Months after miraculously escaping from the twisted wreckage of a USAir DC-9 in which 37 passengers and crew perished, Captain Michael Greenlee relived the final moments of Flight 1016.
He and first officer James Hayes had routinely prepared for touching down at the international airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, after being told by air traffic controllers that pilots from two previous landings reported 'smooth rides'.
About 90 seconds before the crash - the same time a wind shear alert was issued by the control tower - heavy rain beat down on the cockpit windows. Captain Greenlee, drawing on more than 8,000 hours in the cockpit, decided to abort the landing and go around.
Then disaster struck: A micro burst, a rare weather phenomenon accompanied by severe and sudden winds violently engulfed the aircraft.
As Captain Greenlee tried desperately to regain speed and altitude, the DC-9 was on the brink of stalling and falling out of the sky. A major wind change had sharply reduced its speed and caused it to lose precious altitude. A voice warning system in the cockpit blared: 'TERRAIN! TERRAIN!' as the pilots went for maximum power.
By then it was too late. Flight 1016 tore a swathe through tree-tops before slamming into a house near the airport, killing most of the 57 people on board. The body of a six-year-old boy was the last to be removed from the wreckage.