A plane carrying 108 people crashed after take-off in an accident that claimed the lives of 14 people and injured 76 others.
The pilot’s final words, heard later through the cockpit recording, were truly harrowing.
Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 was set to fly from Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Texas to Salt Lake City International Airport in Utah on August 31 ,1988. Seconds after take-off, the aircraft began to roll and the right wing dropped, before the tail, and later wingtip, hit the runway.
The ring wing hit the ILS localizer antenna and was set alight. After staying in the air for another 120m, the plane hit the ground and slid sideways before it was overtaken by flames. In total, it was airborne for 22 seconds.
In the cockpit recording, transcribed in the National Transportation Safety Board’s aircraft accident report, the conversation between the captain and co-pilot can be heard. Just before the crash, a callout is heard from the co-pilot who said “engine failure”.
The crew member then said “We got an engine failure”, before adding: “We’re not gonna make it.” The pilot, however, simply replies with “full power” – his last words before the plane crashed.
The tape transcription then notes the “sound of first impact”, then the second, third, and fourth impact, with just a “sound of scream” in between.
Witnesses noted as the airplane went down the runway, the wings could be seen rocking from side to side and the aircraft “appeared to be out of control”. They then lost sight of the airplane after it hit the ground and “disappeared into a cloud of dust”.
Captain Larry Lon Davis was deemed a highly experienced pilot, having logged about 17,000 flying hours, many of which had been in the same aircraft.
All but one of the deaths were found to be due to smoke inhalation. One passenger managed to escape the aircraft, but later tried to go back to help his wife and others on board. As a result, he suffered severe burns and died 11 days later from his injuries.
The probable cause of the crash was due, in part, to the “Captain and First Officer’s inadequate cockpit discipline which resulted in the flightcrew’s attempt to takeoff without the wing flaps and slats properly configured”, the National Transportation Safety Board found. Before the flight, the two pilots were recorded discussing birds.
The report also said that the “failure of the takeoff configuration warning system to alert the crew the airplane was not properly configured for the takeoff”.
Delta’s “slow implementation of necessary modifications to its operating procedures, manuals, checklists, training, and crew checking programs” also contributed to the accident, as did “the lack of sufficiently aggressive action by the FAA to have known deficiencies corrected by Delta and the lack of sufficient accountability within the FAA’s air carrier inspection process”.