American Airlines Flight 1420 burst into flames after Tuesday's crash  ALSO: Pilot of Flight 1420 had up-to-date weather data, official says INTERACTIVE Scenes from the crash aftermath Most recent U.S. crashes  MESSAGE BOARD: Air Safety RELATED VIDEOS CNN's Marsha Walton explores how weather may cause planes to crash Windows Media 28K 80K CNN has created an animation illustrating how the plane may have crashed. It shows the plane sliding down the runway. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K 623 K / 6 sec. QuickTime movie Please enable Javascript

June 3, 1999
Web posted at: 1:00 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT)

In this story: Crew had timely weather information Other crashes blamed on weather RELATED STORIES, SITES

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (CNN) -- Investigators searching for the cause of Tuesday's deadly crash of American Airlines Flight 1420 are trying to determine if weather was a factor.

The storm unleashed hail, lightning and wind gusts to 75 mph in the area in the minutes before the MD-80 landed just before midnight, skidded off the runway and burst into flames.

A gust of 87 mph was recorded at Little Rock National Airport shortly after the crash that killed nine people.

Pilots and scientists have tried for years to better understand the weather phenomena of downbursts, windshear and microbursts, which can be disastrous for planes in flight.

"The airplane basically needs winds flowing under and over the wing for it to fly," said National Weather Service meteorologist Barry Gooden. "When that wind or air changes direction, or doesn't flow in that direction, then it causes problems."

"With downbursts, they can be as damaging or as destructive as tornadoes," Gooden said.

A downburst is an area of strong, downward winds -- usually covering about one-half mile to six miles (one-10 kilometers) -- that is produced by a downdraft, or downward current of air.

Windshear is the sudden, rapid change in wind velocity or direction that is often found in thunderstorms.

The most dangerous form of windshear is the microburst, a vertical column of air rapidly descending toward the ground, where it spreads out horizontally.

Investigators examine the wreckage of Flight 1420

Some passengers who escaped the Flight 1420 crash said the ferocity of the thunderstorm as they ran from the plane was nearly as frightening as the accident.

"It was an absolute nightmare," said survivor Randy Hill, who slid to safety through a crack in the fuselage. "It was hailing ... the wind was probably blowing 60, 80 miles an hour. The lightning was so close it actually made the hair stand up on my arms."

Flight recorders show the crew had received up-to-date weather information when the pilot decided to land in the storm, a federal official said Thursday.

"We do know now from listening to the tapes of the radio transmissions between the tower and the flight crew that they were being given timely information about the rather dynamic weather conditions that were evolving there," National Transportation Safety Board member George W. Black Jr. told CNN.

Investigators are waiting to get authorization from doctors to talk to the injured co-pilot to see what he can tell them about the final moments of the flight. The pilot was killed.

Experts say pilots need more advanced weather-warning systems

Severe weather has contributed to other airline accidents.

Windshear was blamed for the crash of a Delta Airlines L-1011 as it tried to land at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in 1985, killing 137 people. It also was blamed for the deadly crash of a USAir jet in North Carolina in 1993.

Doppler radar and ground sensors can help meteorologists and air traffic controllers detect changes in wind speed and direction.

The Air Line Pilots Association said many aircraft are equipped with devices that let pilots know when they've passed through windshear, but technology that would give pilots more advanced warning is still in the works.

Correspondent Marsha Walton contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.