USAir Flight 1016 was a regularly scheduled flight in the southeastern United States, between Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina. On July 2, 1994, the flight encountered heavy thunderstorms and microburst-induced windshear while attempting to land, and crashed into heavy trees and a private residence near the The crash and ensuing fire caused 37 fatalities and seriously injured Flight History of the flight On Saturday, July 2, 1994, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9, registered N954VJ, that was flying as USAir Flight 1016 departed Columbia Metropolitan Airport at 18:15 EDT for the 35-minute flight to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. The crew consisted of Captain Michael Greenlee (38), First Officer James Phillip "Phil" Hayes (41), and three flight attendants. There were 52 passengers (including two infants) on board. The flight was uneventful until the approach to Charlotte, where several severe thunderstorms were in the vicinity of the airport. At 18:38, Flight 1016 was cleared by Charlotte approach control for an instrument landing system (ILS) approach to Runway 18R (now 18C), with Hayes at the controls in heavy rain. The flight switched over to the local tower controller that was handling landings for 18R, and at 18:39, the controller gave the crew clearance to land. Captain Greenlee asked the controller for a weather report from the plane ahead of Flight 1016, a Fokker 100 that had just landed on 18R. The tower told Flight 1016 that the Fokker pilot reported "smooth sailing." In post-crash interviews, passengers and flight attendants told the NTSB that the flight seemed normal until the plane entered the heavy rain on final approach. At 18:40, a tower controller issued a windshear warning to all aircraft, but on a different radio frequency than that used by Flight 1016. About a minute later, as Flight 1016 was on final approach, the captain, realizing that his aircraft was in a serious predicament, attempted to abort the landing by instructing the first officer to "take it around, go to the right." The captain then radioed the control tower and stated "USAir ten sixteen's on the go"; the tower acknowledged the missed approach and cleared Flight 1016 to climb to . The plane struggled to climb in the severe weather conditions, veered to the right and rapidly descended. The flight crew desperately tried to control the airplane as it plummeted toward the ground. It was later determined that the windshear alert system did not alert