The date was August. 2, 1985....
I was living in Dallas,Texas. The day was a typical Texas summer day, hot and humid.
During the previous weeks I had experienced some trouble walking, so I had a late afternoon appointment with an orthopedic surgeon at a hospital near the DFW airport.
During the appointment I learned that I may need spinal surgery due to a herniated disk, but more tests were necessary. This was unusual for this 20 year old (at the time) and I was somewhat startled by it.
I left the hospital, somewhat in a daze.
It was about 4:45 PM- as I leave the hospital it was like being hit by a tidal wave of humidity and heat.
Cottonball type clouds pock mark the sky above, usually the sign of a chance of thunderstorms- just typical Texas weather.
Planes fly in the distance to land at DFW.
About 6 PM the sun disappears as it begins to set lower in the orange hazy western sky.
It is blocked out by a monumental thunderhead that is sitting above the airport. The rain underneath is so thick it looks solid black from where I was at- in the Garland area of Dallas.
The storm seems to die as quickly as it formed.
I never could have realized the horror of what I was witnessing.
About 11 PM I turn on the radio on to Dallas station KRLD and hear the words "the Dallas County Medical Examiner confirms 123 dead in the crash of Delta Airlines Flight 191 at the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport."
I was speechless- I was so damn close to it not even 90 minutes before it happened. I am so glad I did not witness it. The "solid black" I referred to was actually the smoke.
The thunderstorm brought the plane down and brought attention to "wind shears."
Ultimately, the death toll rose to 137, and the DFW area came together in a miraculous way, lines of people donating blood, etc.
There were some bastards who tried to take advantage of it though. As it came down the L-1011 skidded across a freeway and broke apart. Some morbid sons of bitches nearby looted the dead bodies of passengers who were dumped out of the plane as it broke apart.
More sensible people near by executed some Texas Justice on these turdballs and attacked them and made citizen's arrests.
Although that was a dark day in the city of Dallas, the good in people made it easier to deal with.
Two weeks later, when I left Dallas to come home, I flew over the remaining wreckage and saw the scars left in the ground.
As my plane leveled off, I reached into the pocket in front of me and pulled out a news magazine to read.
On the cover it said "Death In Dallas."
*Rolls Eyes*