“Probable Cause”
Content Description
This collection consists of records created by the Research Applications Laboratory. This collection was processed with support from the Center for History of Physics, American Institute of Physics.
Administrative records include various NCAR reports, committee meeting minutes, company retreat and workshop summaries, and review materials.
Aviation industry records include correspondence and reports relating to work with various organizations including ALPA (Airline Pilot Association), AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), and aircraft incident reports and investigations.
Field project records include reports, log books, graphs, data printouts, photographs and correspondence.
In addition, the collection contains conference and congressional hearing materials, grey literature, white papers, research materials, and general correspondence.
Materials also include computer discs, video tapes, and films.
Dates
- Creation: 1960 - 2015
Conditions Governing Access
Not all of the material in this collection is in the public domain. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine copyright and obtain permission to use materials.
All records must be viewed in the Archives. The Archives does not have playback capability for some materials.
Full Extent
From the Collection: 28 Boxes : 25 record cartons, 2 letter-size archival boxes,1 archival film reel box
Language of Materials
From the Series: English
General
Label provided from RAL: "16mm is labelled edit master. Digitized from beta. New Orleans Pan Am 759 crash within 8 minutes of takeoff. Wind shear suspected in 11-22 accidents. In New Orleans wind shear reported throughout the airport. Flight was unaware of the severity. Large turbo jets operating at maximum weight are most susceptible. 3:51 John McCarthy JAWS interview. Doppler radars in a triangle surrounding Stapleton Airport to study wind shear. Explanation of different wind shears. Convective wind shear (microbursts), downdrafts are what we studied. Can be lethal if 1000 feet off the ground. Look for blowing dust, precip trails, trees blowing, heavy rain. Study over the summer expected to see 20 microbursts over 75 were recorded. 85 Knot differential on the runaways. Anemometers set up along the flight path. If the differential exceeds a certain threshold an alert shows up in the control tower. Pilot reports help too. Some techniques to help survive getting caught in a microburst. Pilot Nice. Timely go around or delayed take offs are best. 19:06 video hiccups. Pilot lingo V2 to stick shaker for wind shear. Use intermediate flap setting on landing. Be suspicious if descent is too high or low. Same with speed, it could be wind shear. Be aware of wind shear possibilities."
Repository Details
Part of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Archives Repository