Like a Wall of Napalm

As Delta Air Lines Flight 191, a wide-bodied Lockheed L-1011 with 160 aboard, approached Dallas/Fort Worth Airport last Friday, the north Texas sky abruptly turned dark gray. Clouds welled up and burst into showers, and lightning bolts zigzagged menacingly. A meteorologist later estimated that a downdraft was rushing through the thunderstorm cell at 80 m.p.h. The huge plane descended, but suddenly plunged belly first to the ground a mile north of Runway 17 at the nation's largest airport (roughly the size of Manhattan). The L-1011 bounced off the turf and came down again a quarter-mile away, grazing one car on busy...