U.S. Hearings Seek Cause of Tragedy at Dallas Airport : Crash Survivors Describe Ordeal Aboard Jet at Inquiry

A surviving passenger, himself a former combat pilot, burst into tears Tuesday as he described a “wall of fire” that swept through the crumpled fuselage of an L-1011 jetliner that crashed here Aug. 2, killing 136 of the 161 aboard.

“It was a solid sheet of flame, coming up the aisle toward me,” Paul Coke said. “I threw myself to the right as the flame got there . . . . The last thing I remember was the heat . . . . “

Coke, a graying, World War II pilot from Sun City, Ariz., was among those who testified here during the first day of a National Transportation Safety Board hearing into the cause of the Delta Air Lines crash.

Told of Storm Conditions

Investigators at Tuesday’s sessions also heard testimony about the turbulent weather that enveloped the jumbo jet as it attempted to land, and about the apparent failure of National Weather Service information about the rapidly worsening thunderstorm conditions to be relayed to the cockpit crew of Flight 191.

Rudy Kapustin, who has been heading the NTSB investigation of the crash, noted that the meteorologist assigned to Dallas-Fort Worth Air Traffic Control was on a dinner break--his weather radar unmonitored--in the 40 minutes that preceded the crash.

Kapustin added that the weather radar specialist on duty at the Stephenville weather center about 70 miles from the airport was also on a dinner break just before the crash.

But both weathermen testified that although they were aware of the thunderstorm activity in the area before they took their breaks, neither considered the situation serious.

Latest Reports Not Used

Although reports of thunderstorms near the approach to the runway were relayed to the air traffic control tower at the airport 10 minutes before the crash, Kapustin said these last-minute reports were not used to update the recorded weather message broadcast to pilots on final approach.

Testimony about the weather--and the way it was and was not reported--is expected to continue throughout the week with Dallas-Fort Worth air traffic control personnel taking the stand on Friday to explain the decision not to relay the latest data to the pilot of Flight 191.

Thunderstorms like those here on Aug. 2 are known to cause wind shear, a condition in which strong down drafts are created that can plunge a landing aircraft into the ground.

Jim Burnett, the NTSB chairman who is also chairing the hearings here, testified before a congressional committee in Washington earlier this month that data from the L-1011’s flight recorder indicated that the jumbo jetliner “encountered significant wind shear as it descended below 600 feet” while approaching the runway.

Last Moments Recounted

Coke, who suffered burns in the crash and still walks with a cane, described a passenger’s view of the last moments of Flight 191, which originated in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and had been scheduled to continue to Los Angeles International Airport after a stopover in Dallas.

Coke’s voice was strong as he took the stand. He recounted a career as a military pilot that included bombing runs over Germany in a B-17, then calmly described the first leg of Flight 191 as “a good one.”

It was turbulent as the jetliner approached Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, he said, but as in all thunderstorms, “that was to be expected . . . . “ However, the former pilot said that as he looked out a window, his confidence began to wane. “The sky was so black that it was almost purple to the left, and to the right it was kind of a yellowish tinge,” he said. “It was kind of a scary sky . . . .

“As we were about to touch down, there was a bump . . . then another bump. We hit something hard, very rigid . . . . I looked to the left and the wing was engulfed in flame . . . . “

His voice cracking, tears welling in his eyes, Coke paused for a moment, then continued.

Left Side in Flames

“Almost immediately, the whole left of the plane was in flames,” he said quietly. “There was a wall of fire, coming up the airplane.”

Another survivor, flight attendant Vicki Chavis told the five-member panel that as the plane hit, she heard “an explosion that went on and on and on.”

“My body kept flailing in all directions,” she recalled. “There was debris in the air . . . smoke . . . . I was disoriented, dizzy . . . suddenly the whole left side of the airplane was gone . . . . I blacked out, and when I woke up, I was dangling there from my seat.”