The airplane used on that day was a Lockheed L-1011, a staple on Delta's fleet. The flight was piloted by Captain Edward Conners, First Officer Rudolph Price and Second Officer Nick Nassick.
As the plane went over Louisiana, a thunderstorm formed. The plane began its descent procedures over Louisiana, heading over the planned descent route. Captain Conners then recognized the forming thunderstorm and decided to change the plane's heading to give passengers a smoother ride.
At Dallas, weather was also poor and an updraft formed, as well as a powerful thunderstorm. Because the storm appeared in the shape of white clouds, it was almost impossible to detect for Flight 191's crew.
At about 1500 feet, First Officer Price reported seeing lightning in one of the clouds ahead of them.
At 800 feet before landing, the plane started picking up speed, without the crew's intervention. Although it was supposed to land at 149 knots, it began to accelerate to 173 knots. Captain Price tried to stabilize the plane's speed, but Captain Conners had recognized the plane's speed movement was a sign of wind shear, and he warned Price to watch the speed. Suddenly, the plane dropped from 173 knots to 133 knots, and First Officer Price pushed on the throttles, giving the plane a temporary lift in speed. However, more trouble loomed when the plane suddenly dropped to 119 knots, and Captain Conners said Hang on to the son of a bitch!
As the First Officer tried to avoid a stall by pushing the nose down, the plane's vertical speed went up to 1,700 feet per minute, and the crew expressed some expletives.
Delta Flight 191 landed on a field, then bounced off the air to slam a car with its landing gear, killing the driver. Seconds later, it slammed onto the ground just in front of the runway at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and exploded.
Later on, the crash of Delta Flight 191 was the subject of a television movie.
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