Pilots Under Pressure (Northwest Flight 255) - DISASTER BREAKDOWN 

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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.

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…

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.

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.

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 this.......there 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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A classmate of mine from Costa Mesa High School died in this crash. RIP Hidi!

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

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

I remember this disaster a lot of the fatality were from Arizona. But there was one cheerleader that was killed in this disaster from Ohio, so they talked to her about that a lot on the news here in Ohio.

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.

Imagine having 20k flight hours and it ended this way, gone just like that

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.

I took off from Detroit with a Northwest DC 9 only one month before the crash. I was a tourist from Austria. As we took off I watched the I-94 underneath and thought to myself: This is dangerous. I even mentionrd it to my buddy. Back in Austria I learned about the crash. Couldn't believe it. I also sat inside the "Mozart" from Lauda Airlines. 1 year later she came down. 1989 I drove over the Oakland Bridge and thought about the danger of an earthquake which was announced. Back home in Austria she collapsed. I still fly and still go on vacations.

Thank you for posting this video. August 16, 1987. Northwest Airlines Flight 255. I will never forget. I have ties to this terrible day. It still brings tears to my eyes over 34 years later. At the time, this was the 2nd worst airplane accident in US history. I was stationed in Tucson, Arizona, at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and was a Senior airman. I served with the Englert's and knew them for three and a half years. Karen was a Staff Sargent and was the NCO (non-commission officer) in charge of my shop. Charles was in our shop when I first arrived for duty but later went into the reserves, attended college, and worked for the USPS. They were also good friends. My wife did daycare for Charles Jr. (14 months old) My wife and myself were house-sitting for them while visiting their parents back east. We were supposed to pick them up at the Tucson, Arizona airport that night. It was a beautiful day as we waited to go to the airport. That beautiful day turned into the worst day of my life when I got that phone call. Karen’s father called us, and he was concerned that they were on that airplane. Of course, we went to the airport anyway. While waiting at the Tucson Airport, we called the airline to get information. They asked if we were relatives, and I lied. I said that my wife was Karen’s sister. The airline said that they were listed as being on that flight. We waited at the Airport for the connection flight to arrive in Tucson, hoping for a miracle, but they didn’t get off the airplane. As we privately hugged and cried, a news station was filming. I’m so glad that they did not approach us. Several other people were also waiting. One couple waiting for their mother did not know about the crash. I had a copy of the local news story on VHS that a friend recorded for us, but it was destroyed in a house fire several years later. We went back to their home but didn’t get much sleep that night. In the days that followed, I was ordered to turn over the house keys to the Air Force. I was given the solemn duty of accompanying an Air Force Officer to the airport to pick up their parents so they could pack up their belongings. The Air Force Base held a memorial service. This happened three months to the day that my Air Force enlistment was ending, and I spent my remaining time in a mental fog. Last year I attended the 34th annual memorial service at the crash site in Romulus, Michigan. The first time I've ever attended one. I meet the first responders that are in this video and family members. They are the nicest people! I'm planning on attending the 35th this year. I posted a video of the memorial service two days ago, and it is in my RU-vid library. May God Bless you all!

I flew on the MD 80 series as a passenger many times. Great plane!

Another amazing, informative video. Thanks for putting out 2 this week!

I remember the night this crash happened, my grandfather came over and told us there was a crash in Detroit. My family and I were flying from LAX to DTW and finally on to ORD. We flew out of Detroit 5 hours before this crash happened.

I've just discovered your channel; I'm enjoying it lots. Thank you very much for your amazing and informative videos . I watch all the prominent aviation channels and your explanations seem to me to add something extra and cover details I've not seen or heard about before. I've been aware of the Northwest 255 crash for years having seen the various documentaries. In June 2015 I travelled from the UK and was working in the Detroit area. Heading back to DTW for the return flight on the Friday via Romulus and eastbound up the I-94 with my colleague I overshot the exit and doubled back, first of all stopping off to get some gasoline and then headed down Middlebelt Rd towards the airfield. The road name resonated with me and I suddenly recalled that it was where the 'plane came to rest just North of Wick Rd. I mentioned to my co-worker that this was the area where Flight 255 sadly crashed and I took a moment during the halt in traffic to remember and pay respects to all those involved; the images of the emergency response also sprang to mind as I routinely work with ER personnel. I know that innumerable people drive past the area and the memorial daily and at that time I was in just one such vehicle. If I had not been rushing to get to our flight I would have surely taken the time to stop off and reflect knowing what I did about the incident. My point being that even though I'm from another part of the world - the UK - this accident registered in my conciousness for many years despite it happening when I was just a kid. So much so that I instantly knew that I was nearby. Having looked at my maps history I can clearly see I passed within yards that day and seeing your video today instantly took me back there and my thoughts were with those who sadly lost their lives as well as the people who dealt with the aftermath.

IMO, the MD-80 was an awesome jet from a passenger stand point. I flew, as a passenger, just about every week from 1992 through 1996 and my base was IAH mostly Continental Airlines. By far the planes I was on were either DC-9'S or MD-80'S. I loved flying on them, especially the MD-80. I talked to a couple of pilots and they loved flying them, but said they were a little difficult on the ground. The one I didn't like was the Boeing 757.

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.

It was stated that the Captain was known as a "by the book" guy but if truly was that he wouldn't have disabled the configuration warning system.

I remember this accident when I was first going over the report because if I'm remembering the correct incident a few years later there was another accident like this and listening on the cvr investigators heard the pilots mention this accident and words to leave on the cvr just incase

A crash that has always stuck in my head is the Hughes Airwest Fight 706. If you could do a video on that one that would be awesome. The circumstances seem pretty unique to me even if a midair collision isn't

ANOTHER upload?! Wow! Thank you for the incredible content as always

This is one of the most saddening crashes.

Cover Seaboard World Airlines Flight 258A in July 1968. Was carrying 238 US troops bound for Vietnam when it strayed off course & forced down in Soviet territory. Detained for two days, they were released & sent on their way.

Great video keep up the good work 👏 from Ireland 🇮🇪

disaster breakdown you make the best videos ever I love your videos

Ahhh…. Happy Saturday!! Another great new video. Man, I really dig your work! 👊🏻✈️

Nick Vanos, then NBA center for the Suns was on that light and died in the crash as well, reading the CVR, holy hell, seven impacts. I'd need to find it, but on a now defunct site, it was stated that a lot o auto racing journos were either aware of the crash or were on their way to/in Detroit to fly out following the Winston Cup race at Michigan Int'l Speedway as well.

Amazing video there

A crash i’ve always been interested in was a WWII plane that crashed on the 101 freeway in a small city in southern california. It shut down the freeway for hours and was wild!

The very same day the Northwest 255 crashed in the US, a Cessna 150 crashed in Portugal killing a friend of mine and severely wounding his girlfriend, a Stewardess who then became unfit for her job. I was in the Army then, in my Unit, and at first there was some confusion about what had actually crashed. Only the next day I found in a newspaper that, besides the MD a Cessna 150 flown by my friend had gone down. I had soloed and flown many hours in that very plane. The pilot was former Air Force fast jet, superb in aerobatics and an Airline First Officer flying 727s at the time of the accident. Only to allow the 150 to stall at low altitude and crash in an orchard... Subsequently I was a civilian ATCo and Supervisor for 31 years and believe me, I learned that some times you never noticed that you were forgetting something very important. You just don't notice, and it happened occasionally with everyone. Eventually, a system protection, a pilot or other workmate noticed and warned in time. Shame on you... 😬 👏👏👏

I went to this area 24 hours earlier....i used to go to a bar/rrestaurant in the Holiday Inn. Big impact, especially people living within 30 mile radius. I remember the officials asking people to bring in their dogs from the outside.

wow, the nostalgia, I remember watching your vids when you had like 500 subs ;). I so enjoy your videos!

I’d love to see something about united flight 173 that crashed near PDX, Oregon in 1978! Landing gear problem caused pilot to lose focus on instruments resulting in a crash that killed 10 people

I love your channel. Keep up the amazing work. 😊😊😊

I notice that you didn't mention the main evidence for the TCWS breaker having been pulled - the single "Stall" in the stall warning, rather than the dual "Stall-all" that they would have expected to have heard.

I was on lake st Claire fishing that day and the storm hit me quickly.we heard of it when we tied up the sky was pitch black sad Sunday

Incredible,! And as always.. excellent production.👌🏽👍🏼

In the B727 we had the same issue with the TOWS. The reason the circuit breaker would be pulled is that during taxi the TOWS aural warning would trigger when the power levers were moved forward, the warning would sound until you moved the levers back. The sound was irritating to the crews while taxing and performing their duties. They would then push the circuit breaker back in just before takeoff. Yes, very dangerous and against policy and procedures. It was easier on the B727 to push the breaker back in because it was just beside the flight engineer. On the MD 80 there is no flight engineer. I’m guessing whichever pilot would have to undo his seat belt/shoulder harness, turn and reach back to achieve this. After the accident they made changes with how the TOWS was activated on the B727. I don’t know about the MD 80. This is my conjecture and I’m sure there are lots of theories.

Do Air Indiana Flight 216. On 12/13/1977 the plane crashed on takeoff killing the University of Evansville basketball team. At least three major safety improvements were recommended as a result of this crash.

Some slight amendment on the tech here. Indeed the flaps are highly important to provide the nessesary lift. However more important, selecting flaps also does select 'slats' sometimes known as 'leading edge flaps' Their function is not to provide lift but to lower the angle of attack required for low speeds as with T/O and LDG. You might be lucky and get away without flaps, but no slats would really require a dramaticly higher airspeed in order to be able to controll the aircraft at all. Mind that without you're already in a deep stall situation, using ailerons would worsen the situation and make the aircraft just fall out of the sky. Case is well know and not a isolated accident. It's a good habbit for a pilot to always check a few memory items just before hidding the trottles or just before final. These items would be so basic that they are virtualy aircraft type independ. Mine for landing for instance where: Flaps, Gear, (auto)Brakes, Liftdumpers (Spoilers) On takeoff: Flaps, Trims, Trust (or torque if props) and Engine Temps These items all can be checked literaly within two seconds if they are become a habbit. Finaly... if the aircraft systems don't behave like you expect, there's probarbly a reason for it, Autotrottles that won't respond on ground also could be an strong indication for misconfiguration.

Would it have been possible for the pilots, after having realized of such a big error, to deploy the flats once airborne and recover the flight? Thank you.

The most disheartening cases are the ones where the exact same scenario plays out again and kills more people.

Loving your videos man, you need to do the 1999 Learjet crash that happened in Aberdeen South Dakota, that crash had involved a famous golf player.

I heard that one 4 year girl survived named Cecelia Cichan who was sent to hospital in a rough condition after being found in her booster seat attachment.

@Disaster Breakdown, please do a video about Saudi 163

Remember seeing it on the news when i was a 8 year old kid at that time in 87

great narration Chloe

great video, as always!

I’ve watched several videos of this crash and I can’t understand why they didn’t realize the flap position even after takeoff. Would it have made a difference if they extended the flaps afterward?

Oh wiiie, another disaster breakdown, happy days 😋 much love from, Bangkok, Thailand 🙏🇹🇭❤️

I thought the idea of having 2 pilots was to avoid things like this as they should remind each other about missed tasks?

another great upload I was wondering if you but around the recent airplane crash that happened roughly about I don't know 6 or so odd months ago?

Great video man is it possible if you can do the crash of Polish Air Force flight 101 please

identical number of passengers & crew killed in both disasters.

Do Mandala 91, a similar accident thats big here in Indo

A by the book captain who turns off, or allows it, a warning system on his aircraft. Then the captain and first officer forget a crucial checklist. I suggest the captain is not a by the book pilot.

Hello and thank you for the video

Hey you haven't done a mid air collision plane accident in a long time, I would recommend it.

bro I literally said “Is today a Saturday?”

I for one certainly don’t miss the MDs!

No matter what they say about flying being safer than other modes of transport, i have never seen anyone getting killed for "forgetting to configure their car before igniting the engine."

8:52 actual the NW255 never retract the landing gears , you did same mistake on TAM 402

So much for a "By the Book" Captain!!

The biggest mistake a pilot can make and in this case they didn`t follow the checklist at all. No words for it.

Regardless of checklists and warnings, its unthinkable that a pilot takes off without checking flaps

Didn’t Delta do this also with a 727? Can’t remember the flight number

I still don't see how anyone could have survived this!

Regardless of the experience of pilots, when the shit hits the fan some people lock up, it's something you can't measure, the most experienced pilot in the world may fold under pressure, there's no way to predict until it's too late.

This is very chilling and should never have happened. Heartbreaking that so many people lost their lives due to this error. What makes it scarier is the fact that twenty-one years and four days later, it happened again. Thank you for the well-done video, Chloe. I'm interested in seeing more videos of disasters where there is a sole survivor and am also curious if there is a place people can submit disaster requests.

The MD88 is mostly out of service, but it's successor, the Boeing 717 still operates in some markets

Amazing video! Today is actually my birthday

I still remember this crash like it was yesterday

GREAT VIDEO I JUST WATCHED THE SPANAIR 5022 ACCIDENT BEFORE THIS

Again we see a number of small, seemingly benign decisions and mistakes compounding to cause a catastrophic outcome.

An aircraft can take off, land and have enough lift to climb just fine without flaps/slats but must be moving at a much higher speed. The reason flap/slat technology was created is that they provide more lift at slower speed at a cost of more drag. This slower speed is desirable when close to the ground for obvious reasons creating less danger and shorter takeoffs and landings. For this reason airports are also able to create shorter runways as no flaps/slats necessitates longer runways. Such as in this case, If they stayed on the ground for longer and had enough runway to get up to the needed speed for no flaps condition then this accident would have never happened. The fact is that they were used to the shorter take off distances rotating too soon for no flaps condition and if they didn't rotate they would have run out of runway and crashed anyway.

Pilot: "Let's see, let's take off in a hurry to beat the dangerous weather so we don't crash"..(forgets to configure the plane for take-off)

ANY IDIOT who pulls a breaker because the sound of the alert annoys him should get his pilot license revoked for life.

The plane number was N312RC the tails were not red at the time of this accident.

Where have you found that NWA MD-80 checklist? I've been looking for it for ages!

it does sadden me how many planes crash because the pilots forget to extend the flaps for take-off, just shows lessons are never learnt

I would love to know the names of the piano soundtracks in this video!! Beautiful background music!

Could you do Lapa flight 3142 like northwest airlines flight 255 that plane crash without its flaps extended but unlike the northwest crash the pilots on Lapa broke the sterile cockpit rule, smoking in the cockpit, not doing the checklist correctly, and finally also unlike flight 255 the take off warning system did sound but the pilots ignore it continued on the take off overrun the runway leaving 65 people dead only 37 survived hope you could make it or maybe delta flight 1141 that be awesome!

There was an additional indicator that the config warning circuit breaker was pulled in addition to the finger marks on the console and the anecdotal evidence from pilots. The DC-9/MD-80 had a redundant stall warning that would play out of two speakers, deliberately out of sync, so that in the event of one failing the pilots would still be alerted. It would have sounded something like STASTALL -- STASTALL -- STASTALL on the CVR, but what they actually heard was STALL -- STALL -- STALL, indicating that only one of the two stall warnings was activated. It turns out that one of the stall warnings is connected to the same circuit breaker as the config warning, meaning that if it had been pulled then it would also be disabled.

Yet another grateful fan-student

wow that was such a beginners mistake Oo Like : the 2nd thing you learn after "there is the safety belt..."

Run-a-way vs. Runway is cute.

0:52 - That picture is downtown Detroit, but could not have been taken in 1987. GM did not buy the Ren Cen until 1996. Also the roof of Cobo now Huntington Place had not been renovated in the way it looks in this picture. Also One Detroit Center (now know as Ally Center) had not been built yet, that did not happen until the early 1990s. And finally Ford Auditorium looks to be gone, that did not happen till the early 2010s. So no way this picture is of Detroit in 1987 as the caption says.

I’m sure a lot of people have asked this but what simulator do you use?