But the menacing weather conditions and the pilot's decision to land 1420 continue to be suspects, too. The rain's growing intensity as 1420 landed was apparent in video images taken by four airport security cameras. The footage was shown Thursday. In some measure, Adams Field relies on wind meters spaced across the airport. That's four minutes before the crash.
Wind shear is a sharp change in wind direction or speed that can occur during strong thunderstorms.
This was a very chaotic wind field. Questions were raised about how adequately informed pilots are about inclement weather. Several expert witnesses testified that Adams Field's weather equipment worked as designed. However, the airport's control-tower radar is not very sophisticated, Wilken said, and controllers are loathe to give out warnings to pilots. But he said it would be counterproductive to call every time there is a severe thunderstorm.