Flight Path of Delta 191

Delta 191

Jacob Rea

ATC Communication:

ATC Communication Cont. (Not heard by Delta 191)

-Just under an hour before the accident, Fort Worth ARTCC gave Delta 191 vectors that put the flight on a heading toward an area of existing weather. Captain Connors refused the controller's instruction and requested an alternate route. The controller advised Connors that he route he was requesting had much more traffic and he would need to enter a hold for 30 minutes in order to take the alternate flight path. Connors accepted this instruction.

-About a half hour later after Delta 191 was back on its way inbound to DFW, Connors once again requested an alternate route. His ATC prescribed flight path would have taken him through a small gap between two existing storm cells. Connors stated that "...it's a pretty good size cell and I'd rather not go through it, I'd rather go around it one way or the other."

-In the 10 minutes prior to the crash a controller (Feeder East Controller?) made three separate weather advisories to all aircraft about a small thunder storm and rain off the approach end of the airport, however, Delta 191 only heard the first before they switched to another frequency (DFW Tower).

-Roughly 3 minutes before the crash occurred, a PIREP was made by a Southwest flight that was 1 1/2 miles off of the approach end of the runway at an altitude between 6,300 and 6,900 feet. The pilot told ATC that the rain he was in at that moment was so intense that he was having trouble hearing both ATC and fellow crew members. At this time Delta 191 was about 8 miles from the approach end of the runway at 2,800 feet, flying directly into the area under where that PIREP was reported.

-Just seconds before where we picked up in the video previously shown, there was a conversation between a Tower Cab controller and the Tracon Supervisor about the weather in the area. The Tower Cab controller stated that "We've been so busy with these SWAPS and hadn't paid any attention, but that is heavy, heavy rain off the approach end of both runways." The Tracon Supervisor both acknowledged and confirmed this statement.

FAA Liability for the Accident

-In the FAA Air Traffic Control Manual (FAA Order 7110.65), it is stated that the first priority of an air traffic controller is the separation of aircraft. The provision of weather information is secondary to the primary duty of separation. The air traffic controller must decide, in his judgment, weather other duties permit the performance of these services.

-According to the Judge that oversaw the legal case following the accident (of course all accidents involve subsequent legal cases) "The DFW Tower personnel breached a duty in failing to provide incoming aircraft of the existence of extreme and hazardous weather north of the airport. Although the weather was observable by the incoming flights, the controllers did not know this to be a fact, and were not justified in assuming it. The controllers should have sought confirmation of the incoming crews' awareness of the hazardous weather."

Questions?

-Whenever ATC issues a vector, a direction, or a clearance to a pilot, which in the pilot's judgment would jeopardize the safety of the aircraft and its occupants, that pilot has an absolute duty to reject the same, to so inform ATC, and to request a new direction. Furthermore, pilots have the responsibility to decide and are the final authority as to which runway will be used for landing.

-All that being said, the Judge found that the United States (the FAA's Air Traffic Controllers) were not liable for the accident. "Any failure of the air traffic controllers to warn a pilot of the presence of a storm in his path cannot be regarded as a continuing proximate cause after the pilot himself discovered it's presence, appreciated the danger, and decided to fly ahead into it."

Works Cited:

• Connors, et al. v. United States of America. CA4-87-060-K, CA4-87-139-K (United States District Court, N.D. Texas, Fort Worth Division, September 1, 1989).
• Air Crash Investigation. Slammed to the Ground. National Geographic.

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