29 Years Later- Northwest 255

On August 16th 1987, an MD-82 registered as N321RC and belonging to Northwest Airlines, departed Minneapolis-St Paul as Flight 750, bound for Saginaw Michigan. Once there it became Flight 255, operating to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California, with stops in Detroit, and Phoenix.

The flight arrived in Detroit with one minor problem, but didn't require maintenance, so continued on. Upon departure from Detroit, the aircraft began rolling left and right as it passed 50 feet. Upon passing 2700 feet from the end of the runway, the left wing struck a light pole, causing the wing to come apart and catch fire. As a result the aircraft flipped over, struck the top of an Avis rental car building, and landed on Middlebelt Road, and slammed into a train trestle and overpass for I-94. Of the 154 passengers and crew, only a 4 year old girl survived. Two people on the ground were killed when the aircraft hit their car.

The NTSB determined that during taxi to the runway, the crew failed to follow the pretakeoff checklist, and extend the flaps and slats. The aural stall warning sounded on takeoff, but due to an electrical failure the Central Aural Warning System failed to announce that the aircraft was improperly configured for takeoff. Investigators determined that there was a failure between the left DC bus and CAWS unit at the P-40 circuit breaker, but it was too badly damaged to determine if the breaker was tripped or deliberately opened.

en.wikipedia.org...

Starting at approximately 2045:09 and over the next eight seconds at about 2.5 second intervals, the aural tone and voice warnings of the supplemental stall recognition system (SSRS) activated. From 2044:01, just prior to takeoff clearance, to 2045:05, when the sounds of the stick shaker commenced, the CVR did not record any sounds of the takeoff warning system (TOWS). Activation of the TOWS during this portion of the takeoff sequence would indicate that the airplane was not properly configured for takeoff.
According to the NTSB report, witnesses indicated that Flight 255's takeoff roll was longer than that normally made by similar airplanes. Witnesses stated that Flight 255 began its rotation about 1,200 to 1,500 feet from the departure end of the runway, rotated to a higher pitch angle than other DC-9s, and that the tail came close to striking the runway.
After Flight 255 became airborne it began rolling left and right. Witnesses estimated that the bank angles during the rolls varied from 15° to 90°. Some witnesses stated that the wings leveled briefly and then banked to the left just before the left wing collided with a light pole in a rental car lot. The collision sheared off a 17-foot section of the outboard left wing.
After impacting the light pole, Flight 255 continued to roll to the left, continued across the rental car lot, struck a light pole in a second rental car lot, and struck the side wall of the roof of the rental car facility in the second rental car lot. Witnesses stated that the airplane was in a 90° left-wing-down attitude when it struck the roof, and that it continued rolling and was still rolling to the left when the airplane impacted the ground on a road outside the airport boundary.
The airplane continued to slide across the road, struck a railroad embankment, and disintegrated as it slid along the ground. Fires erupted in the airplane components scattered along the wreckage path. Three occupied vehicles on the road and numerous vacant vehicles in the auto rental parking lot along the airplane's path were destroyed by impact forces and/or fire. All 6 crewmembers and 148 passengers were killed; 1 passenger, a 4-year-old child, was seriously injured. On the ground, two persons were killed, one person was seriously injured, and four persons suffered minor injuries.

lessonslearned.faa.gov...

a reply to: Zaphod58

It's incredible that the soul-survivor was a 4 year old named Cecilia. Amazing history, thanks for sharing Zaphod

a reply to: Zaphod58

I was 3 1/2 miles from the crash. 1st, the explosion's boom shook my house foundation and my neighbors were all leaving their houses.
The plane took off, tipped and a wing caught an outbuilding throwing the plane down into Middlebelt road at the underpass.

To the southwest at Metro Airport, along 1-94 a huge plume of thick black smoke was rising quickly. It was then we could hear the sirens in the distance and locally as all units from surrounding areas began responding.

We jumped in our car and headed there...but were stopped about 1 or 1 1/2 miles before the crash, but people were running on foot up to the freeway to see west which had a clear view to the airport.

The freeway was quickly closed. Horribly memory...

If the plane's wing DIDNT clip that building...it wouldve crashed across and over the freeway into a large suburban neighborhood potentially killing hundreds of people and homes as well.

a reply to: mysterioustranger

As horrible as it sounds, they were lucky. Better that the people on the plane were the majority of the dead, than for them to slide across the interstate into a housing area.

a reply to: Zaphod58

and I was asking and? Because you left the OP hanging on " but it was too badly damaged to determine if the breaker was tripped or deliberately opened."

Do you believe there was something suspicious by insinuating that the breaker may have been deliberately opened?

a reply to: ChesterJohn

No, it was pilot error. I only included that bit, because it was interesting. There was nothing to indicate that there was any kind of sabotage, or anything but pilot error. At no point on the CVR was there a flap call, or response, and the flaps showed fully retracted on the FDR at the start of the takeoff roll.

As much as we all hate the IRS I had a friend that was supposed to be on that plane but the IRS seized everything for $800 in taxes and he had no money to come home on. It was his second near death episode the first was a fire that he spent a year in the hospital from.



We would have taken him to the airport and probably witnessed the whole thing.......

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hey Zaph? There is a memorial plaque under the overpass you pass when driving down Middle belt.

In next couple days I can stop n video the area, flight path and plaque at the crash site in real time and upload here.

Going slow... Been in hospital... Do my best.... Peace.
PS : Baby Celia did a video interview when she became n adult-24 I think.

MS

a reply to: mysterioustranger

That would be awesome if you can.

I remember she came out and did the interview, but they were really careful about protecting her from the attention after the crash.