most shocking moment of my journey.

The Incident

It was August 1985, and we were en route for a long family vacation. My mother had recently taken the bar exam in July and was starting a new job after Labor Day. We decided on a big trip out west, flying to Denver with a stopover in Dallas. At the time, I was 14, and we boarded the plane without any concerns. As we approached Dallas, I noticed a towering thunderstorm brewing. While I found it fascinating from an aerial perspective, it didn't bode well for our journey.

Upon landing, as we were taxiing towards the runway, a sudden fireball erupted off to one side. The pilot paused our taxi and informed us that we would wait while they determined the cause. As the flames receded into a thick cloud of dark smoke, we were left in the dark about what actually happened. Shortly after, a violent thunderstorm lashed the area with high winds and sideways rain, which quickly subsided. The pilot returned to announce that we'd been involved in an accident. Our flight to Denver was delayed for a couple of hours, and the passengers applauded when the flight to Denver touched down, a remarkable gesture of solidarity and relief.

Back at the hotel, we learned that 130 passengers had tragically lost their lives in the Dallas accident. The incident was particularly heartbreaking, especially considering the personal connections of some of the victims. The absence of internet back then meant that the news didn't spread widely until reaching the local papers, and even then, late that night, it sank in that a significant tragedy had occurred.

The Crash and Its Impact

Delta Flight 191, the aircraft involved in the accident, had crashed due to wind shear. This weather phenomenon caused the plane to lose lift during landing, resulting in a merciless impact with the ground. It's worth noting that wind shear is a critical factor in aviation safety, and modern detection systems have been implemented to prevent such incidents from occurring.

This event was compounded by the fact that 1985 was a particularly deadly year for aviation. During that period, numerous major plane crashes occurred, most notably the Japan Airlines crash in 1985, which resulted in over 500 fatalities, making it one of the deadliest single-plane crashes in history. In Britain, another plane crash also claimed the lives of several dozen. The frequency of such incidents in the 1980s and 1990s made the general public more attuned to potential aviation dangers.

However, there has not been a high-fatality crash in the United States since the plane crash in November 2001 in New York. Despite the tragic Nature of that event—a plane crash that happened less than three months after the 9/11 attacks—it brought a sense of relief. The implementation of enhanced safety measures post-9/11 helped to prevent such catastrophic events from occurring again in the United States.