the.com/downdraft
gravity's sucker punch, where falling air becomes the pilot's least favorite plot twist.
means A downward current of air, especially one that pushes a flame, smoke, or an aircraft toward the ground.
from A plain English compound of 'down' and 'draft.' 'Draft' (also spelled 'draught') traces to Old English 'dragan,' to draw or pull — the same root behind 'draw' and 'drag' — and came to mean a current of drawn air, as in a chimney's draught. Tack 'down' onto it and you simply name the direction the air is being pulled: straight at the earth.
- plane killer
- Microbursts down planes faster than radar can warn
- speed
- Thunderstorm downdrafts hit over 100 mph
- chimney trick
- Wrong wind reverses smoke back into your room
- birth
- Born when cold air plummets through warm
- name origin
- Pilots coined the dread term wind shear
for instance
microburst over denver 1988 — concentrated downdraft that caused delta flight 191 to crash, killing 137 people