Flight 255 - 25th Anniversary

Tonight marks the 25th anniversary of the crash of Northwest Flight 255 in the Downriver community [[if you think it's one) of Romulus, southwest of Detroit. I am posting this a few minutes after the exact time it went down: 8:46 PM on August 16, 1987.

The plane just took off around this time 25 years ago. Suddenly, it hit a light pole, then tore the roof off a car rental facility, then went down on Middlebelt Road near an Amoco gas station at the intersection with Wick Road, crushing a railroad overpass before striking the overpass carrying the eastbound lanes of I-94.

Only one person survived this tragedy, a four-year-old named Cecelia Cichanand. Everyone else on the plane, along with two on the ground, perished.

So share your memories of one of metro Detroit-Windsor's worst tragedies, which happened exactly 25 years ago tonight.

It was headed to Phoenix.

I believe I was on a Northwest flight from Detroit to Phoenix just one day earlier. I'm not superstitious but I have to admit it was an eerie feeling.

One day off and I wouldn't be writing this now. :eek:

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Originally Posted by Jimaz

It was headed to Phoenix.

I believe I was on a Northwest flight from Detroit to Phoenix just one day earlier. I'm not superstitious but I have to admit it was an eerie feeling.

One day off and I wouldn't be writing this now. :eek:

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You came close to death on that one. Luckily you went the day before. I have heard of some stories where people who were supposed to be on Flight 255 had missed that flight, I guessed they thought it would crash! :p

i have a friend who was a wayne county sheriff and worked at the airport. she was a first responder. although she rarely talks about it to this day the one thing i remember her saying at the time was seeing body parts and flesh hanging from trees.

I was eastbound on 94 about 15 mins before the crash. I live about 8 miles east of the airport. I heard the crash as I was unloading my car, didn't realize what it was till I saw the news that night. I have a lot of family in Phoenix who took that same flight many times. Fortunately none of them were on it this night. Thoughts and prayers to the families and friends tonight.

I was headed west on Warren to visit a friend who tended bar near Rouge Park...saw the thick pillar of black smoke and could feel death from ten miles away. I knew something very bad had happened, it wasn't long before it was on the tvs at the bar.

Didn't think it affected me deeply until I saw the Faces of Death videotape a few weeks later. Made it almost through the entire ugly collection of imagery, until the one walking through the remnants of a plane crash.

Then it hit me...I barely made it to the bathroom before projectile vomiting. Too much death at one time.

I cannot imagine the first responder's reactions.

Drove by the memorial after picking up my partner from the airport tonight...bittersweet. Seemed to be cars parked everywhere they'd fit on the service drive and Middlebelt, and a few ambulances, too. And all the News trucks, of course.

A close friend of mine called me the day after the 255 crash. That Sunday night he was driving west on I-94 to the Wayne Rd. exist and a few seconds after he crossed over the Middlebelt Rd. bridge he hear a loud roar and saw the explosion in his rear view mirror. Drivers on I-94 pulled over and got out of their cars but there was nothing by that time that they could do to help because of the fire.

A few years later a friend of mine who was a small plane pilot told me that the crash was completely avoidable. The 255 pilots rushed through the preflight checklist and decided they were not going to complete it and shut off breakers controlling certain alarms such as the flaps/slats setting alarm. He said the cockpit voice recorder was used more or less as a what-no-to-do example. According to him the cockpit crew was completely responsible for the crash because they forgot to set the flaps and slats for take-off.

During the investigation some pilot witnesses on other flights claimed that they noticed that 255 had no proper flap/slats configuration while waiting for clearance. But one pilot did insist that he saw 255 with the correct flaps/slats wing configuration for takeoff.

does anyone remember the investigation? I think the investigators found evidence from the wreckage and data recorder that the flaps and slats were not set? I also think that the cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error.

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Originally Posted by kryptonite

does anyone remember the investigation? I think the investigators found evidence from the wreckage and data recorder that the flaps and slats were not set? I also think that the cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error.

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http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/76017/79942.html

I have a friend who lived in Inkster near Mich Ave & Harrison at the time. She told me how her family was outside barbequing. When the plane hit the ground, she said the ground shook like an earthquake. They could immediately see the smoke. They were only about 4 miles away. She & her brother tried to go see what happened, but got turned back.

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Originally Posted by mtburb

Only one person survived this tragedy, a four-year-old named Cecelia Cichanand.

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Thanks for starting this thread, mtburb. I just wanted to list the correct spelling of Cecelia Cichan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecelia_Cichan

Strangely, I arrived at Metro from Houston, about an hour earlier.

Stromberg2

Awful memories of that night. I had just gotten my first big job and started the next day. I was still living at home and relaxing watching TV and trying to get my mind off being nervous for the next day. The bulletin came on the TV then more and more and each new story was worse. I knew my brother was flying in that day but didnt know any details. Soon found out it was an outgoing flight so he wouldnt have been on it. One of my friends lost her mother I later found out.
I keep thinking about what it would have been like being on that flight and knowing for a few moments that you were going to crash. SAD

Just as the news came on the TV, our whole neighborhood lost power. We lived on the east side of Detroit so there was no connection. It was very warm and we took our 6" battery powered B&W TV out onto the porch and watched tiny images of what was happening. Many neighbors were there with us sharing out little TV.

I remember hearing about it on WWJ while falling asleep that night. Also that it was the only topic of conversation at work the next morning.

I also remember flying after the NTSB issued its report the following summer noticing every NW plane had its flaps set as it left the terminal. I was always curious whether that was a corporate mandate or whether the pilots decided to push the flaps to the top of the checklist on their own.

I have nothing but admiration for pilots [[there have been a few takeoffs and landings I've experienced where I've been thankful for their training and professionalism), but this was a flight where the professionalism fell apart and a disaster happened.

Pilot error thing: He took off with the flaps in the wrong position. The plane hit a light pole in an airport parking lot that was said to have been the last bit of resistance to the plane attaining lift. See Professional Pilot Rumor Network on this and other aviation topics at pprune.or

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Originally Posted by Al Publican

Pilot error thing: He took off with the flaps in the wrong position.

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NTSB also found an electrical error in the airplane. The warning light that is associated with the step that the pilots missed before takeoff never went on. It was an unbelievably unfortunate coincidence that the pilots made the error they did, and the plane simultaneously had a problem that prevented it from warning the pilots of that exact error.

Have to be careful not to oversimplify an accident where so many people were lost, including the pilots.

Cecelia Marie Cichan. This lady was the mysterious 4 year old girl who survived the crash. There is a book coming out about lone survivors and she decided to participate with that group in telling their stories. The tattoo on her wrist is a memorial for 255.

Here's the story that goes with that photo: Cecelia Cichan, Sole Survivor of Michigan Plane Crash, Shares Her Story. Video at the link.

Documentary: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWrcRRmPH6I

i remember seeing it on the news, and hearing rumors that people went to the crash site looking to loot people's luggage/jewelry/whatever they could grab. this is how the rest of the world thinks of detroit...btw, cecelia's tattoo is awesome, and it's amazing that she survived.

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Originally Posted by mauser

NTSB also found an electrical error in the airplane. The warning light that is associated with the step that the pilots missed before takeoff never went on. It was an unbelievably unfortunate coincidence that the pilots made the error they did, and the plane simultaneously had a problem that prevented it from warning the pilots of that exact error.

Have to be careful not to oversimplify an accident where so many people were lost, including the pilots.

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Most accidents are the result of multiple unanticipated simultaneous failures.

And I do think its much too easy to blame the pilots in a lot of cases.

However, I think is pretty well agreed here that the pilots were in error. Sure, a warning light failed to remind them. And we have warning indicators for collisions, etc. But it remains the pilots job to execute basic flight steps.

During the investigation I thought I heard that the pilots had turned the flaps-set alarm breaker off because it makes an annoying alarm sound to pilots warning them to set the flaps/slats and that this particular flight crew were in a hurry and did not want the alarm annoyance.

Afterwards didn't the NTSB require planes to install circuit breaker 'locks' to prevent pilots from switching the breakers off? I thought that was one of the recommendations of the Flight 255 investigation.

The NTSB Full Report says they couldn't determine exactly why the alarm had no power from the circuit breaker. I couldn't find anything there about a circuit breaker lock.

Humorous side notes: I used to work within earshot of a lab where they designed similar aural alarms. They had some problems getting the voice right initially. Instead of "wind shear" it kept saying "wench ear." I had a weather radio with a similar robotic voice. Instead of "Stay away from windows" it would say "Stay away from weirdos" — aways sage advice. ;)

For many years after the accident, the grooves that the plane had cut into the pavement at the intersection of Wick and Middlebelt were still there. That always used to freak me out.