- Delta Air Lines Flight 1141
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Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 Accident summary Date August 31, 1988 Type Pilot error (failure to set flaps and slats correctly) and takeoff warning horn failure Site Dallas-Fort Worth Int'l Airport
Euless, Tarrant County, TexasPassengers 101 Crew 7 Injuries 76 (26 serious) [1] Fatalities 14 Survivors 94 Aircraft type Boeing 727 Operator Delta Air Lines Tail number N473DA Flight origin Dallas-Fort Worth Int'l Airport Destination Salt Lake City Int'l Airport Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 was a routine domestic passenger flight between Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport, Salt Lake City, Utah. On August 31, 1988, the flight, operated by a Boeing 727, crashed upon takeoff from Dallas-Fort Worth, killing 14 of the 108 passengers and crew on board, and injuring 76 others.
Two cabin crew members of four and twelve of the 101 passengers on board lost their lives. One passenger, who sat in 29C and had exited the aircraft through the aft break in the left side of the fuselage, [1]:37 attempted to re-enter the aircraft, received burn wounds, and died 11 days later. [1]:11
Two flight crew members, two cabin crew members, and 22 passengers were seriously injured. One flight crew member and 49 passengers received minor injuries. 18 passengers received no injuries. [1]
The flight crew consisted of Captain Larry Davis, 48; First Officer Gary Kirkland, 37; and Flight Engineer Steven Judd, 31.
The cabin crew consisted of four flight attendants: Dixie Dunn, 56, Diana George, 40, Rosilyn Marr, 43, and Mary O'Neill, 57.
Flight Attendants Dixie Dunn and Rosilyn Marr and passengers Millar Browne, 55; Glen Campbell, 54; Jennifer Campbell, 44; Marian Fadal, 65; Barbara Morgan, 29; Patrick Morgan, 28; Tiffany Morgan, 14 months; Jerry Owens, 29; Robert Speer, 25; Philip Vogel, 69; and Thelma Morgan, 67, died in the crash.
The aircraft was a Boeing 727 Advanced, registration number N473DA. It was delivered in 1973, the 992nd Boeing 727 to be delivered.
Seating chart for Flight 1141 including occupant survival and, if known, egress route. Click to enlarge and see legend.
Two causes were primarily blamed for the accident: The crew had not ensured that the wing's flaps and slats were properly positioned for take-off, and the plane's takeoff warning horn, designed to alert the crew if the engines are throttled to take-off power without the flaps and slats being correctly set, was not operating correctly. The airplane did not gain sufficient speed to climb in a flaps-and-slats-retracted condition, causing a loss of lift. The continued high angle of attack combined with a lack of lift resulted in a configuration where disturbed air flowing over the wings disrupted the air flow into the engines causing compressor stall. Subsequent collision with equipment pertaining to the ILS ( instrument landing system) at the departure end of the runway lead to the breakup of the aircraft.FAA regulations require a sterile cockpit before takeoff, which means there is to be no conversation unrelated to the aircraft and pending flight. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) tapes recorded extensive talk about the CVR itself and how on Continental Airlines Flight 1713 crew discussions were recorded about the dating habits of the flight attendants. Media broadcast of the CVR tapes, which demonstrated why the crew mistakenly mispositioned the flaps, provoked such an outcry by pilots that subsequent releases of CVR data have been restricted by law and carefully vetted by the NTSB. [2]
See also
Similar accidents (crash shortly after takeoff due to misconfiguration of flaps/slats, failure of the improper takeoff configuration warning horn):
- Mandala Airlines Flight 091
- Spanair Flight 5022
- Northwest Airlines Flight 255
- Lufthansa Flight 540
- LAPA Flight 3142
References
- ^ a b c d Aircraft Accident Report: Delta Air Lines, Inc.; Boeing 727-232, N473DA; Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Texas; August 31, 1988. United States National Transportation Safety Board. 1989. AAR-89/04. http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR89-04.pdf
- ^ "NTSB Aviation Image Recording Public Hearing July 27–28, 2004". NTSB. http://www.ntsb.gov/events/2004/av_img_rec/julius_statement_record.pdf. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
External links
- NTSB report
- Air Disaster page on Flight 1141
- Cockpit Voice Recording from 1141
- The crash of Flight 1141/Crash resurrects memories of 1985
Coordinates: 32°52′13″N 97°03′04″W / 32.87028°N 97.05111°W
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Jul 03 Iran Air Flight 655
Jul 13 British Int'l Helicopters Sikorsky crash
Aug 17 Zia-ul-Haq
Aug 28 Ramstein airshow disaster
Aug 31 Delta Air Lines Flight 1141
Sep 15 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604Oct 19 Indian Airlines Flight 113
Oct 25 Mexico Learjet 24 crash
Nov 02 LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703
Dec 08 Remscheid A-10 crash
Dec 21 Pan Am Flight 103Incidents resulting in at least 50 deaths shown in italics. Deadliest incident shown in bold smallcaps.Categories:- Accidents and incidents on commercial airliners in the United States
- Aviation accidents and incidents officially attributed to pilot error
- Aviation accidents and incidents in 1988
- Dallas – Fort Worth Metroplex
- Delta Air Lines accidents and incidents
- Disasters in Texas
- Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727
- Tarrant County, Texas
- 1988 in Texas
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