​​​On August 31, 1988, Delta Air Lines, Inc., flight 1141, crashed shortly after lifting off from runway 18L at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Texas.  The airplane, a Boeing 727-232, was a regularly scheduled passenger flight and was en route to Salt Lake City, Utah, with 101 passengers and 7 crewmembers.

The flightcrew reported that the takeoff roll appeared to be normal in all respects, with no warning lights, audible warnings, or unusual engine instrument conditions. The captain stated that the rotation was initially normal, but as the main gear wheels left the ground he heard "two explosions." He said it felt as though the airplane was experiencing "reverse thrust." The captain stated that the airplane began to "roll violently.''

The airplane struck the instrument landing system (ILS) localizer antenna array approximately 1,000 feet beyond the end of runway 18L, and came to rest about 3,200 feet beyond the departure end of the runway. The flight was airborne approximately 22 seconds from liftoff to the first ground near the ILS localizer antenna. The airplane was destroyed by impact forces and the postcrash fire.

Of the persons on board 12 passengers and 2 crewmembers were killed, 21 passengers and 5 crewmembers were seriously injured, and 68 passengers sustained minor or no injuries. 

We determined that the probably cause of this accudent to be (1) the Captain and First Officer's inadequate cockpit disciplibe which resulted in the flightcrew's attempt to takeoff without the wing flaps and slats properly configured; and (2) the failure of the takeoff configuration warning system to alert the crew that the airplane was not properly configured for the takeoff.

Contributing to the accident was Delta's slow implementation of necessary modifications to its operating procedures, manuals, checklists, training and crew checking programs which was necessitated by significant changes the the airline following rapid growth and merger.  

Also contributing to the accident was lack of sufficiently agressive action by the FAA tohave known deficiencies corrected by Delta and the lack of sufficient accountability within the FAA's air carrier inspection process.