Delta Air Lines flight 1141

Delta Air Lines flight 1141
An aircraft of the same construction from Delta Air Lines
Accident summary
Accident type	Stall at take-off due to not activated buoyancy aids
place	Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport , Dallas , Texas , United States
date	August 31, 1988
Fatalities	14th
Survivors	94
Injured	76
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 727-200
operator	Delta Air Lines
Mark	N473DA
Departure airport	Jackson Municipal Airport , Jackson , Mississippi , United States
Stopover	Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport , Dallas , Texas , United States
Destination airport	Salt Lake City International Airport , Salt Lake City , Utah , United States
Passengers	101
crew	7th
Lists of aviation accidents

On August 31, 1988, a Boeing 727-200 crashed while taking off from Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport on Delta Air Lines flight 1141 (flight number also DL 1141 , callsign Delta 1141 ) . in the aircraft of Delta Air Lines , which on the Jackson Municipal Airport was started, there was a stall at the start for onward flight to Salt Lake City International Airport . It crashed behind the end of the runway. After the crash, a fire broke out in which 14 people were killed and 76 injured, 26 of them seriously.

plane

The machine was a Boeing 727-200 Advanced with the air vehicle registration N473DA and serial number 20750th It was the 992nd-made Boeing 727. The aircraft was on the Boeing factory site in Renton, Washington assembled and new in November 1973 Delta Air Lines delivered. It was a three - engine, narrow -body aircraft propelled by three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 engines.

crew

The crew of the machine included the 48-year-old Captain Larry Davis, the 37-year-old First Officer Wilson Kirkland, the 31-year-old flight engineer Steven Judd and four flight attendants.

the accident

Flight 1141 took off on schedule from Jackson Municipal Airport in Jackson , Mississippi . The first part of the flight was uneventful; the plane arrived at Dallas / Fort Worth International Airport at 7:38 a.m. local time . There were 101 passengers on board for the onward flight to Salt Lake City .

At 8:30 a.m., the machine left the gate and joined the queue behind others. While the pilots were amused and chatted with a flight attendant about what would be heard on the cockpit voice recorder if the aircraft were to crash, the crew received clearance to take off. The pilots then worked through the checklist in a hurry and began the take-off. The machine began to tumble violently shortly after take-off, barely gained any altitude, collided with the lights and fell to the ground, breaking off the wings and a fire. The passengers initially all survived the crash. When the fire started, 94 of the 108 occupants were able to escape from the machine, the remaining 14 perished in the fire.

Victim

The cockpit crew survived the accident. Two of the four flight attendants and 12 of the 101 passengers were killed in the fire that broke out after the plane crashed. It was found that all but one person died of smoke inhalation. The 14th victim was a man who had re-entered the plane after escaping outside to save his wife and other victims who were still on the plane. The man suffered severe burns from which he died 11 days after the accident.

Captain Davis was trapped between his seat and the instrument panel in the impact. He had to be cut free by the rescue workers and 45 minutes after the accident he was the last survivor to be rescued from the machine. Davis sustained injuries to the chest and spine that required surgery. The first officer Kirkland suffered bruises and a concussion . Two flight attendants and 22 passengers were also seriously injured. Flight engineer Judd and 49 passengers suffered minor injuries. Of the passengers, 18 were uninjured. Numerous passengers reported that the impact forces in the crash were low and mainly affected the rear of the machine.

Aircraft accident investigation

The aircraft accident investigation revealed that the aircraft had not received sufficient lift when it took off because the crew had forgotten to check the configuration of the buoyancy aids while hastily going through the checklist . Although the flaps were mentioned, the investigators came to the conclusion that the copilot's replies had been given so quickly that it was impossible for him to actually take a look at the lever that activated the flaps. This error was preceded by the crew's lack of discipline before take-off, as the pilots had had private conversations with a flight attendant instead of preparing the aircraft for take-off. As in the accident on Northwest Airlines Flight 255 , on which a Douglas DC-9 had crashed the year before, the warning signal on Flight 1141, which was supposed to alert the crew to their mistake, failed during take-off.

See also

• Northwest Airlines Flight 255
• Lufthansa flight 540
• Mandala Airlines Flight 91
• British European Airways Flight 548
• LAPA flight 3142
• Spanair flight 5022

Web links

• Aircraft accident report on aviation-accidents.net

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c d e f} Aircraft Accident Report: Delta Air Lines, Inc .; Boeing 727-232, N473DA; Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Texas; August 31, 1988 , National Transportation Safety Board , September 26, 1989, accessed February 26, 2019.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Accident Report B-727-200 N473DA , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on February 26, 2019.

Coordinates: 32 ° 52 ′ 13 "  N , 97 ° 3 ′ 4"  W.