Misjudged Weather Conditions To Blame For Deadly Plane Crash
by KDLT News
November 14, 2012 6:56 PM
Misjudged weather conditions are the reason given for a deadly plane crash last summer in the Black Hills.
An air force crash report says four members of a North Carolina Air National Guard plane fighting western wildfires died last summer when the crew flew into a wind burst that slammed them to the ground. The accident investigation report says the air tanker crashed because the crew made an “inadequate assessment” of conditions and flew into a microburst.
Four of the six crewmembers from a North Carolina Air National Guard unit flying the plane died July first. Two crewmen were injured.
A microburst is a narrow wind gust that rushes downward out of a thunderstorm. A plane flying through it at low altitude can quickly lose the lift that keeps it aloft.
