I was a surgical resident on call that night for Henry Ford Hospital. We heard about the crash and the hospital went into emergency mode but no survivors except for the one girl. I will never forget that night as a third year surgical resident at Henry Ford Hospital
@jeffreyhall3139 - That must have been one long day and night, and I feel sure that it taxed you both physically and emotionally. I'm just a nurse, but there are things that come with being a healthcare worker that you cannot unsee. Physicians sometimes see/hear incidents that are both bizzare and require one to start from the beginning and try to understand the individual they are treating, and I wish patients could understand the verbose and sobering oathes M.D.'s take. It is tremendously stressful. I appreciate your service. Two things that I took to heart from nursing school was 2 comments made by my professors. The DON walked into the class on the very 1st day and wrote on the chalkboard, "Nurses eat their young," they walked out of the classroom. lol Brutal, but I found that frequently to be true. The second was the school consistently imparting that nursing was a job of servitude and those who had that nature already turn out to be such good liasons for the physician. That resonated with me, and it made me even more enthusiastic about choosing that vocation. I can't imagine your stress, especially being a resident at the time this occurred. I highly respect physicians who do things with tenacity and fastidously, but also have an intelligent and especially compassionate bedside manner. Again, I appreciate the post @air crash daily.
I had exactly the same experience as a surgical resident at University of Michigan. The girl who survived wound up in our burn unit. It was amazing how the press was continually trying to get a picture of the girl, by bribery, or whatever. One tried to get in by wearing scrubs and a white coat. Needless to say they upped security dramatically outside the unit.
@@PhillJenningsyou are right. There were no witnesses, and no one was working at the hospital that night. No way someone working there could happen across about a crash on TH-cam that he or she knows very well. 🙄
I will never ever forget that crash. I was living in the Detroit area at that time and flew out of DTW the next day on 8/17/1987 on my way to Air Force Basic Training. The shuttle van taking us to the airport drove along near the crash site. I will never forget that site and smell as we drove by it. So many people on my flight were nervous on our Continental jet. The stewardesses (what they were called back then) generously handed out bottles of liquor to anyone who looked 18 to try and calm their nerves once we were airborne. I was 18 at the time and recall that I was afraid the Air Force would find out and I would get into trouble. RIP to all of those poor souls and blessings to their family and friends.
No. They were no longer known as "stewardesses" in 1987. By the time I was hired in 1979, the vernacular was already "flight attendant". Don't forget that half the workforce are men
@@hitsquad2149 Thank you for your son's service as well. I ended up serving a hybrid of active duty years (13) and Air Reserve years (13). Retired with 26 years of total service. The Air Force provided the best years of my life. Hands down the best experiences in my life. After four Middle East deployments (two to Iraq) I have no regrets. -Dave
Lived in Oxford North of Detroit at the time . Was just a teenager . I still remember the little girl being the only survivor . Every time I hear about it I start to cry .
Wow, thank you, @james1 and Darlene Griffith. So kind and thoughtful, especially after all of this time. I hope you don't mind, but I am going to pass your comments along to their (now adult) children. Thank you so much
This crash occurred when my mom was a teenager growing up in Phoenix. Two young girls that lived on the same street as my mom at the time died on this flight along with their father. Additionally, so many other people from the Valley also passing away on this flight, it was a shock to the entire area, but it’s something my mom always remembers as part of her teenage years, how much this crash affected a whole area without even occurring there.. May all the victims rest in peace!
Condolences for you all. I still cry for the losses. There's one person who said they were on a flight by it who watched. The PTSD and nightmares must be horrible. Can't even imagine it. Continued prayers for you all
I will never forget that night. I was living in Taylor at the time, right on Wick Road, and we saw a huge flash of light against the dark clouds in the direction of the airport. We had no idea what it was until later, when the news announced it. A young guy at my workplace at the time was sitting at the traffic light at Middlebelt near Wick and literally saw the plane coming at him, he floored it through the light and probably saved his own life. He told us at work the next day and was still badly shaken. What a tragedy. Rest in peace to those souls on board, and peace to their families 🙏
My youngest brother flew to Phoenix that day. Another brother was going to drive him to the airport. The other brother had stayed up late, and wondered if could change his flight to this later departure. He said no, “you said you were taking me so get up now “! I wasn’t there, but heard a flight to Phoenix had crashed. Instant real time communications weren’t as they are now. Was so thankful to learn he stuck to his plan.
I still recall the tragic incident. I worked for NWA at the time and a few weeks later I sat on a Delta 727 out of ATL looking outside my window which was forward of the wing, checking to see if the slats were extended before take off. During the taxi to the runway they were still retracted and when I was about to jump up to alert the crew the slats were finally extended but not until they lined up for departure, which was far too late. My guardian angel must have watched over me that day
@@jonnie2bad I have flown hundreds of times and I always recall that flaps were set as soon as the aircraft was enroute to TO Rwy and not when they lined up
Slats are usually extended when lined up for takeoff, not during the taxi to the runway. This is because extending slats too early (during the taxi) could increase the risk of foreign object damage (FOD) to the aircraft’s wings from debris on the taxiway,
Thank you for posting this, even though it is incredibly bone chilling for me. It is the first time I heave heard the actual ATC audio. I was on flight 185, directly behind flight 255 and awaiting takeoff clearance. It is quite eerie to hear ATC's instructions to our pilots to hold in place once the crash of 255 was reported, as well as all of the other communications with ATC on that frequency. Our pilots had just barely stated to "rev up" the engines in preparation for takeoff when they suddenly (from the passenger's perspective) backed down. We sat at the (takeoff) end of the runway for over 2 hours, in the sweltering August heat, before returning the terminal and having no clue what had occurred. We were combined with another flight, one of the few flights to leave DTW that night, and left for Washington DC well after 1 am. I only discovered the initial information of what had occurred when driving from Washington's Dulles airport to downtown Washington, in a rental car, at 3:30 am or so that morning. I am blessed to have been on the flight behind 255, rather than being on the flight that terminated tragically.
@@Digitalgems9000 I feel badly for you. What a sad life you must have to feel the need to publicly, yet incorrectly, refute the 100% accurate recollection of someone you don't know. I hope life's circumstances improve for you.
My brother witnessed that crash. He was driving west on Wick Rd approaching the traffic light at Middlebelt Rd. The plane hit Middlebelt Rd between the railroad bridge and Interstate I-94. He had nightmares for a long time afterward. He was one of the first to arrive on the scene of the crash and he later said he wished he'd never have stopped. All he remembered seeing was burning wreckage and body parts everywhere.
I worked for GM at the time. My Supervisor & two fellow technicians were on that flight. They were on their way to GM's desert proving ground for work Monday. Sad. RIP to all the lost souls.
Very sad, all the holes in the Swiss cheese lined up in that tragedy, Rain,Tstorms,runway changes,delays,fatigue that distracted the crew from completing the pre takeoff checklist,flaps , slats etc. To make it even worse, the circuit breaker for the config warning was pulled because the dc -9 pilots always got annoyed by it and chose to activate it. If they hadn't, they would have gotten an aural warning that the flaps configuration was in error and could have avoided this. So many things to come together unfortunately. About a year later I was on a Us Air 737 - 200 going from Philly to Hartford, we taxied to the numbers, I look out window, i see 0 flaps or slats, I cringed as pilots applied full takeoff power, we went about 100 ft and stopped, flaps and slats then deployed, and we continued the takeoff, never forgot it.
I had a similar situation in 1989 on an Air Canada dc-9 from Toronto to Chicago. When the aircraft lined up on the runway I noticed from my window the flaps were up and suddenly the aircraft started it's takeoff roll with the flaps up and after about 7 seconds during the takeoff I noticed the flaps going down I guess the pilots must have gotten the takeoff config warning buzzer after they pushed the throttles and realized they were taking off without flaps and lowered them during the takeoff roll. I probably wouldn't be here now if the takeoff config warning buzzer was disabled like it was on Northwest 255.
I had a friend on that flight. She was going to Arizona to be with her daughter and start a new life after her bitter divorce from an abusive man. Incomprehensibly sad...
@@DBCooper-r3lI don't understand what your point is? It is a story about her friend who had her new life in front of her, with her daughter, and it was all taken away from her. That's all it's about. Not about whether you think any TH-camrs care or don't care. It's just a very sad story
Sad day. My brother who was a Wayne County Sheriff's deputy helped with the rescue that night. He had some terrible stories. RIP to all that were lost. At least Cecilia was saved!
@@02WIFEI’m pretty sure you mean Kerosene? Hydraulic fluid does have an odor, but compared to the full tanks of jet fuel the plane had…that would WAAY overpower the smell of hydraulic fluid.
My cousin was a Wayne county sheriff, he was on scene with his K9 and then worked the morgue/ hangar for several weeks. He was a good guy, very spiritual and compassionate. His work during this time helped him rise to top management level
I was in the Portuguese Army then, and remember this accident too well. The next morning a fellow soldier came to me and asked "Hey Simões, do you know about that airplane crash?" "Yes" I said, "an MD-82 in the Unites States". "No, a light aircraft like those you fly, here in Portugal. Happened yesterday". I had the terrible feeling that I most probably knew who was on board. This is a small Country, with a small pilot community. That day I was leaving on holydays - yes, even soldiers have holydays, at least in peacetime - and I lost no time calling the Aerodrome. And sure enough, I knew the pilot very well. He flew Boeing 727s and light aircraft, and had flown T-37s, T-38s and Fiat G-91s in the Air Force. He died two days later without regaining conscience, due to a stall at low altitude. Crashed in an Orchard. I saw the wreckage, which didn't burn, and had never seen so much blood before. It had splattered everywhere. The girl who was with him, a Stewardess from the pilot's same Company, was hospitalized for nearly two months, went through several surgeries and in the end suffered a level of disability that forced her to quit the job. I had soloed in that very same Cessna 150 Aerobat one year before.
New subscriber here. I found your channel when this audio/video arrived in my recommendations. I've flown often, but I'm always very nervous when doing so. I've bungee jumped 3 times and have done other things to try to get my fear of heights to go away, but I think it made things a bit worse. It's very sad listening to the pilot of Flight 255 before he crashed. I pray for people sincerely and rather frequently since this world has literally gone "crazy. "A lot of bad things happen to innocent people, but I'm not disparaging the pilots of this flight, because it seems to be a "simple" mistake that, unfortunately, resulted in the fatality of many people, including himself. I hope the little girl that survived was not hampered with crippling anxiety or PTSD after this. Thank you for being diligent and posting your content. I will work on and like all of your content. Sending a sweet goodbye in my heart to those who passed, as well as the 1 survivor.
@@IamKimsational Update. She was 4 at the time of the crash. She is still alive. Her name is Cecelia Cichan. She remember snippets of the crash. But more of the aftermath and her time recovering from burns at UofM burn center. Her aunt and uncle who adopted her kept her out of the media and she chose to stay out of it for decades after. She appears in the movie Sole Survivor made by CNN. She is married and is now 41 years old.
In case no one knows, the aircraft in this image is N312RC (a DC-9-82), the accident airplane. It must have been taken not long before the accident because it has the “Northwest” title with the rest of the aircraft in the Republic Airlines scheme. Republic and Northwest had merged a few months before the 16 August 1987 accident.
The plane was an MD-82 not a dc-9. The MD 80 series was a descendent of the Dc-9 but considered it's own model. Initially they called it a Dc9 80 series but it was renamed Md-80 series known as the mad dog. The MD-80 were longer than any dc-9 and had upgraded engines The Jt8d-200 advanced series which were quieter and more powerful than regular Jt8d found on 727, 737-200, and Dc-9. So technically not a dc-9 but definitely a continuation.
@ I never heard “mad dog” until about a year ago. At least one author (British guy Stephen Barley) called it a DC-9-82. When I was a fueler some called them Super 80s. Thanks for the distinction.
I lost a good friend and his wife on that crash, he was heading home to Phoenix after a function with other Intel Company co-workers. I could not believe it when I was told, just landing in L.A. from Hawaii. We were always told how safe air travel is!
Although never proven, and after speaking with many Mad Dog crews over the years, the aural warning circuit breaker was most likely pulled by the inbound flight crew for configuration. As told to me, by pulling the aural warning cb, they could drive the leading edge slats out on a clean wing to provide more lift which allowed them to descend with a higher vertical speed rate over congested airspace, which made ATC’s job easier. Of course the interruption on taxi out by a flight attendant distracted them and they didn’t complete their before takeoff checklist after she left the cockpit. They didn’t do their circuit breaker check, set the high lift devices for takeoff, or arm the thrust management system. All 3 checklist items contributed to the crash. The sterile cockpit rule came out of this accident which is why you always hear a chime in the cabin as they pass through 10,000 feet. The flight crew is advising the cabin crew that they can now enter the cockpit if needed. On a personal note, I was living in Mesa Az at the time and one of the victims of the crash was a very nice lady who was going to buy a car I restored. Just very sad. This was a clear example of many links in the safety chain being broken. If I recall, there was a child who survived, the rest perished.
Good info - thank you. Also, from the Mesa/Tempe area was a deadheading F/A that was a good friend our ours, coming home to her new husband. Tragic beyond comprehension.
I just came across this video and read your comment. I would like to give you a little better information concerning this airplane and flight. I few this airplane along with its sister ships for Republic/Northwest Airlines. I also flew the other series of DC9’s and together logged thousands of hours in them. We referred to these stretched versions of airplanes as DC-9-82. The “MD” designation came later. It is not always easy to talk about accidents like this, I worked with many of the crew. The Captain of this flight checked me out in the DC-9-82’s. He was very professional and like others, he was human and subject to errors we all can make. It is not known if the CB was overlooked or popped/pulled sometime after the push back. We had a procedure that was encouraged by Northwest to shut down an engine on taxi out and after landing to save fuel. When I flew as Captain, I seldom used it because it would cause problems when turning in the direction of the operating engine. It would cause the nose wheel to skid in this turn instead of turning. The biggest culprit was that you had to use higher power in the operating engine to move after a stop or trying to accelerate when needed. This higher power setting would cause a beeping sound as a warning. A switch was activated as the throttle was advanced warning of a configuration problem, the airplane not in takeoff configuration. This was a nuance that would cause some pilots to pull the CB to silence the horn. Therefore if not reset at the gate, caught by the outgoing crew, or pulled on taxi out and forgotten, would compromise important safety warnings. Pulling the CB to silence the horn was not an approved procedure. Though not related, I would like to address one other item you brought up, that about using slats to help in descent. Your understanding of this is incorrect. The slats had a high maximum operating speed and could be used with speed brakes if extra descent rate was need. It was very seldom needed as the speed brakes were very effective. This was an approved procedure and you didn’t have to pull CB’s to do it. You did have to place the hydraulic pumps to “high”. Other than take off and landing, the pumps would be in a low setting. I hope this gives you a better understanding.
I just repeated what I was told in conversations with MD 80 crews. Maybe they were mistaken. I understand the single engine scenario as I had the same thing happen to me when taxi training technicians on the 757. We pushed off the gate at LaGuardia, got the left engine going and went to start the right engine and they told us to pull back into the gate with a left turn into the running left engine, and they wouldn’t allow me to start the right engine. I pulled both aural warning breakers and created a log entry stating so. I drove it home to the guys I was training to always document the pulling of aural warning breakers. But we’re maintenance and live by the logbook. Flight crews not so much after the motors are turning. I don’t know if the DC-9/MD 80’s had a sealed and gapped position like the 757. On the 57, if you go to the gapped position, which is used for landing and autoslat for engine out at takeoff, the aural warning system will sound if you run them out to gapped from a clean wing inflight, along with a Flaps configuration warning message. Is this possible on the MD’s and 9’s? Idk. Would the aircraft still alert the crew to a misconfiguration using that slat procedure if they were gapped? If so, maybe that’s what they were talking about. I’m a 40 plus year Boeing mx guy from long ago, mostly 737/757/767/787, so maybe I conflated conversations. I am a blue sky pilot as well going on 50 years now. I appreciate your clarification. I don’t know if you recall the TWA 727 (1979)years back that dropped like 20k feet before recovering around 5k. They had pulled the alternate LE slat cb so they could drive the trailing edge flaps out electrically with LE slats retracted. Another common practice, especially on freighters. I guess the 2nd officer was returning from the head visit and saw the cb out and pushed it in without telling the other crew members. The slats drove out electrically and #7 slat hung up snd caused an asymmetrical left wing over roll. They were lucky. That procedure was not ‘approved’. Anyway, I’m sorry to hear about the Captain who trained you, I’ve had a few similar experiences in my aviation career, and yes it’s hard to talk about.
Do you blame the FA? Apparently the flight crew asked for a passenger count, and they discussed usage of the cockpit jump seat with the FA. That should not have prevented the crew from completing the check list - especially as they were told to hold for 3 minutes at the end of the runway, and also had time to discuss another plane they saw out of the window. A factor that you also didn't mention is that the pilot flying also stalled the plane by attempting a rate of climb impossible in the configuration it was in - causing the plane to stall and roll, and for the spoilers to deploy in an attempt to level the plane - slowing it down more. A less aggressive angle of attack would have allowed the plane to climb and successfully clear the light pole which was the first object it hit. Also worth noting is that this crew was the inbound crew, and had flown MSP-MBS-DTW that day. So they didn't just get into a plane that somebody pulled the breaker on without them knowing. flightsafety.org/hf/hf_jul-aug89.pdf
@@GBelly-tf9sqIt was NOT a flight attendant interruption!! You’re thinking of a different flight… the entire CVR is here on TH-cam for you to listen to! From the gate to the crash.
I was living in Taylor at that time. My wife and I were visiting friends and when we got ready to go home, I asked for the quickest route home. Once we got going I decided the suggested route was too complicated for me to remember, so we drove back the way we came originally. It was longer but that was okay. I was still new to the area and didn't know my way around, so familiar routes worked for me. We arrived home and learned about the crash on the TV. Stunned, we both realized that had we taken the original route, our car would have been on the road right when 255 hit and we would have been killed.
I had a friend who was going to Arizona to start college at ASU. He had a ticket on NW255 but missed the flight because he arrived at the airport too late.
I lived a few miles from the airport back then I was 12. Years later I talked to someone who was in dental school at the time, Said they helped with identification process. I think about this one every time I fly.
Cant forget it. I was standing OOD watch on USS Charleston in far away Norfolk, mom called the quartdeck to tell me there was a terrible crash, and she could see the sky was lit up orange after it got dark. She lived in Taylor, a few miles from the crash site on Middlebelt rd in nearby Romulus. To this very day you can see flowers left by people near the I94 bridge.
Failed to set flaps....Checklists are there for one reason. This is the mishap that caused me to always check flaps set whether I was at the controls or pilot not flying
I just missed the plane crashing on me by about 20 minutes. We just dropped off a friend at the airport that day and headed back to I-94/Middlebelt Rd. When we got back home a couple hours later, we saw it all over the TV. I think about it every year. August 16 1987. I was 18.
I was supposed to be on that plane flying home to Orange County CA (john wayne airport). Was booked on a morning flight out of MBS as the late flight was sold out. Would have had a long layover in Detroit. The 6am morning flight was canceled do to dense fog, if I remember right. Was re-booked for the next day.. Thank God.. My Brother knew I was booked on that flight and was frantic calling my mother. She said "no, he's right here, his flight was canceled"
I was a NWA mechanic and talked to both of these pilots that day right before they left. My partner pushed them off the gate. We had a few bad things happen that day. DC 10 landing gear caught fire and came into F gates a DC 9 landing gear caught fire as well outside of D gates (the one I was working on) it was not a good day.
My buddies niece was on that flight. Her boyfriend took her to the airport and asked her not to board that plane. Told her he had a bad feeling. She laughed it off and boarded. My cousin who was on the Detroit Police Dept assisted the sheriffs dept with a cadaver dog and said it was pretty gruesome.
I was a truck driver on I-94 and remember all the flowers people had set out on the grassy slopes. Thousands of bouquets on that grass still creeps me out.
We had just come home from a company trip to Lake Tahoe . The plane had just crashed as we were leaving the parking structure. I told the attendant that a plane just crashed, and he had no idea. We drove the north airport exit and that is where the plane was. We drove right up to the building the right wing struck. We saw a line of fires as we drove up. As we got by the wreckage emergency services were just getting there. In the time it took to drive from the parking booth to the crash site the plane had mostly burned down. We knew there would be a lot of confusion on the news about what happened. We wanted to let or families know that we were OK. We found a pay phone (no cell phones back then). I went to call may parents and I couldn't remember the number for the life of me. It was the phone number I grew up with, and can repeat it right now. But not that night.
My Dad worked for NWA at that time and I worked for Skywest. I non-rev'd into DTW to see family, I believe, the day after the accident. We flew right over the accident site on approach and I could see plastic covers over items/bodies and the destruction. It was such a horrible feeling knowing that people had died and families were suffering. And, as an aviation family, we hurt for our fellow aviation team. Prior to that, when I would see people literally crying in the gate area due to fear of flying, I didn't get it since flying was, to me, so safe. After the DTW crash I was much more empathetic to those who had this stress. We have to continue to stress to airline executives that the top three priorities must be safety, safety, safety.
@@JuliaBrown-wl2cd You would think. You'll get plenty of talk about it but it's looking at their actions. I have pilot friends who fly for the majors and they'll tell you that they're concerned about the DEI efforts in the cockpit, in maintenance, in operations, at ATC, and at the FAA. And, we have a massive pilot shortage that is going to get worse. As one pilot told me, "United alone can hire every single retiring military pilot and they'd still be short pilots due to retirements". We need the carriers and the FAA to be 100% focused on safety above all else. They are not meeting this goal right now.
I was a musician and driving from Flint down to Rochester Hills to play a gig - listening to WJR....good 'ol AM radio. They broke in and said a commercial get had crashed at Metro. People die every day in car crashes, etc., but these kinds of airplane crashes take so many people at one time - just the stuff of nightmares. For whatever reason I remember where I was, what I was doing. All I could think was, "Oh no." I've flown in and out of Metro so many times. Amazing that one little girl, Cecila Chican, survived the crash and fire. And it all could have been avoided if the pilots had set the flaps so that this very heavy plane would have had enough lift to get airborne. My condolences to anyone related to this crash, in any way.
I am just wondering when there have been so many planes waiting for take off that not one pilot saw then lining up with slats flaps not in take off config! When i am behind an aircraft that lines up for take off i ALWAYS scan (as far as its visible) that aircraft for: Slats Flaps extended, all doors and access panels closed, gear pins removed, no obvious leaks, no damage. That sounds like a lot but in reality it is a well trained scan that takes just about 10 seconds. I could once advise tower that the aircraft on the runway still had the gear pins installed, another time i saw a hydraulic leak out of the right MLG Wheel Well, and once i warned the pilot directly that for my understanding they had accumulated too much snow on their wings and stabilizer. All 3 times the aircraft cancelled take off and returned to the ramp for inspection. It just needs 10 seconds..
A pilot who took off before this flight that day posted here and said ground was a cluster f$%# and crew responsibilities in his cockpit were +300% for that takeoff.
The overpass leading into the airport was flooded that morning so my mom's miss that flight. God is good. 🙏🕊️ She lived for another 36 years. Love you Ma! ❤😊
God was good to you? Really what about tge passengers on NW255? Was God bad to them and their families and friends? Faith is great but God didn't save your mother and kill all those passengers and crew. Your was lucky. She lived others died. It was just random luck, like winning the lottery. It was not part of some big plan.
@mileswrich It was a blessing, to us. I can't imagine what plans God has for anyone else, good, bad or indifferent. He does what he will and I adjust, pray for the family/friends of those who lost their lives and carry on. Dealing with death is never easy. We all have our time to live and die. I don't think anyone killed anybody here Sir, it was by accident. May God bless us all. 🙏💔😔
I was 14 when this happened. My dad was a funeral director and was called down there to help with the removal of bodies. To this day, I remember what he smelled like when he would come home during that week...like chemicals (which I now think was jet fuel) and I remember he just smelled burnt. He cried a few times in his room. I have never gotten on a plane because of that. Terrifying. RIP to all the lost souls.
I was helping a friend paint his new house near Telegraph and Goddard Road. We believe we heard the crash, just a loud thud, though we had no idea what it was. We were painting, not watching TV or listening to the radio. Didn't have any idea what had happened. Driving home later that evening, still quite unaware, I found the ramps from Telegraph to 94 west were blocked. Passed several car accidents as I headed north, an unusual number. I turned onto Van Born to head west to Ypsi, where I lived. Ecorse would have been my usual way around a 94 blockage but that may have been blocked also. As I neared and crossed the area around Middlebelt road, to the south I saw flames, small fires, burning, everywhere.
I was working at the landfill near Willow Run and camped out on Quirk road. Can’t remember which ramp it was but driving by a week later my memory recalls looking down on blackened pavement. The catch is I know I saw some small houses that were burnt but looking at google maps today it doesn’t make sense. Does anyone remember?
@@hoppes9658There was a subdivision just north of I-94 west side of Middlebelt, no houses were burned, but windows were blown out from the impact! There’s only a handful of houses left there.
My brother was flying out of Metro, returning to his post in Panama. His flight was the same day, around the same time as this crash. My mom was freaking out, frantically calling Northwest to see what they would share. Information was shared as quickly as today. Luckily, my brother’s flight took off safely prior to this flight. Condolences for all those impacted by this.
My TWA maintenance instructor dad was planning to deadhead home on AA191. He missed the flight. We had four more years with Dad before cancer took him.
The 4 year old little girl is now 41 and has a family of her own. Being young surely helped ease her suffering but to lose your parents and brother is unfathomable.
God is good she survived and she is well bless her is her long wonderful life :) rip to her loved ones lost and those aboard in all tragic circumstances there are sometimes things that happen that wow abouts
I was returning to DTW from ORD on a Jet America DC-9. Our landing was delayed due to this crash. We were over DTW, there was a lot of overcast. At one point there was an opening in the sky below and the fire could be scene for a fraction of a second. Our flight was diverted to Toledo. A Delta flight that had been DTW was beside us on the tarmac at Toledo. We were to told to board a bus with the Delta passengers and we would be taken back to DTW. It was virtually impossible to find a cab once at Detroit Metro so I stayed the night sitting and waiting for things to subside.
We heard the cockpit recording of this crash. It was very sad. A deadheading pilot stuck his head in the cockpit and told the pilots that it was his lucky day...that he got the last remaining seat.
My uncle was working in the building they hit that evening. And my father was on his way home from work on the interstate and the plane crashed in his rear view mirror. I was lucky that night.
I remember that day vividly. Driving with my parents southbound back from the up north cabin on I75 south of flint when it came on the radio. Arrived home a bit later to see it on tv. As it turned out a guy I grew up with sister was on the plane on her way to their honeymoon.
Another crew learns the hard way to USE THE CHECKLIST! That’s what CHECKLISTS are for, to prevent pilots from trying to take off without flaps and making other mistakes. Northwest 255, Delta 1141, United 9963, Spanair 5022, LAPA 3142…the list goes on…the recurring theme was, the crew attempted to take off without flaps because they were too busy chatting with the flight attendant, or they were in too much of a hurry, or just didn’t think the pre-takeoff CHECKLIST was important. I hope they’ve finally learned their lesson.
Other than the actual crash being horrible, I didn’t hear anything heartbreaking in the recording. They just said they had a crash a mile north of the airport.
That’s what’s so heartbreaking. They had no idea that they only had minutes left on earth. Hearing their voices and knowing what happened to them only moments later..it’s haunting. Like listening to the voices of 9/11.
I had flown back from San Diego that day, my flight landed around the same time NW 255 took off. I still remember the looks of shock NW employees had when word spread.
The "Mayday" episode, Chaos in the the cockpit, was one of the very best I ever saw. The NTSB went to great lengths to determine that the flaps were indeed up, as it was far more difficult to ascertain than you may think. They measured the extension of extended and spooled up flap cable to ascertain that the flaps were unquestionably up. They also found that the famous P-40 circuit breaker was out indirectly, when noticing that the aural stall warming could be heard only from one side. When finding the reason they also found that disabling that circuit breaker also disabled the "Aircraft Not Ready" warnings.
@@HolyShnikeez_1975it was "Chaos in the Cockpit" in Portugal. There are many instances of name changing... Edit: and in Portugal the Serie was know as _Mayday._ 😶
My father was one of the first police officers on scene of the crash, which ended up somewhat on the Interstate. He said that was one of the only times he wanted to pull his sidearm and shoot someone, because some people were getting out of their vehicles and trying to steal personal items from the deceased. Another interesting fact, there was one lone survivor from this flight. There were also fatalities of people who were driving on the Interstate.
My sister was going back to Pittsburgh so we took her to the shuttle bus for the airport and waited with her. There was a Twenty year old girl going home from visiting her grand parents in Detroit on that shuttle. She was going home out west.
I worked with the controller on the audio at another facility that he had transferred to. I was in training with him, and he rarely talked about; I could tell it really messed him up.
The Cichans were returning to Tempe, Arizona after spent a week and a half with relatives in Pennsylvania. Siblings David and Cecelia were due to begin school the next day, three of the four members of the family killed but Cecelia survived and became America’s Favorite Orphan until a couple from Alabama claimed to be as Cecelia’s relatives and they picked her up then Cecelia moved on and had a new life there in the South. She grew up as a Southern girl and is now a married woman. Does she have kids?
Why doesn't ATC have EIP (Emergency In Progress) tones like law enforcement does? It would let everyone not involved automatically know to keep the frequency clear without ATC having to announce it.
I worked near the airport and drove that route down middlebelt rd for 45 years and remember the first day they reopened middlebelt it was the eeriest feeling driving under the bridges seeing exactly where impact was
I can’t imagine the carnage…I unfortunately poked around a train fatality…kid was run over on his bike….kicked around pieces and saw dollops on bolts…it was my good friend Jeff ….traded bday parties…same little league team…class etc….i was 14….
We were in Belleville (small town north of the airport), and we had come an hour earlier using the Middlebelt/94 exit. We lived in Taylor at the time, and I remember hearing all the sirens. I saw the news reports about the crash, it was horrific. I won't use that exit still today.😢
I was flying out of the same gate right after NW 255. Our baseball team just played over the weekend in a National baseball tournament in Detroit. We watched the crash and saw the explosion. It was horrific. An awful day. That plane had a baseball team from Phoenix on board. I can still see those images to this day. That was my first time flying and I will never forget the trauma of that day. When our plane left 5 hrs later we were diverted because of all the thunderstorms. I hate flying to this day. I pray everyone on board knew our Lord and Savior ✝️☝️
Wow I'm sorry this was your first experience with flying. It was horrific. I cried. I can't even begin to understand the nightmares you must have. I was at a nearby gas station and seen the fireball. God bless you, the families and loved ones.
@@stephenstone8480 Why do bad things happen when God can prevent them? He gave each of us 'free will'. No one is forced into Christianity. It's a choice. God can and does intervene when given the opportunity. We live in a fallen world. We have an enemy who hates us and is at work to take as many folks into hell as he can.
My brother in law was working maintenance (airplane repair) for NW and was there when the accident happened. We didn't see him for a week after . Feds took over the NW hanger
Cecelia Chichan was the ONLY survivor of the flight 255 crash and was in the news for years in the Detroit area, she lost her parents on that flight. Her survival was credited as a miracle.
My mom told me my uncle was one of the first police officers on scene and he still is unable to speak of the event to this day. In fact, I think he might be Two Uniform Mike in the recording.
We were flying in from St. Louis from a job we were working on, i remember flying over the scene of the crash, it was a horrific sight, my heart goes out to the family's of all involved.
*families. Apostrophes play no part in plurals and you were never taught that they do so why do it? Missed the class on take-off-the-y-add-ies too, did you?
I was on I-94 WB less than two miles away when I saw the fireball. The highway was closed within a minute or two. Little Celia Cichan the only survivor due to her mother covering her up.
I had a similar situation in 1989 on an Air Canada dc-9 from Toronto to Chicago. When the aircraft lined up on the runway I noticed from my window the flaps were up and suddenly the aircraft started it's takeoff roll with the flaps up and after about 7 seconds during the takeoff I noticed the flaps going down I guess the pilots must have gotten the takeoff config warning buzzer after they pushed the throttles and realized they were taking off without flaps and lowered them during the takeoff roll. I probably wouldn't be here now if the takeoff config warning buzzer was disabled like it was on Northwest 255. In those days there was few accidents do to pilot's forgetting to lower the flaps for takeoff especially on Dc-9's, 727's, and Md-80's.
I lived right by there. There’s a memorial but difficult to get to because there’s no parking, just highway ramps/roads. Kind of dangerous to just pull onto shoulder.
I was visiting my parents in Belleville a stones throw from DTW airport. Remember seeing all the lit up emergency vehicles heading east on I-94. A drizzly summer evening. I still occasionally pass under the I-94 overpass on Middlebelt Rd where the flight crashed...the pine tree memorial trees they planted are so big now.
Situation repeats itself with SpanAir Crash in Madrid as the pilots didn't set the flaps after a delay maintenance check and quickly assumed on their taxi check list.
I worked at the Wayne County complex our building was 100 or so yards from the crash. I was there the next morning after the crash. I'll never forget it.
A person I knew in the late 80’s was a police officer in a small city north of Detroit. He also worked part time as a mortician. When the call came out for all available morticians to respond to Detroit Metro Airport, he responded. I asked him a few years later about it. He said, there are 2 in his life that he will never forget, Vietnam and Flight 255. He just passed away earlier this year. 🙏
I was a controller at Flint tower, north of Detroit. We heard about it on both the frequencies and land lines. Ironically, in college I was a journalism student at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. One of my professors was Jane Briggs-Bunting who had been a staff reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Some time after the crash she did a piece that was published in Life Magazine about the accident and the little girl who was the lone surviver. Even though she discovered the girl's name, she wrote the article while still keeping the child's anonymity. Too often we hear of aircraft accidents and the numbers of casualties. Each one of those victims was a person with hopes and dreams, and a family.
I flew into Detroit (my home) earlier that day from Pittsburgh via Northwest on the same kind of plane. Terrible shock when it was shown on that night's local news. Awful for the families of those who were lost.
Two professional pilots in the cockpit and they fail to configure the plane for takeoff. Darwinian award. They were dead as soon as they advanced the throttles.
@@ianhereinaz1 yeah, I saw one of those air disaster vids. I thought it was more conclusive, but I guess that would be hard to prove. Wasn't this one a change in a runway or taxi way and an interrupted checklist that they never heard them go through on the CVR?
In 2008 there was a basically identical accident in Barajas, Spain, also with a MD-82 from Spanair. She took off without flaps, officially for unknown reasons, and most of the people was killed.
I'll never forget that crash. My husband and i returned from a day at the lake and every station had the crash on. So sad for all on board and the first responders who look for people to save. There was only 1 little girl 😢
If I remember correctly, the thought was a fuse was pulled so that the taxi-warning did not go off because it happened so often when there was no issue.
I was working above the grocery in Franklin. A man was asking directions. The bed of his pick up truck was full of luggage. Charred luggage. It was sad.
I worked at a Dedicated Freight truck dock near there. North of 94 but a couple miles east. I'm thinking Beach Daly Road.. I worked with a guy who said it crossed the freeway just after he drove past Middlebelt. He also mentioned that the quality people of the Detroit area were picking through the wreckage while the bodies were still there. The road it crashed into was below grade and it funneled everything north. Also heard they were in a hurry because they had to beat the noise abatement regs in Arizona.
@@jamescoffron95, that incident occurred no where near Detroit. Detroit is about 30 miles or more that location. It had to have people living near the cite.(suburb’s of Detroit) 😊
I can't believe this just popped up in my feed. I was born in 85. My dad worked for the Wayne County Road Road Commission when this happened. I was told horror stories about this because he was part of the cleanup. He found dead kids and body parts. It messed him up for a long time. This was a horrific incident.
I lived 3 miles from Detroit Metro at the time this happened. My wife and I heard the crash from that distance! The intersection of I-94 and I-275 (which connected people west and south of Detroit to the highways leading downtown) were closed for months after this accident but you could make to the scene using Telegraph road and then some of the overpasses that were still open as detours. The scene was horrific! They had these yellow tarps they placed over anything that was considered human remains and they dotted the area for over a quarter mile! There was only one survivor, a little girl who's mother sacrificed her own body to lay over her child as the plane crashed and burned. One poor SOB was killed as he was driving the highway when the plane crashed! I read the NW pilot's comment, just below mine, and that is exactly what I heard had happened. 255's crew was so busy trying to reset runways and nav points that the pilot never did the checklist to see that his flaps were still in landing configuration. They had no chance of achieving lift. Just a terrible accident.
I remember this, I lived in Taylor, Michigan off of Wick road. I heard 2 big booms and the sky lit up west of me. My younger brother walked to the crash site. He says he wished he'd never seen it.
I was a surgical resident on call that night for Henry Ford Hospital. We heard about the crash and the hospital went into emergency mode but no survivors except for the one girl. I will never forget that night as a third year surgical resident at Henry Ford Hospital
@jeffreyhall3139 - That must have been one long day and night, and I feel sure that it taxed you both physically and emotionally. I'm just a nurse, but there are things that come with being a healthcare worker that you cannot unsee. Physicians sometimes see/hear incidents that are both bizzare and require one to start from the beginning and try to understand the individual they are treating, and I wish patients could understand the verbose and sobering oathes M.D.'s take. It is tremendously stressful. I appreciate your service. Two things that I took to heart from nursing school was 2 comments made by my professors. The DON walked into the class on the very 1st day and wrote on the chalkboard, "Nurses eat their young," they walked out of the classroom. lol Brutal, but I found that frequently to be true. The second was the school consistently imparting that nursing was a job of servitude and those who had that nature already turn out to be such good liasons for the physician. That resonated with me, and it made me even more enthusiastic about choosing that vocation. I can't imagine your stress, especially being a resident at the time this occurred. I highly respect physicians who do things with tenacity and fastidously, but also have an intelligent and especially compassionate bedside manner.
Again, I appreciate the post @air crash daily.
Suuuurrrreeeee
I had exactly the same experience as a surgical resident at University of Michigan. The girl who survived wound up in our burn unit. It was amazing how the press was continually trying to get a picture of the girl, by bribery, or whatever. One tried to get in by wearing scrubs and a white coat. Needless to say they upped security dramatically outside the unit.
@@PhillJenningsyou are right. There were no witnesses, and no one was working at the hospital that night. No way someone working there could happen across about a crash on TH-cam that he or she knows very well. 🙄
I hope that little girl is ok where ever she is😢
I will never ever forget that crash. I was living in the Detroit area at that time and flew out of DTW the next day on 8/17/1987 on my way to Air Force Basic Training. The shuttle van taking us to the airport drove along near the crash site. I will never forget that site and smell as we drove by it. So many people on my flight were nervous on our Continental jet. The stewardesses (what they were called back then) generously handed out bottles of liquor to anyone who looked 18 to try and calm their nerves once we were airborne. I was 18 at the time and recall that I was afraid the Air Force would find out and I would get into trouble. RIP to all of those poor souls and blessings to their family and friends.
No. They were no longer known as "stewardesses" in 1987. By the time I was hired in 1979, the vernacular was already "flight attendant". Don't forget that half the workforce are men
Thank you for your service. My son currently serves in the AF.
@@hitsquad2149 Thank you for your son's service as well. I ended up serving a hybrid of active duty years (13) and Air Reserve years (13). Retired with 26 years of total service. The Air Force provided the best years of my life. Hands down the best experiences in my life. After four Middle East deployments (two to Iraq) I have no regrets.
-Dave
Thank you for your service.
Handing out alcohol these days would be a disaster they way people act on flights
Lost a friend and coworker on that flight Randy Hoffman, may he rest in peace
😔
Lived in Oxford North of Detroit at the time . Was just a teenager . I still remember the little girl being the only survivor . Every time I hear about it I start to cry .
This was a horrible incident. My friend, Doug, and his wife Nina were killed in that crash. Very sad
Really sorry
I am sorry for your loss.
Wow, thank you, @james1 and Darlene Griffith. So kind and thoughtful, especially after all of this time. I hope you don't mind, but I am going to pass your comments along to their (now adult) children. Thank you so much
@darlenegriffith6
Sorry 😔
This crash occurred when my mom was a teenager growing up in Phoenix. Two young girls that lived on the same street as my mom at the time died on this flight along with their father. Additionally, so many other people from the Valley also passing away on this flight, it was a shock to the entire area, but it’s something my mom always remembers as part of her teenage years, how much this crash affected a whole area without even occurring there.. May all the victims rest in peace!
The sole survivor has identified herself and she’s an amazing person.
Yes I watched the interview with her. She was very demure about the incident. Had a small airplane Tatoo. That was it
My condolences to you all that lost someone on that flight
My Cousin and her Husband perished on that flight , for all family members it was a total nightmare
i am so so sorry
Condolences for you all. I still cry for the losses. There's one person who said they were on a flight by it who watched. The PTSD and nightmares must be horrible. Can't even imagine it. Continued prayers for you all
Very professional response by the controller and all involved
I will never forget that night. I was living in Taylor at the time, right on Wick Road, and we saw a huge flash of light against the dark clouds in the direction of the airport. We had no idea what it was until later, when the news announced it. A young guy at my workplace at the time was sitting at the traffic light at Middlebelt near Wick and literally saw the plane coming at him, he floored it through the light and probably saved his own life. He told us at work the next day and was still badly shaken. What a tragedy. Rest in peace to those souls on board, and peace to their families 🙏
He "ACTUALLY" saw a plane coming for him, not "LITERALLY". You should buy a dictionary.
Look at you big brains That's what you took from this story 🤡@@thomasallen6980
RIP Nick Vanos, Center for the Phoenix Suns. He was on that flight
My youngest brother flew to Phoenix that day. Another brother was going to drive him to the airport. The other brother had stayed up late, and wondered if could change his flight to this later departure. He said no, “you said you were taking me so get up now “! I wasn’t there, but heard a flight to Phoenix had crashed. Instant real time communications weren’t as they are now. Was so thankful to learn he stuck to his plan.
I still recall the tragic incident. I worked for NWA at the time and a few weeks later I sat on a Delta 727 out of ATL looking outside my window which was forward of the wing, checking to see if the slats were extended before take off. During the taxi to the runway they were still retracted and when I was about to jump up to alert the crew the slats were finally extended but not until they lined up for departure, which was far too late. My guardian angel must have watched over me that day
flaps set to TO is in the pre takeoff checklist. I'm not sure when else you expect them to run that checklist.
@@jonnie2bad I have flown hundreds of times and I always recall that flaps were set as soon as the aircraft was enroute to TO Rwy and not when they lined up
Slats are usually extended when lined up for takeoff, not during the taxi to the runway. This is because extending slats too early (during the taxi) could increase the risk of foreign object damage (FOD) to the aircraft’s wings from debris on the taxiway,
Thank you for posting this, even though it is incredibly bone chilling for me. It is the first time I heave heard the actual ATC audio. I was on flight 185, directly behind flight 255 and awaiting takeoff clearance. It is quite eerie to hear ATC's instructions to our pilots to hold in place once the crash of 255 was reported, as well as all of the other communications with ATC on that frequency. Our pilots had just barely stated to "rev up" the engines in preparation for takeoff when they suddenly (from the passenger's perspective) backed down. We sat at the (takeoff) end of the runway for over 2 hours, in the sweltering August heat, before returning the terminal and having no clue what had occurred. We were combined with another flight, one of the few flights to leave DTW that night, and left for Washington DC well after 1 am. I only discovered the initial information of what had occurred when driving from Washington's Dulles airport to downtown Washington, in a rental car, at 3:30 am or so that morning. I am blessed to have been on the flight behind 255, rather than being on the flight that terminated tragically.
Yes, very blessed ❤
no you weren't
@@Digitalgems9000 I feel badly for you. What a sad life you must have to feel the need to publicly, yet incorrectly, refute the 100% accurate recollection of someone you don't know. I hope life's circumstances improve for you.
@@michaelduchene6656 i feel bad for you too. lol saying things that are not true on the internet for likes
@@Digitalgems9000 Please get yourself some help. Sadly, you clearly need it. I am not wasting any more time on this.
As a former airline pilot, I always studied each accident thoroughly. Two of them caused me to change my own procedures.
Which 2 and what did you change?
My brother witnessed that crash. He was driving west on Wick Rd approaching the traffic light at Middlebelt Rd. The plane hit Middlebelt Rd between the railroad bridge and Interstate I-94. He had nightmares for a long time afterward. He was one of the first to arrive on the scene of the crash and he later said he wished he'd never have stopped. All he remembered seeing was burning wreckage and body parts everywhere.
I worked for GM at the time. My Supervisor & two fellow technicians were on that flight. They were on their way to GM's desert proving ground for work Monday. Sad. RIP to all the lost souls.
I knew Bill and Kathy Best. They had 3 little kids with them. All died. RIP
Thanks to the people who were in or around this. Your insights are a valuable part of the story.
The majority of them are fake.
Very sad, all the holes in the Swiss cheese lined up in that tragedy, Rain,Tstorms,runway changes,delays,fatigue that distracted the crew from completing the pre takeoff checklist,flaps , slats etc. To make it even worse, the circuit breaker for the config warning was pulled because the dc -9 pilots always got annoyed by it and chose to activate it. If they hadn't, they would have gotten an aural warning that the flaps configuration was in error and could have avoided this. So many things to come together unfortunately.
About a year later I was on a Us Air 737 - 200 going from Philly to Hartford, we taxied to the numbers, I look out window, i see 0 flaps or slats, I cringed as pilots applied full takeoff power, we went about 100 ft and stopped, flaps and slats then deployed, and we continued the takeoff, never forgot it.
I had a similar situation in 1989 on an Air Canada dc-9 from Toronto to Chicago. When the aircraft lined up on the runway I noticed from my window the flaps were up and suddenly the aircraft started it's takeoff roll with the flaps up and after about 7 seconds during the takeoff I noticed the flaps going down I guess the pilots must have gotten the takeoff config warning buzzer after they pushed the throttles and realized they were taking off without flaps and lowered them during the takeoff roll. I probably wouldn't be here now if the takeoff config warning buzzer was disabled like it was on Northwest 255.
Wrong ! I was 17 and at a baseball tournament 3 miles from this . the day was blue skies and zero rain
@@moogs05 the plane crashed at 8:46 in the evening. Blue skies??
I logged over 10,000 hours in DC-9 variants, including the MD-80. Never did I pull that CB or hear anyone suggest that I would want to.
I had a friend on that flight. She was going to Arizona to be with her daughter and start a new life after her bitter divorce from an abusive man. Incomprehensibly sad...
You think these TH-camrs who repeatedly put up every crash over and over give a sh*t.
@@DBCooper-r3l you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning to give you a burr up your backside
I'm truly sorry for your loss and the loss felt by her family. May God bring peace to you and yours.
@@DBCooper-r3lI don't think so, you left a lot of your money along the Columbia River
@@DBCooper-r3lI don't understand what your point is? It is a story about her friend who had her new life in front of her, with her daughter, and it was all taken away from her. That's all it's about. Not about whether you think any TH-camrs care or don't care. It's just a very sad story
One of my high school classmates was an on the ground casualty. LPHS class of ‘76
So frigging CHILLING. Good Controller.
Sad day. My brother who was a Wayne County Sheriff's deputy helped with the rescue that night. He had some terrible stories. RIP to all that were lost. At least Cecilia was saved!
My former boss was a Wayne County Sheriff and he talked about the smell of hydraulic fluid at the crash site
Working on regular runs for Sheriffs dept from Westland that day. Still furious over the sob I saw running from the scene with a stolen golf bag.
@@02WIFEI’m pretty sure you mean Kerosene? Hydraulic fluid does have an odor, but compared to the full tanks of jet fuel the plane had…that would WAAY overpower the smell of hydraulic fluid.
My cousin was a Wayne county sheriff, he was on scene with his K9 and then worked the morgue/ hangar for several weeks. He was a good guy, very spiritual and compassionate. His work during this time helped him rise to top management level
So basically you’re saying your brother was divulging information that is supposed to be confidential. 🤡
I was in the Portuguese Army then, and remember this accident too well. The next morning a fellow soldier came to me and asked "Hey Simões, do you know about that airplane crash?"
"Yes" I said, "an MD-82 in the Unites States".
"No, a light aircraft like those you fly, here in Portugal. Happened yesterday".
I had the terrible feeling that I most probably knew who was on board. This is a small Country, with a small pilot community. That day I was leaving on holydays - yes, even soldiers have holydays, at least in peacetime - and I lost no time calling the Aerodrome. And sure enough, I knew the pilot very well. He flew Boeing 727s and light aircraft, and had flown T-37s, T-38s and Fiat G-91s in the Air Force. He died two days later without regaining conscience, due to a stall at low altitude. Crashed in an Orchard. I saw the wreckage, which didn't burn, and had never seen so much blood before. It had splattered everywhere. The girl who was with him, a Stewardess from the pilot's same Company, was hospitalized for nearly two months, went through several surgeries and in the end suffered a level of disability that forced her to quit the job. I had soloed in that very same Cessna 150 Aerobat one year before.
Amazing heads up work by the air controller.
New subscriber here. I found your channel when this audio/video arrived in my recommendations. I've flown often, but I'm always very nervous when doing so. I've bungee jumped 3 times and have done other things to try to get my fear of heights to go away, but I think it made things a bit worse. It's very sad listening to the pilot of Flight 255 before he crashed. I pray for people sincerely and rather frequently since this world has literally gone "crazy. "A lot of bad things happen to innocent people, but I'm not disparaging the pilots of this flight, because it seems to be a "simple" mistake that, unfortunately, resulted in the fatality of many people, including himself. I hope the little girl that survived was not hampered with crippling anxiety or PTSD after this. Thank you for being diligent and posting your content. I will work on and like all of your content. Sending a sweet goodbye in my heart to those who passed, as well as the 1 survivor.
As I recall the little girl was around 1 or 2 years old.
@@sparkeyjames Thank you for that info, @Sparkeyjames
Same here 👍
@@sparkeyjames Yes, thank you. Hopefully, since she was so young, she will have no memory of it.
@@IamKimsational Update. She was 4 at the time of the crash. She is still alive. Her name is Cecelia Cichan. She remember snippets of the crash. But more of the aftermath and her time recovering from burns at UofM burn center. Her aunt and uncle who adopted her kept her out of the media and she chose to stay out of it for decades after. She appears in the movie Sole Survivor made by CNN. She is married and is now 41 years old.
In case no one knows, the aircraft in this image is N312RC (a DC-9-82), the accident airplane. It must have been taken not long before the accident because it has the “Northwest” title with the rest of the aircraft in the Republic Airlines scheme. Republic and Northwest had merged a few months before the 16 August 1987 accident.
The plane was an MD-82 not a dc-9. The MD 80 series was a descendent of the Dc-9 but considered it's own model. Initially they called it a Dc9 80 series but it was renamed Md-80 series known as the mad dog. The MD-80 were longer than any dc-9 and had upgraded engines The Jt8d-200 advanced series which were quieter and more powerful than regular Jt8d found on 727, 737-200, and Dc-9. So technically not a dc-9 but definitely a continuation.
@ I never heard “mad dog” until about a year ago. At least one author (British guy Stephen Barley) called it a DC-9-82. When I was a fueler some called them Super 80s. Thanks for the distinction.
I lost a good friend and his wife on that crash, he was heading home to Phoenix after a function with other Intel Company co-workers. I could not believe it when I was told, just landing in L.A. from Hawaii. We were always told how safe air travel is!
Although never proven, and after speaking with many Mad Dog crews over the years, the aural warning circuit breaker was most likely pulled by the inbound flight crew for configuration. As told to me, by pulling the aural warning cb, they could drive the leading edge slats out on a clean wing to provide more lift which allowed them to descend with a higher vertical speed rate over congested airspace, which made ATC’s job easier.
Of course the interruption on taxi out by a flight attendant distracted them and they didn’t complete their before takeoff checklist after she left the cockpit. They didn’t do their circuit breaker check, set the high lift devices for takeoff, or arm the thrust management system. All 3 checklist items contributed to the crash.
The sterile cockpit rule came out of this accident which is why you always hear a chime in the cabin as they pass through 10,000 feet. The flight crew is advising the cabin crew that they can now enter the cockpit if needed.
On a personal note, I was living in Mesa Az at the time and one of the victims of the crash was a very nice lady who was going to buy a car I restored. Just very sad. This was a clear example of many links in the safety chain being broken. If I recall, there was a child who survived, the rest perished.
Good info - thank you. Also, from the Mesa/Tempe area was a deadheading F/A that was a good friend our ours, coming home to her new husband. Tragic beyond comprehension.
I just came across this video and read your comment. I would like to give you a little better information concerning this airplane and flight. I few this airplane along with its sister ships for Republic/Northwest Airlines. I also flew the other series of DC9’s and together logged thousands of hours in them. We referred to these stretched versions of airplanes as DC-9-82. The “MD” designation came later. It is not always easy to talk about accidents like this, I worked with many of the crew. The Captain of this flight checked me out in the DC-9-82’s. He was very professional and like others, he was human and subject to errors we all can make. It is not known if the CB was overlooked or popped/pulled sometime after the push back. We had a procedure that was encouraged by Northwest to shut down an engine on taxi out and after landing to save fuel. When I flew as Captain, I seldom used it because it would cause problems when turning in the direction of the operating engine. It would cause the nose wheel to skid in this turn instead of turning. The biggest culprit was that you had to use higher power in the operating engine to move after a stop or trying to accelerate when needed. This higher power setting would cause a beeping sound as a warning. A switch was activated as the throttle was advanced warning of a configuration problem, the airplane not in takeoff configuration. This was a nuance that would cause some pilots to pull the CB to silence the horn. Therefore if not reset at the gate, caught by the outgoing crew, or pulled on taxi out and forgotten, would compromise important safety warnings. Pulling the CB to silence the horn was not an approved procedure. Though not related, I would like to address one other item you brought up, that about using slats to help in descent. Your understanding of this is incorrect. The slats had a high maximum operating speed and could be used with speed brakes if extra descent rate was need. It was very seldom needed as the speed brakes were very effective. This was an approved procedure and you didn’t have to pull CB’s to do it. You did have to place the hydraulic pumps to “high”. Other than take off and landing, the pumps would be in a low setting. I hope this gives you a better understanding.
I just repeated what I was told in conversations with MD 80 crews. Maybe they were mistaken. I understand the single engine scenario as I had the same thing happen to me when taxi training technicians on the 757. We pushed off the gate at LaGuardia, got the left engine going and went to start the right engine and they told us to pull back into the gate with a left turn into the running left engine, and they wouldn’t allow me to start the right engine. I pulled both aural warning breakers and created a log entry stating so. I drove it home to the guys I was training to always document the pulling of aural warning breakers. But we’re maintenance and live by the logbook. Flight crews not so much after the motors are turning.
I don’t know if the DC-9/MD 80’s had a sealed and gapped position like the 757. On the 57, if you go to the gapped position, which is used for landing and autoslat for engine out at takeoff, the aural warning system will sound if you run them out to gapped from a clean wing inflight, along with a Flaps configuration warning message. Is this possible on the MD’s and 9’s? Idk. Would the aircraft still alert the crew to a misconfiguration using that slat procedure if they were gapped? If so, maybe that’s what they were talking about.
I’m a 40 plus year Boeing mx guy from long ago, mostly 737/757/767/787, so maybe I conflated conversations. I am a blue sky pilot as well going on 50 years now. I appreciate your clarification.
I don’t know if you recall the TWA 727 (1979)years back that dropped like 20k feet before recovering around 5k. They had pulled the alternate LE slat cb so they could drive the trailing edge flaps out electrically with LE slats retracted. Another common practice, especially on freighters. I guess the 2nd officer was returning from the head visit and saw the cb out and pushed it in without telling the other crew members. The slats drove out electrically and #7 slat hung up snd caused an asymmetrical left wing over roll. They were lucky. That procedure was not ‘approved’.
Anyway, I’m sorry to hear about the Captain who trained you, I’ve had a few similar experiences in my aviation career, and yes it’s hard to talk about.
Do you blame the FA? Apparently the flight crew asked for a passenger count, and they discussed usage of the cockpit jump seat with the FA. That should not have prevented the crew from completing the check list - especially as they were told to hold for 3 minutes at the end of the runway, and also had time to discuss another plane they saw out of the window. A factor that you also didn't mention is that the pilot flying also stalled the plane by attempting a rate of climb impossible in the configuration it was in - causing the plane to stall and roll, and for the spoilers to deploy in an attempt to level the plane - slowing it down more. A less aggressive angle of attack would have allowed the plane to climb and successfully clear the light pole which was the first object it hit. Also worth noting is that this crew was the inbound crew, and had flown MSP-MBS-DTW that day. So they didn't just get into a plane that somebody pulled the breaker on without them knowing. flightsafety.org/hf/hf_jul-aug89.pdf
@@GBelly-tf9sqIt was NOT a flight attendant interruption!!
You’re thinking of a different flight… the entire CVR is here on TH-cam for you to listen to! From the gate to the crash.
I was living in Taylor at that time. My wife and I were visiting friends and when we got ready to go home, I asked for the quickest route home. Once we got going I decided the suggested route was too complicated for me to remember, so we drove back the way we came originally. It was longer but that was okay. I was still new to the area and didn't know my way around, so familiar routes worked for me.
We arrived home and learned about the crash on the TV.
Stunned, we both realized that had we taken the original route, our car would have been on the road right when 255 hit and we would have been killed.
Maybe.
I’m from Taylor and was 10 minutes from the crash site. I’ll never forget the smell in the air. So sad.
I had a friend who was going to Arizona to start college at ASU. He had a ticket on NW255 but missed the flight because he arrived at the airport too late.
I lived a few miles from the airport back then I was 12. Years later I talked to someone who was in dental school at the time, Said they helped with identification process. I think about this one every time I fly.
Cant forget it. I was standing OOD watch on USS Charleston in far away Norfolk, mom called the quartdeck to tell me there was a terrible crash, and she could see the sky was lit up orange after it got dark. She lived in Taylor, a few miles from the crash site on Middlebelt rd in nearby Romulus. To this very day you can see flowers left by people near the I94 bridge.
The scorch marks are still visible on the railway trestle!!
And a marble memorial in the trees, up the hill, near the onramp
Lived in phoenix at the time. Lost a coworker and the husband of one of my patients.
Failed to set flaps....Checklists are there for one reason. This is the mishap that caused me to always check flaps set whether I was at the controls or pilot not flying
Yes also an issue with the Weight on wheels alert
You believe in God?
That's what you get when women are given too much information.
@@hahahaha-qu6uv do you read the Bible?
@RetreadPhoto absolutely not
I just missed the plane crashing on me by about 20 minutes. We just dropped off a friend at the airport that day and headed back to I-94/Middlebelt Rd. When we got back home a couple hours later, we saw it all over the TV. I think about it every year. August 16 1987. I was 18.
I was supposed to be on that plane flying home to Orange County CA (john wayne airport). Was booked on a morning flight out of MBS as the late flight was sold out. Would have had a long layover in Detroit. The 6am morning flight was canceled do to dense fog, if I remember right. Was re-booked for the next day.. Thank God.. My Brother knew I was booked on that flight and was frantic calling my mother. She said "no, he's right here, his flight was canceled"
Thanks for the post -
From a former NW Reginal pilot.
RIP
I was a NWA mechanic and talked to both of these pilots that day right before they left. My partner pushed them off the gate. We had a few bad things happen that day. DC 10 landing gear caught fire and came into F gates a DC 9 landing gear caught fire as well outside of D gates (the one I was working on) it was not a good day.
My buddies niece was on that flight. Her boyfriend took her to the airport and asked her not to board that plane. Told her he had a bad feeling. She laughed it off and boarded. My cousin who was on the Detroit Police Dept assisted the sheriffs dept with a cadaver dog and said it was pretty gruesome.
I was a truck driver on I-94 and remember all the flowers people had set out on the grassy slopes. Thousands of bouquets on that grass still creeps me out.
We had just come home from a company trip to Lake Tahoe . The plane had just crashed as we were leaving the parking structure. I told the attendant that a plane just crashed, and he had no idea. We drove the north airport exit and that is where the plane was. We drove right up to the building the right wing struck. We saw a line of fires as we drove up. As we got by the wreckage emergency services were just getting there. In the time it took to drive from the parking booth to the crash site the plane had mostly burned down. We knew there would be a lot of confusion on the news about what happened. We wanted to let or families know that we were OK. We found a pay phone (no cell phones back then). I went to call may parents and I couldn't remember the number for the life of me. It was the phone number I grew up with, and can repeat it right now. But not that night.
I saw the carnage on Middlebelt that day too, and blacked out on my way home. My brain just couldn't process what I'd seen.
My Dad worked for NWA at that time and I worked for Skywest. I non-rev'd into DTW to see family, I believe, the day after the accident. We flew right over the accident site on approach and I could see plastic covers over items/bodies and the destruction. It was such a horrible feeling knowing that people had died and families were suffering. And, as an aviation family, we hurt for our fellow aviation team. Prior to that, when I would see people literally crying in the gate area due to fear of flying, I didn't get it since flying was, to me, so safe. After the DTW crash I was much more empathetic to those who had this stress. We have to continue to stress to airline executives that the top three priorities must be safety, safety, safety.
One would think airline executives understand and value safety, safety, safety, after all, presumably, they fly as well.
@@JuliaBrown-wl2cd You would think. You'll get plenty of talk about it but it's looking at their actions. I have pilot friends who fly for the majors and they'll tell you that they're concerned about the DEI efforts in the cockpit, in maintenance, in operations, at ATC, and at the FAA. And, we have a massive pilot shortage that is going to get worse. As one pilot told me, "United alone can hire every single retiring military pilot and they'd still be short pilots due to retirements".
We need the carriers and the FAA to be 100% focused on safety above all else. They are not meeting this goal right now.
All these years later every time I fly (a few flights a year) I always look to see if the flaps are extended due to this crash.
Here too, tho we cant see the trim setting which is just as important.
The flaps aren’t always required to be extended for takeoff. It’s depends on density altitude, takeoff weight, runway length, etc.
@@afridgetoofar1818 In the main yes but I have never taken off in a Jet liner and the flaps were up....winter/summer made no difference.
Me too
Me too, so I was terrified on one flight to see no flaps extended for takeoff. I guess the aircraft was very light? Thai Airways A300
I was a musician and driving from Flint down to Rochester Hills to play a gig - listening to WJR....good 'ol AM radio. They broke in and said a commercial get had crashed at Metro. People die every day in car crashes, etc., but these kinds of airplane crashes take so many people at one time - just the stuff of nightmares. For whatever reason I remember where I was, what I was doing. All I could think was, "Oh no." I've flown in and out of Metro so many times. Amazing that one little girl, Cecila Chican, survived the crash and fire. And it all could have been avoided if the pilots had set the flaps so that this very heavy plane would have had enough lift to get airborne. My condolences to anyone related to this crash, in any way.
I am just wondering when there have been so many planes waiting for take off that not one pilot saw then lining up with slats flaps not in take off config! When i am behind an aircraft that lines up for take off i ALWAYS scan (as far as its visible) that aircraft for: Slats Flaps extended, all doors and access panels closed, gear pins removed, no obvious leaks, no damage. That sounds like a lot but in reality it is a well trained scan that takes just about 10 seconds. I could once advise tower that the aircraft on the runway still had the gear pins installed, another time i saw a hydraulic leak out of the right MLG Wheel Well, and once i warned the pilot directly that for my understanding they had accumulated too much snow on their wings and stabilizer. All 3 times the aircraft cancelled take off and returned to the ramp for inspection.
It just needs 10 seconds..
You're truly a good human being.
A pilot who took off before this flight that day posted here and said ground was a cluster f$%# and crew responsibilities in his cockpit were +300% for that takeoff.
Anywhere but NY airports…Air France tried to tell ground that Air Italia hit them, without much success. Fortunately all was ok.
The overpass leading into the airport was flooded that morning so my mom's miss that flight.
God is good. 🙏🕊️
She lived for another 36 years.
Love you Ma! ❤😊
God was good to you? Really what about tge passengers on NW255? Was God bad to them and their families and friends? Faith is great but God didn't save your mother and kill all those passengers and crew. Your was lucky. She lived others died. It was just random luck, like winning the lottery. It was not part of some big plan.
@mileswrich It was a blessing, to us.
I can't imagine what plans God has for anyone else, good, bad or indifferent. He does what he will and I adjust, pray for the family/friends of those who lost their lives and carry on. Dealing with death is never easy.
We all have our time to live and die. I don't think anyone killed anybody here Sir, it was by accident.
May God bless us all. 🙏💔😔
@@mileswrich Those were my exact thoughts exactly.
I was 14 when this happened. My dad was a funeral director and was called down there to help with the removal of bodies. To this day, I remember what he smelled like when he would come home during that week...like chemicals (which I now think was jet fuel) and I remember he just smelled burnt. He cried a few times in his room. I have never gotten on a plane because of that. Terrifying. RIP to all the lost souls.
I was helping a friend paint his new house near Telegraph and Goddard Road. We believe we heard the crash, just a loud thud, though we had no idea what it was. We were painting, not watching TV or listening to the radio. Didn't have any idea what had happened. Driving home later that evening, still quite unaware, I found the ramps from Telegraph to 94 west were blocked. Passed several car accidents as I headed north, an unusual number. I turned onto Van Born to head west to Ypsi, where I lived. Ecorse would have been my usual way around a 94 blockage but that may have been blocked also. As I neared and crossed the area around Middlebelt road, to the south I saw flames, small fires, burning, everywhere.
I was working at the landfill near Willow Run and camped out on Quirk road. Can’t remember which ramp it was but driving by a week later my memory recalls looking down on blackened pavement. The catch is I know I saw some small houses that were burnt but looking at google maps today it doesn’t make sense. Does anyone remember?
@@hoppes9658There was a subdivision just north of I-94 west side of Middlebelt, no houses were burned, but windows were blown out from the impact! There’s only a handful of houses left there.
@@100Aces Thanks.
My brother was flying out of Metro, returning to his post in Panama. His flight was the same day, around the same time as this crash. My mom was freaking out, frantically calling Northwest to see what they would share. Information was shared as quickly as today. Luckily, my brother’s flight took off safely prior to this flight. Condolences for all those impacted by this.
I was a usaf reserve pilot, PDX ARRSQ . I believe the dead heading pilot was one in my unit.
My TWA maintenance instructor dad was planning to deadhead home on AA191. He missed the flight. We had four more years with Dad before cancer took him.
The 4 year old little girl is now 41 and has a family of her own. Being young surely helped ease her suffering but to lose your parents and brother is unfathomable.
God is good she survived and she is well bless her is her long wonderful life :) rip to her loved ones lost and those aboard in all tragic circumstances there are sometimes things that happen that wow abouts
I was returning to DTW from ORD on a Jet America DC-9. Our landing was delayed due to this crash. We were over DTW, there was a lot of overcast. At one point there was an opening in the sky below and the fire could be scene for a fraction of a second. Our flight was diverted to Toledo. A Delta flight that had been DTW was beside us on the tarmac at Toledo. We were to told to board a bus with the Delta passengers and we would be taken back to DTW. It was virtually impossible to find a cab once at Detroit Metro so I stayed the night sitting and waiting for things to subside.
We heard the cockpit recording of this crash. It was very sad. A deadheading pilot stuck his head in the cockpit and told the pilots that it was his lucky day...that he got the last remaining seat.
Ohhh 🥺
lol wat
My uncle was working in the building they hit that evening. And my father was on his way home from work on the interstate and the plane crashed in his rear view mirror. I was lucky that night.
I remember that day vividly. Driving with my parents southbound back from the up north cabin on I75 south of flint when it came on the radio. Arrived home a bit later to see it on tv. As it turned out a guy I grew up with sister was on the plane on her way to their honeymoon.
Another crew learns the hard way to USE THE CHECKLIST! That’s what CHECKLISTS are for, to prevent pilots from trying to take off without flaps and making other mistakes. Northwest 255, Delta 1141, United 9963, Spanair 5022, LAPA 3142…the list goes on…the recurring theme was, the crew attempted to take off without flaps because they were too busy chatting with the flight attendant, or they were in too much of a hurry, or just didn’t think the pre-takeoff CHECKLIST was important. I hope they’ve finally learned their lesson.
My friends father was a sergeant with the sheriff's office and spent weeks at the scene collecting remains. It's an unimaginable tragedy .
That poor ATC guy; talk about being overwhelmed....
I agree but I was impressed by his professionlism despite the terrible circumstances
Other than the actual crash being horrible, I didn’t hear anything heartbreaking in the recording.
They just said they had a crash a mile north of the airport.
In other words, personnel maintained a professional status as trained.
I could hear the heartbreak in their voices.
A crash is heartbreaking. If you mean: "I didn't hear wailing & lamentations"; That's called Professionalism.
@@Alvin-1138If the title wasn’t changed based on comments, it make much more sense🤔
That’s what’s so heartbreaking. They had no idea that they only had minutes left on earth. Hearing their voices and knowing what happened to them only moments later..it’s haunting. Like listening to the voices of 9/11.
I had flown back from San Diego that day, my flight landed around the same time NW 255 took off. I still remember the looks of shock NW employees had when word spread.
The "Mayday" episode, Chaos in the the cockpit, was one of the very best I ever saw. The NTSB went to great lengths to determine that the flaps were indeed up, as it was far more difficult to ascertain than you may think. They measured the extension of extended and spooled up flap cable to ascertain that the flaps were unquestionably up. They also found that the famous P-40 circuit breaker was out indirectly, when noticing that the aural stall warming could be heard only from one side. When finding the reason they also found that disabling that circuit breaker also disabled the "Aircraft Not Ready" warnings.
The episode I watched about 255 was called Alarming Silence. The show was called Air Disasters though. Probably the same thing as Chaos in the Cockpit
@@HolyShnikeez_1975it was "Chaos in the Cockpit" in Portugal. There are many instances of name changing...
Edit: and in Portugal the Serie was know as _Mayday._ 😶
My father was one of the first police officers on scene of the crash, which ended up somewhat on the Interstate. He said that was one of the only times he wanted to pull his sidearm and shoot someone, because some people were getting out of their vehicles and trying to steal personal items from the deceased. Another interesting fact, there was one lone survivor from this flight. There were also fatalities of people who were driving on the Interstate.
My sister was going back to Pittsburgh so we took her to the shuttle bus for the airport and waited with her. There was a Twenty year old girl going home from visiting her grand parents in Detroit on that shuttle. She was going home out west.
I worked with the controller on the audio at another facility that he had transferred to. I was in training with him, and he rarely talked about; I could tell it really messed him up.
He did an outstanding job given the circumstances.
I'm an EMT. When I was renewing my license, the instructor worked the rig that transported the survivor.
The Cichans were returning to Tempe, Arizona after spent a week and a half with relatives in Pennsylvania. Siblings David and Cecelia were due to begin school the next day, three of the four members of the family killed but Cecelia survived and became America’s Favorite Orphan until a couple from Alabama claimed to be as Cecelia’s relatives and they picked her up then Cecelia moved on and had a new life there in the South. She grew up as a Southern girl and is now a married woman.
Does she have kids?
"Claim"? They were her relatives. Rita was her mom's sister and Frank was Rita's husband.
Why doesn't ATC have EIP (Emergency In Progress) tones like law enforcement does? It would let everyone not involved automatically know to keep the frequency clear without ATC having to announce it.
I worked near the airport and drove that route down middlebelt rd for 45 years and remember the first day they reopened middlebelt it was the eeriest feeling driving under the bridges seeing exactly where impact was
My friend Lee Brantley was on that flight !😢
When the acknowledge to someone's heartbreak is "like" there is pause in humanity. Sorry for your loss.
I can’t imagine the carnage…I unfortunately poked around a train fatality…kid was run over on his bike….kicked around pieces and saw dollops on bolts…it was my good friend Jeff ….traded bday parties…same little league team…class etc….i was 14….
We were in Belleville (small town north of the airport), and we had come an hour earlier using the Middlebelt/94 exit. We lived in Taylor at the time, and I remember hearing all the sirens. I saw the news reports about the crash, it was horrific. I won't use that exit still today.😢
West not North.
me either Carol.
How do you forget flaps? By not using checklists.
I was flying out of the same gate right after NW 255. Our baseball team just played over the weekend in a National baseball tournament in Detroit. We watched the crash and saw the explosion. It was horrific. An awful day. That plane had a baseball team from Phoenix on board. I can still see those images to this day. That was my first time flying and I will never forget the trauma of that day. When our plane left 5 hrs later we were diverted because of all the thunderstorms. I hate flying to this day. I pray everyone on board knew our Lord and Savior ✝️☝️
Wow I'm sorry this was your first experience with flying. It was horrific. I cried. I can't even begin to understand the nightmares you must have. I was at a nearby gas station and seen the fireball. God bless you, the families and loved ones.
Maybe the so-called lord and savior should have prevented the accident...
Your lord and savior allowed the crash to happen in the first place.
@@stephenstone8480 Why do bad things happen when God can prevent them?
He gave each of us 'free will'.
No one is forced into Christianity. It's a choice.
God can and does intervene when given the opportunity.
We live in a fallen world. We have an enemy who hates us and is at work to take as many folks into hell as he can.
My brother in law was working maintenance (airplane repair) for NW and was there when the accident happened. We didn't see him for a week after . Feds took over the NW hanger
Cecelia Chichan was the ONLY survivor of the flight 255 crash and was in the news for years in the Detroit area, she lost her parents on that flight. Her survival was credited as a miracle.
So terribly heart breaking 💔
So avoidable.
My mom told me my uncle was one of the first police officers on scene and he still is unable to speak of the event to this day. In fact, I think he might be Two Uniform Mike in the recording.
My father was waiting for a flight inside the terminal when people started gathering near the windows, wondering what happened.
We were flying in from St. Louis from a job we were working on, i remember flying over the scene of the crash, it was a horrific sight, my heart goes out to the family's of all involved.
*families. Apostrophes play no part in plurals and you were never taught that they do so why do it? Missed the class on take-off-the-y-add-ies too, did you?
@@markfox1545...or he used talk-to-text, and simply missed the typo. And yes, you're a troll.
I was on I-94 WB less than two miles away when I saw the fireball. The highway was closed within a minute or two. Little Celia Cichan the only survivor due to her mother covering her up.
I had a similar situation in 1989 on an Air Canada dc-9 from Toronto to Chicago. When the aircraft lined up on the runway I noticed from my window the flaps were up and suddenly the aircraft started it's takeoff roll with the flaps up and after about 7 seconds during the takeoff I noticed the flaps going down I guess the pilots must have gotten the takeoff config warning buzzer after they pushed the throttles and realized they were taking off without flaps and lowered them during the takeoff roll. I probably wouldn't be here now if the takeoff config warning buzzer was disabled like it was on Northwest 255. In those days there was few accidents do to pilot's forgetting to lower the flaps for takeoff especially on Dc-9's, 727's, and Md-80's.
I lived right by there. There’s a memorial but difficult to
get to because there’s no parking, just highway ramps/roads.
Kind of dangerous to just pull onto shoulder.
Apparently they didn't understand the gravity of not putting the flaps/slats out
I was visiting my parents in Belleville a stones throw from DTW airport. Remember seeing all the lit up emergency vehicles heading east on I-94. A drizzly summer evening. I still occasionally pass under the I-94 overpass on Middlebelt Rd where the flight crashed...the pine tree memorial trees they planted are so big now.
Flaps not being configured for takeoff, though rare, has been an all too common occurrence over the decades.
Situation repeats itself with SpanAir Crash in Madrid as the pilots didn't set the flaps after a delay maintenance check and quickly assumed on their taxi check list.
I’m not an expert, but I know modern airplanes have a takeoff warning horn that goes off if flap or thrust setting aren’t appropriate for takeoff.
Yes my daughter Baptism was on that day ,she isnow 38 I remember so well 😢
You named your daughter Baptism?
@nashvillecop1 no her name is Ashley she was Baptized on that day ..
I worked at the Wayne County complex our building was 100 or so yards from the crash. I was there the next morning after the crash. I'll never forget it.
A person I knew in the late 80’s was a police officer in a small city north of Detroit. He also worked part time as a mortician. When the call came out for all available morticians to respond to Detroit Metro Airport, he responded. I asked him a few years later about it. He said, there are 2 in his life that he will never forget, Vietnam and Flight 255. He just passed away earlier this year. 🙏
I used to teach CRM and NW 255 was one of the test cases that was taught. Classic ..
The Eastern Airlines flight that went down in the Everglades is another CRM classic case study.
@ Yes, flight 402.
I was a controller at Flint tower, north of Detroit. We heard about it on both the frequencies and land lines. Ironically, in college I was a journalism student at Oakland University in Rochester, MI. One of my professors was Jane Briggs-Bunting who had been a staff reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Some time after the crash she did a piece that was published in Life Magazine about the accident and the little girl who was the lone surviver. Even though she discovered the girl's name, she wrote the article while still keeping the child's anonymity. Too often we hear of aircraft accidents and the numbers of casualties. Each one of those victims was a person with hopes and dreams, and a family.
I flew into Detroit (my home) earlier that day from Pittsburgh via Northwest on the same kind of plane. Terrible shock when it was shown on that night's local news. Awful for the families of those who were lost.
Two professional pilots in the cockpit and they fail to configure the plane for takeoff. Darwinian award. They were dead as soon as they advanced the throttles.
Darwin, not darwinian. The englishes is not strong
They pulled the breakers for the warning systems, IIUC
@@deandownsouth The P40 breaker was too badly damaged to come to that conclusion.
@@ianhereinaz1 yeah, I saw one of those air disaster vids. I thought it was more conclusive, but I guess that would be hard to prove. Wasn't this one a change in a runway or taxi way and an interrupted checklist that they never heard them go through on the CVR?
In 2008 there was a basically identical accident in Barajas, Spain, also with a MD-82 from Spanair. She took off without flaps, officially for unknown reasons, and most of the people was killed.
I'll never forget that crash. My husband and i returned from a day at the lake and every station had the crash on. So sad for all on board and the first responders who look for people to save. There was only 1 little girl 😢
If I remember correctly, the thought was a fuse was pulled so that the taxi-warning did not go off because it happened so often when there was no issue.
I was working above the grocery in Franklin. A man was asking directions. The bed of his pick up truck was full of luggage. Charred luggage. It was sad.
I worked at a Dedicated Freight truck dock near there. North of 94 but a couple miles east. I'm thinking Beach Daly Road.. I worked with a guy who said it crossed the freeway just after he drove past Middlebelt. He also mentioned that the quality people of the Detroit area were picking through the wreckage while the bodies were still there. The road it crashed into was below grade and it funneled everything north. Also heard they were in a hurry because they had to beat the noise abatement regs in Arizona.
@@jamescoffron95, that incident occurred no where near Detroit. Detroit is about 30 miles or more that location. It had to have people living near the cite.(suburb’s of Detroit) 😊
@@patriciajackson9413 What are you talking about? What incident? I know it didn't technically disassemble and burn within the city limits.
@@jamescoffron95 intelligent person , you answer your own question.😊
I can't believe this just popped up in my feed. I was born in 85. My dad worked for the Wayne County Road Road Commission when this happened. I was told horror stories about this because he was part of the cleanup. He found dead kids and body parts. It messed him up for a long time. This was a horrific incident.
I lived 3 miles from Detroit Metro at the time this happened. My wife and I heard the crash from that distance! The intersection of I-94 and I-275 (which connected people west and south of Detroit to the highways leading downtown) were closed for months after this accident but you could make to the scene using Telegraph road and then some of the overpasses that were still open as detours. The scene was horrific! They had these yellow tarps they placed over anything that was considered human remains and they dotted the area for over a quarter mile! There was only one survivor, a little girl who's mother sacrificed her own body to lay over her child as the plane crashed and burned. One poor SOB was killed as he was driving the highway when the plane crashed! I read the NW pilot's comment, just below mine, and that is exactly what I heard had happened. 255's crew was so busy trying to reset runways and nav points that the pilot never did the checklist to see that his flaps were still in landing configuration. They had no chance of achieving lift. Just a terrible accident.
I knew a FA on that flight. She graciously switched with another FA who was celebrating her wedding anniversary. We were all heartbroken.
I remember this, I lived in Taylor, Michigan off of Wick road. I heard 2 big booms and the sky lit up west of me. My younger brother walked to the crash site. He says he wished he'd never seen it.