Northwest Airlines Flight 255

Northwest Airlines Flight 255 was a scheduled flight of Northwest Airlines, which should lead from Saginaw with stops in Detroit and Phoenix to Santa Ana on August 16, 1987. However, the McDonnell Douglas MD -82 crashed inserted shortly after taking off in Detroit, with 156 people on board and two on the ground lost their lives. The four -year-old female passenger Cecelia Cichan survived as the only seriously injured.

Aircraft and crew

The aircraft was a twin-engine McDonnell Douglas MD -82 with the aircraft identification N312RC. On board the flight 255 there were 149 passengers, two pilots and a four-person cabin crew.

Misfortune course

The rotation at the start ( lifting the front landing gear ) was approximately between 1200-1500 feet ( 360-460 meters) before the end of the runway at Detroit airport. During the climb, the aircraft rolled through 35 degrees in both directions. The left wing struck a light pole about 0.5 miles ( 800 m) beyond the end of the runway, hit more lamp posts, the roof of a building a car rental company and then the floor. The aircraft slid even further on the ground along the center line of the runway near the Interstate 94

The only survivor from the plane was a four- year old girl from Tempe, Arizona. Their parents and her six- year-old brother died in the crash. After the crash, the girl lived with relatives in Birmingham, Alabama, which she kept away from the public interest. Among the 154 passengers on board was Nick Vanos, a center of the basketball team Phoenix Suns. At the bottom two drivers came on nearby Middlebelt Road at the crash. Another person was severely and four slightly injured. All the bodies were transported to a hangar of the airport, which served as a temporary morgue.

Cause of the accident

At the probable cause of the crash of the accident presented the National Transportation Safety Board stated "that the pilots taxi checklist not used and was therefore not ensured that the flaps and slats were extended for the start of the required position. Crash has also helped that the takeoff warning system was no electricity and thus the pilots were not warned that their plane was not configured properly for takeoff.

The cockpit voice recorder in the cockpit (CVR ) provided the evidence that the pilots had skipped the taxi checklist. The stall warning was announced, but without the characteristic structure echo by the offset from the left and right channels. Using the CVR could set the investigators that no acoustic takeoff warning was announced. The person responsible for the takeoff warning and the echo or left channel P40 - assurance had been switched off by the pilots for the roles because these sounded even when rolling and was perceived by most pilots to be annoying. He had, however, forget the P40 fuse to start again.

Aftermath

In memory of the victims of a black granite memorial plaque was erected, which is surrounded by blue spruce trees. It is located on the top of the hill near the Middlebelt Road and Interstate 94, the crash site. The plaque shows a dove with a ribbon in its beak with the words: "Their spirit still lives on ... " (your spirit still lives on ...). Right and left of it are the names of those killed by the crash.

A monument to the victims of the accident, many of which were from the vicinity of Phoenix, stands next to the town hall in the center of Phoenix, Arizona.

On 16 August 2007, the 20th anniversary of the crash, a memorial service at the crash site was maintained. For some of the people who were drawn by the accident affected, it was the first time that they returned there.

Filming

In the 3rd episode of Season 7 of the Canadian documentary series Mayday - Alarm in the cockpit of the accident was as Cockpit Chaos ( Alarming Silence ) filmed in English, and as chaos in the cockpit in German.