WI President Reagan killed by microburst?

On August 1, 1983, according to the National Weather Service, the most intense microburst recorded at an airport was observed at Andrews Air Force Base, with the peak recorded gust above 130 miles per hour (and gusts may have reached above 150 miles per hour). The interesting part, for this board's sake, is that the peak gust was recorded at 2:11, seven minutes after Air Force One landed--on the same runway where the microburst occurred!!!

So, the PoD is: Air Force One encounters the microburst and crashes, killing all aboard, including President Reagan.

Effects, anyone?
 
I didn't know this; it provides for a host of possibilities down the road.

First, this is two years before Delta 191 crashed at Dallas/Ft. Worth due to a microburst. You'll probably see windshear detection at airports and on aircraft a couple of years earlier as a result.

This is also a month before the KAL 007 shoot-down by the Soviets and a few months before Able Archer 83. Hard to predict whether a President Bush circa 1983 would have handled these events differently or whether the Soviets would have reacted differently to the former head of the CIA being President. That is certainly possible, though I wouldn't call it necessarily likely. As for 1984 and 1988, it's possible to have Bush as President for nearly a full decade as he would have served less than half of Reagan's term and thus could run in 1984 and 1988.
 
Mondale (or whomever the Democratic candidate is) will do better against Bush, IMO, but still gets crushed in the general election...
 
This is also a month before the KAL 007 shoot-down by the Soviets and a few months before Able Archer 83. Hard to predict whether a President Bush circa 1983 would have handled these events differently or whether the Soviets would have reacted differently to the former head of the CIA being President. That is certainly possible, though I wouldn't call it necessarily likely. As for 1984 and 1988, it's possible to have Bush as President for nearly a full decade as he would have served less than half of Reagan's term and thus could run in 1984 and 1988.

As paranoid as the Soviet leadership was in that period, might the Soviets have thought that Bush, being a former head of the CIA, had staged some sort of coup to gain power? And to what iend? I think this would have put the Soviet mind set into a massive spin of confusion and angst.
 
The conspiracy theories would be epic. Bush would probably be reelected in 1984 and get credit for the economic recovery, but would have a harder time than Reagan denying involvement in Iran-Contra, assuming it takes place roughly as IOTL.
 
On August 1, 1983, according to the National Weather Service, the most intense microburst recorded at an airport was observed at Andrews Air Force Base, with the peak recorded gust above 130 miles per hour (and gusts may have reached above 150 miles per hour). The interesting part, for this board's sake, is that the peak gust was recorded at 2:11, seven minutes after Air Force One landed--on the same runway where the microburst occurred!!!

So, the PoD is: Air Force One encounters the microburst and crashes, killing all aboard, including President Reagan.

Effects, anyone?
Do we know who was on board? This could devastate the Executive Staff and correspondent corps too
 
Bush would probably be reelected in 1984 and get credit for the economic recovery, but would have a harder time than Reagan denying involvement in Iran-Contra, assuming it takes place roughly as IOTL.
If this happened and Bush had to resign would Bob Dole, or whoever else might be his VP, how would they handle the first Gulf War?
 
George Bush likely becomes the second longest serving President after FDR, serving from 1983-1993.
 
Top