Today is the 33rd anniversary of the the Delta Air Lines Flight 191 airplane crash at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW). It occurred around 6:05 P.M. CDT on August 2, 1985. The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) Accident Board determined that the cause of the incident was wind-shear associated with an intense thunderstorm downdraft that occurred at the north end of the airport along runway 17 Left (17L). Today we know this intense, localized downburst as a microburst, a weather phenomenon that was not well understood at the time of the accident. The events on August 2, 1985, likely helped to drive the need to reform aviation weather safety. A full writeup on this event can be found at:
https://www.weather.gov/fwd/delta191
For me this in one of these events that I remember where I was when it happened. I was 10 years old and playing in my backyard about 10 miles away from the crash site. I remember seeing the storm in the distance hearing the sound of the plane crashing (although it could have been thunder). I can't help put wonder if this played a role in my fascination with severe weather.