Delta Air Lines Flight 318

The crash of Delta Air Lines Flight 318 was an accident involving a Douglas DC-3 of the American airline Delta Air Lines 13 mi east of Marshall, Texas, United States on May 17, 1953, killing all but one of the 20 people on board.

Accident

Delta Air Lines Flight 318 took off from Dallas Love Field in Dallas, Texas, United States at 1:10 pm on May 17, 1953, on a scheduled flight to Atlanta, Georgia, United States with a stopover at Shreveport Regional Airport in Shreveport, Louisiana, United States carrying 3 crew and 17 passengers. While on route, the pilots were warned by ATC about possible thunderstorms on their flight route. At 2:12 pm, Flight 318 was cleared by the Shreveport Control Tower to make a hard right turn on approach to Runway 13. Flight 318 confirmed the message and requested on update on the weather conditions at Shreveport. The weather was described as having dark scattered clouds at 1000 ft with a ceiling estimate of 4000 ft and overcast at 20000 ft, visibility for 10 mi, and a thunderstorm which contained a light rain shower some 15 mi west of Shreveport. Flight 318's crew acknowledged the message, however the crew never altered the plane's course to avoid the thunderstorm.

Flight 318 entered the storm at an altitude of 2500 ft and was immediately met with lightning, hail, heavy rain, high winds and severe turbulence. A strong downdraft eventually forced the plane to the ground, where it ended up hitting the tree tops at a shallow angle of descent. The plane continued on, cutting through the trees for another 500 ft during which the aircraft struck the ground, skidding for another 370 ft before the aircraft finally came to a stop and partially burned out. When ATC radioed Flight 318 for a position update at 2:16 pm, they received no reply. Further attempts to contact the flight also proved unsuccessful, when at 2:28 pm, ATC was informed that Flight 318 had crashed near Marshall, Texas. All three crew members were killed in the crash alongside 16 of the 17 passengers on board. The sole survivor suffered serious injuries.