Welcome to Northwest Flight 255 Memorial Home | The Crash | In Loving Memory | Resources | Guestbook | eMail | Search View the Memorial Marker Copyright 2003 Flight 255 Memorial. Northwest Flight 255 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight of a MD-82, that day being N312RC, between Saginaw and Santa Ana, California, with en route stops at Detroit and Phoenix, Arizona. There were 155 people on board, 110 from Arizona. She heard on the news the plane had crashed.. Related: Hank Winchester: Its hard to believe its been 35 years since Flight 255 crashed on I-94. More than 30 of the passengers were under 25. It was a day you wouldnt want anybody to go through, said Pontante of Fulton, New York. The National Transportation Safety Board conducted a full investigation of the crash. On August 16, 2007, the 20th anniversary of the crash, a memorial service was held at the site. He started heading for the scene. The Washington Post compiled a list of victims of the crash using information from the Wayne County medical examiners office as well as the victims relatives: A black granite memorial was built in 1994 to commemorate the victims. 2. Steve drove his coworker to the airport. Flight attendant Bruce R. Elfering, 23, Eagan, Minnesota Flight attendant Pamela O. Sparks-Shaffer, 36, Chandler, Arizona Passengers KIlled Aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 255 In another part, family members examined personal belongings recovered from the crash site, looking for jewelry or some other item that would help to identify the body found wearing it or near it amid the wreckage. Captain Maus asked his first officer to verify that they could use runway 3C for takeoff. Northwest Airlines Flight 255 is one of the deadliest aviation crashes in the nation. Its sad, but you learn to cope with it.. First published on February 10, 2020 / 10:23 PM. J. Cathie Corona, 44, St. Clair Shores, Mich. Lewis Dresch, 45, Sterling Heights, Mich. Ernest John Mathews, 38, Sterling Heights, Mich. Eric Mazade, 30, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. Suzanne Morris, 35, Federal Way, Wash., off-duty Northwest flight attendant. Cichan, now 34, whose married name is Crocker,was rescued by Romulus firefighter John Thiede. Two people on. As the plane rushed down the runway, it lifted only 40 feet off the ground. If it wasnt the pilots themselves, the aircraft, or the weather, it had to be the takeoff configuration. Northwest will pay for the funeral and will fly the family back home, as it is doing for other victims families. [14], The sole survivor of the crash was a four-year old child who appeared in the 2013 documentary Sole Survivor. Two motorists on nearby Middlebelt Road also perished and five people on the ground were injured, one seriously. Melvin C. Roundy, 53, Mesa, off-duty Northwest employe. . Flight attendant Pamela D. Sparks-Shaffer, 36, Chandler, Ariz. Rhett Taylor Bushong, 19, Mission Viejo, Calif. Capt. including Northwest Airlines flight 255 at Detroit, Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Continental Airlines flight 1713 in Denver, United Airlines flight 811 over the Pacific Ocean, United Airlines . More: Firefighter who pulled lone survivor from Flight 255 wreckage talks about crash, 35 years later, From the Vault: News coverage from crash of Northwest Flight 255 in 1987. Rick Pluta and Pat Batcheller discuss Michigans deadliest aviation disaster. Erica Thomsen, 61, Lake Havasu City, Ariz. Ernest John Mathews, 38, Sterling Heights, Mich. Eric Mazade, 30, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. Suzanne Morris, 35. Because lets face it, after the funeral, people go back to their lives. [4], The aircraft involved in the crash was a twin-engined 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 National Traffic Safety Administration determines that the probable cause of the accident was the flight crews failure to use the taxi checklist to ensure that the flaps and slats were extended for takeoff. NTSB Aircraft Accident Report, page 68. The bodies were moved to the Northwest hangar at the airport, which served as a temporary morgue. The victims of the crash included NBA player Nick Vanos, seven people from Orange County, California and a four-month old baby from Arizona. Three possible conditions would have caused power to be interrupted at the P-40 circuit breaker - the circuit breaker was intentionally opened by either the flight crew or maintenance personnel, the circuit breaker tripped because of a transient overload and the flight crew did not detect the open circuit breaker, or the circuit breaker did not allow current to flow to the CAWS power supply and did not annunciate the condition by tripping. The wreckage of Northwest Airlines Flight 255. "This song is emotional and beautiful and powerful and it captures that night," he said. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Her father, Tom Polec of Rochester Hills, agreed as he surveyed the crowd of supporters. Over the years, Thiede has kept in contact with Cichan. U.S. District Judge Julian A. Cook . Contributing to the accident was the absence of electrical power to the airplane takeoff warning system, which thus did not warn the flightcrew that the airplane was not configured properly for takeoff. At 8:44 p.m., Flight 255 was cleared for takeoff. Most of them want to be here, to be where it happened, said a Northwest official who requested anonymity. Now after three decades, a local first responder is paying tribute to the victims and their families. This is all we do. _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-16729709-1']); The Northwest hangar at the airport served as a temporary morgue. In total, 154 people on their way to Phoenix died that day in Detroit on August 16, 1987. There was a possible failure of the takeoff warning system to provide aural warning for an improper takeoff configuration. PHOENIX Thirty-five years ago, countless lives were changed forever when an airliner crashed shortly after take-off, killing everyone on board except a four-year-old girl. The CVR provided evidence of the flight crew's omission of the taxi checklist. He also authors the Morning Report Newsletter and various other newsletters. It could not be determined conclusively why the first officer did not lower the flaps. Right to zero six zero cleared to go northwest two fifty five. Following the crash, investigators started to attempt to gain an understanding of how Flight 255 crashed. Kirk Murdy was returning to Phoenix where he and Craig were living and working. Family and friends of the victims and others from across the Metro Detroit area (including local media) attended, and a local priest read each victim's name aloud. Binding together after the Flight 255 crash has also led to some changes in aviation laws. 6. Over the years, families of the victims have gathered at a black granite memorial near I-94 and Middlebelt to mark the anniversary of the disaster. At 20:44:04, Flight 255 was cleared for takeoff. The airline has been extremely protective of the families privacy, even taking the highly unusual step of withholding the list of those who were on the flight. Surviving family members of the 156 persons who perished in the plane crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255 on Aug. 16, 1987, will gather for their annual memorial Monday night at . [1]:2 During the stopover in Detroit, a Northwest Airlines mechanic inspected the aircraft and the logbook. The jetliner was bound for Phoenix, and many of the victims were from the Valley. The possibility existed that after receiving the runway change, the first officer delayed lowering the flaps, perhaps anticipating a different flap setting due to the runway change. The controller advised that a 3-minute delay was needed to allow the wake turbulence from the previous aircraft that had taken off to dissipate. Unfortunately, we'll never know. Also, a marker stone is located at the General Motors Proving Ground in Milford, MI, in memory of the 14 GM employees and seven family members who were killed in the crash. The only survivor was four-year-old Cecelia Cichan. The only survivor, Cecelia Cichan, a four-year-old from Arizona, was traveling with her mother, father, and older brother. 45. Thirty years ago, as she departed Detroit Metropolitan Airport after dropping off her 22-year-old son, Kirk, Murdy witnessed Northwest Airlines Flight 255 come crashing down into a nearby building before exploding. Interviews with first officers and other captains who had flown with him described him as a competent and capable pilot. I knew it was his plane, she said. Northwest one eighty five metro tower three center taxi into position and hold you have about three minutes two to three minutes on the runway. Investigators believedhuman error most likely caused the crash. The families of dozens of victims have . The flight was headed to California when it left the gate in. Melvin C. Roundy, 53, Mesa, Ariz., offduty Northwest employee. At 20:35:43, the ground controller instructed to use taxiway C and switch to frequency 119.45MHz to communicate with another controller. Nicole Polecs, whoseaunt and uncle, Lisa Polec-Klaft and Don Klaft, died in the crash, said herlate grandmother formed a support group to help others affected by the tragedy and sees the anniversary gathering as an extension of those efforts. This evidence suggested that the aircraft had encountered a wind shear that decreased its performance capability. Rick Pluta was a reporter for United Press International at the time. Amid the carnage was 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan, the sole survivor of Northwest Flight 255. In the process of taxiing, Flight 255 missed the required turn, so Dodds contacted the ground controller and received instructions on how to proceed to runway 3C, and also to switch to 119.45MHz. The DC-4, used by Northwest Airlines for Flight 2501 was a sturdy and reliable aircraft. 5. The report claims the flight crew failed to use the taxi checklist, leading to the aircrafts flaps and slats not being properly extended before takeoff. Wayne County Medical Examiner Dr. Werner U. Spitz, who is supervising the identification of the bodies, has said he hopes to be able to release a complete list of the crash victims by the end of the week. Family and friends of Flight 255 victims gathered at the memorial site for a ceremony at 8 p.m. Wednesday to honor the lives of their loved ones. Because of this, the Safety Board first sought to determine if the plane had encountered a wind shear, it could be the reason the plane went down. This lead to the plane's wing flaps failing to extend prior to takeoff. [8][9] Romulus firemen found Cichan still belted in her seat, which was faced down. Graves along with singer Mindi Odom recorded a song in the summer of 2019, shortly after visiting the crash site memorial on Middlebelt off I-94 honoring those who died in the crash. According to the crash report, all of these issues in the takeoff ultimately contributed to the overall system failure. It was the day when American Airlines Flight 191 crashed minutes after taking off from O'Hare Airport in Chicago. In addition to Rhett Bushong, two women originally had been scheduled to fly to Orange County on Sunday aboard Continental Airlines Flight 657. On August 16, 1987 a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 255, crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, about 8:46 pm EDT , resulting in the deaths of all six crew members and 148 of the 149 passengers, along with two people on the ground. On Tuesday evening, Joan Pontante laid a sketched picture of her brother, his wife and three kids on the black granite memorial. Staff writer Mark Landsbaum, in Orange County, contributed to this story. The only survivor was a child on the plane. It was just one of those mothers instincts.. Two motorists on Middlebelt Road were also killed. Virginia Robinson. Contributing to the accident was the absence of electrical power to the airplane takeoff warning system which thus did not warn the flightcrew that the airplane was not configured properly for takeoff. An investigation of their personal background and actions during the days before the accident also turned up normal. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. A black granite memorial was built in 1994 to commemorate the victims. Everybody was milling around the table trying to see something, Donnie Ratliff said about the scene inside the morgue. When the airplane hit the eastbound I-94 overpass, it burst into flames. bus and the CAWS unit. Jerome D. Cook, 48, Phoenix, off-duty Northwest employe. [1]:2526 Many of the passengers were from the Phoenix metropolitan area, one of them was Nick Vanos, an NBA center for the Phoenix Suns. He was called easy to work with, good in all respects, and very personable. His ability and performance were described in favorable terms. Subscribe today. We were all very close.. var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); In total, 154 people on their way to Phoenix died that day in Detroit on August 16, 1987. On Aug. 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 took off from runway 3C at 8:46 p.m. with 148 passengers and six crew members. Flight attendant Michael L. Kahle, 34, LeSueur, Minn. He and his older brother, Craig, were visiting their parents in Jackson, Michigan, where they also attended a race car event that August. The lone survivor was 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan of Tempe, Arizona. This change in takeoff routine could be the reason the TAXI checklist was forgone. Theyre not willing to accept it . Thirty minutes before the accident, other pilots reported wind shear alerts near Detroit Metro. Their Airplane Flying Handbook stated that good cockpit management requires consistent checklist usage. Copyright 2022 by WDET and Wayne State University. [] CVR [ CVR ] CAWS :beep beep beep beep Stall x3 CAWS : ( )x3 Captain :ah, fuck!