Northwest Airlines Flight 255
Aftermath of the Flight 255 crash, N312RC's debris field scattered along Middlebelt Road, near I-94 in Romulus
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| Occurrence summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | August 16, 1987 |
| Summary | Improper take-off configuration due to pilot mis-management of aircraft and confusion |
| Site | Romulus, Michigan, United States |
| Passengers | 149 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 156 (including 2 on ground) |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 6 (including 5 on ground) |
| Survivors | 1 (Cecelia Cichan) |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas MD-82 |
| Operator | Northwest Airlines |
| Registration | N312RC |
| Flight origin |
MBS International Airport Saginaw, Michigan |
| Stopover |
Wayne County Airport Detroit, Michigan |
| Last stopover |
Sky Harbor International Airport Phoenix, Arizona |
| Destination |
John Wayne Airport Santa Ana, California |
Northwest Airlines Flight 255, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport on August 16, 1987, at about 8:46 p.m. EDT (00:46 UTC August 17), killing all six crew members and 148 of its 149 passengers. The sole survivor was a 4-year-old girl, Cecelia Cichan, who sustained serious injuries. It was the second-deadliest aviation accident at the time in the United States.
The incident aircraft was a twin-engine McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (registration number N312RC) a derivative of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and part of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series of aircraft. The jet was manufactured in 1981, entering service with Republic Airlines and acquired by Northwest Airlines in its merger with Republic in 1986. At the time of the accident, the aircraft in question was painted in a hybrid livery between Northwest Airlines and Republic Airlines, featuring blue Republic striping with red Northwest titles and a white tail.
Flight 255's captain was John R. Maus, age 57. Maus was an experienced pilot who had worked for the airline for 31 years. Other pilots who had flown with Maus described him as a "competent and capable pilot" who had a reputation for operating "by-the-book".
The flight's first officer was David J. Dodds, age 35. Dodds had logged 8,044 flight hours during his career, and had worked for the airline for more than eight years. Other than one training report during his probationary period, all of the airline's captains with whom Dodds had flown graded him as average or above average. Other pilots who had recently flown with Dodds later described his performance in favorable terms.
The flight crew began August 16, 1987, by operating the incident aircraft as Northwest Flight 750 from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport, flying to MBS International Airport in Saginaw, Michigan. Departing Saginaw, the flight crew operated the same aircraft as Flight 255, flying to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California with intermediate stops at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Michigan (outside of Detroit, Michigan) and Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona. Other than a minor problem taxiing to the arrival gate, the flight from Saginaw to Detroit was uneventful.
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