Pilots Under Pressure (Northwest Flight 255) - DISASTER BREAKDOWN

In the previous video, we looked at a devastating accident in Brazil where the pilots involved lost control of their plane just seconds after take-off. Some of those who investigated that accident, they looked into the possibility of mis-configuration of the aircraft being a possible cause. Of course that was not the case there, but it does begs the questions of, what does “misconfiguration of a plane” mean? And is it implied that such thing has happened before? The answer to the latter being yes, numerous times. And we’ll look at one of those incidents today. The accident of Northwest Airlines Flight 255 was devastating for Detroit. Lets breakdown what happened that day and just where things went wrong.

The date was August 16th, 1987. Detroit’s Metropolitan Airport is one of the largest airports in the United States. Currently today, it is a hub for Delta Airlines. Prior to their acquisition of Northwest Airlines, they too operated a hub out of Detroit. Northwest Airlines was at one point one of the largest airlines in the country.

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[robertmcghintheorca]

In regards to the sole survivor of the crash, Cecelia Cichan Crocker, she didn't speak out about the disaster until around 25 years later. She understandably deals with PTSD, but has taken comfort in knowing that the best measures have been taken to make sure what happened that night won't happen again. And in a bittersweet gesture to her family and the other victims of the crash, she has the silhouette of an MD-82 tattooed on her wrist.

[EmilyBarrettt]

I live about 5 minutes away from DTW. I’ve talked to neighbors and they remember this crash. There were body parts all over Middlebelt road and some even farther. It was disturbing, and it’s crazy to think that a road I travel on daily had something so horrible happen on it. Rip to the people who lost their lives that day.

[rrknl]

Former DC-9 pilot here, yes the takeoff configuration warning system was indeed prone to give false warnings. Often enough that it became quite annoying.

It works like are microswitches on the throttle, flap position indicator and a few others but these two are the main source of the problem. If the flaps are retracted and the throttle is advanced past a certain position, you'd get a TCWS warning. Both visual and audible.

Often, if you stopped while taxiing, and you'd need to advance the throttles past the alarm point in order to get moving again. Since the flaps were still retracted, you'd get the warning before you were even close to the runway.

Not only was this annoying but it also caused you to distrust all warnings, including valid ones.

[djmoch]

This one stuck with me since I was a teenager, since I live about an hour away from the airport and remember it vividly, and the fact there was a single survivor of that tragic crash.

[Yukis.aviation]

The creepiest part is that Spanair flight 5022 crashed just 4 days after the 21st anniversary Northwest flight 255, being operated by the same plane, crashing for the same reason, and had the exact same amount of fatalities.

[JJJRRRJJJ]

My dad’s favorite seat was always the one in the back right next to the engines. He loved sleeping to the extremely loud hum of the engine. To me, I thought it was just a bit disconcerting for my head to be like 12 inches away from a bunch of titanium blades spinning at a billion miles per hour…

[privatepilot]

I was at this crashsite last week where it occurred on Middlebelt Road between the bridges of the opposite lanes of I-94. I remember seeing the smoke of the crash when it occurred years ago. I remember it was on a Sunday. There was a business jet crash into some fuel tanks within a half mile from this crash in about 1972. The plane crashed into some large fuel storage tanks.

[christinecrawford]

I live at Merriman and Van Born, which is just over 2 miles north of the DTW entrance and a mile west of Middlebelt so planes are constantly going over our neighborhood. I was 18 and in travel agent school when this happened. I just remember being completely devastated. My former high school boyfriend was working at Avis at the time and he has never been quite the same. It definitely affected my awareness of the flaps everytime I ever flew.

[wyomingadventures]

The first responders were shocked to find the little girl alive. If I remember right she was in bad condition. Terrible accident!

[SinaLaJuanaLewis]

I grew up not far from there and I remember this crash. I was in high school. It was all over the news😢😢😢

[juliehogan]

My parents were both engineers for GM at the time. GM had a proving grounds in Phoenix and they said there were about 12 GM engineers on this flight. My parents surprisingly didn’t know any of them. But GM changed its policy that only a certain number of employees can be on the same flight after this accident. Also kind of scary to think my mom flew down to Phoenix quite a bit at the time out of Detroit on Northwest.

[bufogeist]

Thank you for covering this particular case! As tragic as it was, it's darkly fascinating to learn about such a disaster that happened so close to where I live.

[jamesupp]

Flight 255 was on of the case studies my instructor had me read up on while working on my PPL, it always stuck with me how time pressure is truly what doomed that flight.

On another note I have an accident I highly recommend you look into if you get the chance. It’s a bit of a forgotten one but look up the 1986 Grand Canyon mid air collision, certainly an interesting case.

[kevinbarry]

Forgetting to set the flaps before takeoff? That is an astonishing mistake for any pilot to make

[marmalade]

I was flying a lot back then. I was in my twenties and just starting out in my career. my dad is an airline pilot or was at the time. it really messed his head up that I was flying so much. this wasn't an uncontrollable accident. it shouldn't have happened. I guess the randomness of it made my dad get involved every time I had to fly lol. where was my seat, he would look at the tail number and look it up. back then that kind of info was available, may still be. I couldn't fly northwest, eastern, American... or he would have a fit. he was the kind of father that would actually go with me and talk to the pilots if he wasn't working.... so embarrassing at the time. this accident really shook a lot of people

[CGFIELDS]

Glad to see the crew ages have returned.
It gives the crew a better sense of humanity, as it makes me think how I might have responded at that age.

[wellhello]

This is honestly my biggest fear when flying, which I do regularly. My friends and family even usually say 'flaps, flaps' to me before I get on a flight, as I told them multiple times about airplane crashes where pilots forgot to extend the flaps correctly for take-off. I do keep an eye on those flaps every time we are taxing to the take off strip. But ultimately, you have to trust the pilots in charge and hope that they stick to the checklists, no matter how many flight hours they already have.

[emo]

A while ago I read extensively about this accident because i was fascinated that there had been one survivor. I read that the main reason why investigators believed she survived was because she was just small enough that the aircraft seat protected her head and body acting like a sort of shield around her, and she was also just 'big enough' for the seatbelt to protect her. As opposed to being harmed by the seatbelt as some much younger children could be.

[caustic]

Thank you for explaining in basic terms what the components of these planes do. It really helps with understanding these disasters and why they happened.

[LostinMayberry]

My coworkers, who were working on some of the very first ambulances to arrive, to this day will not fly. One who was a newer EMT quit within the next couple of weeks. The rest finished their careers overtime, but it was not a subject you ever brought up to them. One is a very good musician who has composed music that is used at the Memorial meetings for families. He’s very active in those groups. I think he finds it very healing.