On Saturday, July 2, 1994, a horrific accident occurred near the Charlotte Douglas International Airport and it will never be forgotten. USAir Flight 1016, a short flight between Columbia, South Carolina and Charlotte, crashed while attempting to abort its landing.

The flight had taken off and made the journey without incident. However, as it made the final approach to land, there was a last minute decision to pull away and attempt another landing. But that second landing never happened.
Flickr/Ken Lund
The aircraft was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 much like the one shown below. This was no small puddle-jumper or partner airline.
Flickr/Andrew Thomas

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But the plane didn't pull back up, and the landing gears made contact with the ground, first the right side, and then the left side. From there, the plane ripped through a wooded area. It came apart in four major sections. The two sections at the rear of the plane ended up hitting a house.
Wikipedia/NTSB
The two front sections, including the cockpit and the first class passenger cabin, came to rest on a roadway. Thirty-seven passengers died in the crash, 20 others, including the pilots and flight crew members, sustained injuries and survived.
Wikipedia/NTSB
The National Transportation Safety Board's investigation found there was no single reason for the crash. Instead, they listed four contributing factors for the cause of the fatal accident. They included the heavy thunderstorm encountered and the resulting microburst-induced windshear that occurred while attempting to land. Below is a NASA artist rendering of a microburst. This sudden downflow of air contributed to the crash of USAir Flight 1016.
Wikipedia/public domain

This summer marks the 24th year since USAir Flight 1016 crashed near the Charlotte Douglas Airport. Do you remember this horrific accident in North Carolina history?

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