On the last scheduled flight of prototype aircraft # 1 in the X-31 program disaster struck for Karl Lang, the pilot, and the X-31 program team. In the early afternoon January 19, 1995 the X-31 experimental test aircraft encountered unusual weather with significant moisture over the Dryden Flight Research Center located at Edwards, CA (Joyce, 2014). In the case of the X-31, the weather was a contributing factor, but not the sole cause of the accident. Typically most chain of events start to build a relatively short time before the accident sequence. This case is not a common accident because the events leading up to the crash started years prior. It includes pilot and engineer error, environmental factors, communication breakdown, and an
