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At 16:07:57, Flight 759 began its takeoff roll toward the east of the airport, with gusty, variable and rain laden winds
swirling directly at its nose. McCullers and crew held the Boeing on the ground until 158 knots indicated airspeed was reached;
seven knots above the aircraft's V2 takeoff safety speed of 151kt. About three dozen witnesses, several of them qualified
pilots, saw flight 759 lift off about 7,000ft down runway 10 in, to quote one airline pilot, a “normal rotation, lift
off and initial climb segment.” But it reached a height of only 100-150 feet before beginning to descend in a steep
nose up attitude. At approximately 16:09, it clipped trees while veering to the left, struck a powerline, and crashed into
the the middle-class suburb of Kenner, fireballing and destroying six houses, damaging a further five, and killing eight people
on the ground. All 145 on board were killed.
The crash was the second worst accident in the history of American aviation
at the time. The NTSB found that windshear on the runway and environent during the critical liftoff period was responsible,
and lamented the fact that no accurate windshear forecasting technology was available for ground controllers or pilots at
the time.
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