Lockheed L-1011-385-1 N726DA

Summary

On 2 August 1985 at about 23:06 local time, a Lockheed L-1011-385-1 registered N726DA was involved in an accident near Dallas/Ft Worth, Texas, United States. 165 people were on board and 134 died, 15 were seriously injured, 12 had minor injuries. One person on the ground also died. The aircraft was destroyed. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

2 August 1985 at 23:06

Classification

Accident

Location

Dallas/Ft Worth, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

Dallas/Fort Worth Intl (DFW)

Coordinates

Not recorded

Aircraft

Lockheed L-1011-385-1

Registration

N726DA

Category

Airplane

Engines

3

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Ft. Lauderdale → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Destroyed

Weather

IMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA85AA031

134 people died, including 1 on the ground.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The Safety Board's full report on this investigation is provided as Aviation Accident Report number AAR-86/05. To obtain a copy of this report, or to view the executive summary online, please see the Web site at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/publictn.htm PSBL SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS (TSTMS) WERE FORCAST & DRG ARRIVAL, SVRL CELLS WERE DEVELOPING IN THE AREA. DELTA FLT 191 WAS VECTORED ARND A LARGE CELL, THEN WAS SEQUENCED BHND OTHER ACFT & CLRD FOR AN ILS RWY 17L APCH. THE FLT CREW & SVRL PRECEEDING CREWS SAW LIGHTNING IN A CELL NORTH OF THE ARPT, BUT CONTD W/O RPRTG IT. ON THE APCH, FLT 191 ENCOUNTERED A MICROBURST WHILE PASSING UNDER THE CELL. INITIALLY, THE 1ST OFFICER, WHO WAS FLYING THE ACFT, RETARDED THE THROTTLES IN A HEADWIND. THE ACFT THEN ENCOUNTERED APRX 73 KTS OF WINDSHEAR, UP/DWNDFTS, VORTEX FLOW & A TAILWIND. GO-AROUND PWR WAS APPLIED, BUT THE ACFT STRUCK THE GND APRX 6300' NORTH OF RWY 17L, HIT A CAR & 2 WATER TANKS, BROKE APART & BURNED. INV REVEALED THAT BTN 1752 & 1800 CDT, THE TSTM CELL GREW FM VIP LVL 1 TO VIP LVL 4. A CENTER WX SVC UNIT METEOROLOGIST WAS ON DUTY, BUT NOT AT THE RADAR PSN AT THAT TIME & DIDN'T OBSV THE CELL GROWTH. CAPT'S DECISION TO CONT APCH DIDN'T COMPLYWITH DELTA'S WX AVOIDANCE PROC; THERE WAS A LACK OF SPECIFIC GUIDANCE & TRAINING FOR AVOIDING/ESCAPING LOW ALT WNDSHEAR.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.