Northwest flight 255 was preparing for takeoff on the evening of August
16, 1987. Bound for Phoenix and continuing on to Orange County, the DC-9
was carrying 148 passengers and six crew members. The aircraft was cleared
for takeoff on Detroit Metro's runway 03C and began its takeoff roll.
After an longer than normal roll, the aircraft lifted off and immediately
began rocking laterally. It only gained 50ft in altitude before clipping a
light pole with its left wing. It hit a number of other light poles and
then clipped the roof of a building, rolling past 90 degrees and then
slamming into the ground and bursting in flames. Everyone aboard the
aircraft was killed with the exception of a four year old girl. Two
motorists who were driving along a highway where wreckage was strewn were
killed also.
......Examination of the wreckage showed
no signs of any system malfunctions. The
only significant find in the wreckage
was that both the slats and flaps were
retracted. Both would normally be
extended during takeoff. Examination of
the cockpit also showed that the flap
handle was in the retracted position.
This was further confirmed by recovery
of the FDR. Readout of the CVR showed
that the crew had neither called for nor
completed the taxi checklist, on which
the extension of the slats and flaps are
the first item. Just as the aircraft was
pushed back from the gate, the first
officer, who would have normally started
the taxi check at that time, was instead
copying the lastest ATIS, which had just
been updated.
By the time he was
done copying, the aircraft was already
taxiing to the runway and it's possible
that he believed the extension had
already been done. The captain is
responsible for calling for the
checklists, though the captain of 255
did not call for the after-start, taxi,
or pre-takeoff checklists. The crew also
had difficulty taxiing to the proper
runway even though they had flown out of
Detroit several times before. The DC-9
is equipped with CAWS which should have
alerted the crew to the improper
configuration, but no such warning was
heard on the CVR. This was accounted to
a power loss prior to taxi, though it
could not be determined whether it was
intentional or accidental.
This improper
configuration severely degraded the
aircraft's climbing performance. The
stick-shaker activated less than one
second after lift-off and continued
throughout the short flight. At the time
of the incident, the weather was good
though there were storms in the
immediate vicinity of the airport and
windshear advisories were issued. It's
possible that the crew believed
themselves to be caught in windshear
which was evidenced by the captain's
increased pitch-up, which is standard
windshear avoidance procedure.
Had the crew lowered
the nose and extended the flaps and
slats, the accident probably could have
been avoided. It was speculated that the
crew may have been hurried in an effort
to depart before the weather got any
worse. Also, they may have been rushed
in an effort not to miss the noise
curfew at Orange County, their final
destination.
