Northwest Airlines Flight 255
Aftermath of the Flight 255 crash, where aircraft debris can be seen scattered along Middlebelt Road. The nearer bridge is the Norfolk Southern railroad, and the farther bridges are part of the I-94 freeway. | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | August 16, 1987 |
| Summary | Crashed on takeoff due to pilot error and improper flaps and slats configuration |
| Site | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Detroit, Michigan, United States 42°14′24″N 83°19′40″W / 42.2400°N 83.3277°W |
| Total fatalities | 156 |
| Total injuries | 6 |
| Aircraft | |
| N309RC, an MD-82 aircraft similar to the one involved, and in the same livery N312RC was in, at the time of the accident. | |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas MD-82 |
| Operator | Northwest Airlines |
| IATA flight No. | NW255 |
| ICAO flight No. | NWA255 |
| Call sign | NORTHWEST 255 |
| Registration | N312RC |
| Flight origin | Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport, Fort Snelling, Minnesota, United States (As Flight 750) |
| 1st stopover | MBS International Airport, Saginaw, Michigan, United States |
| 2nd stopover | Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Romulus, Michigan, United States |
| Last stopover | Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, Arizona, United States |
| Destination | John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, California, United States |
| Occupants | 155 |
| Passengers | 149 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 154 |
| Injuries | 1 |
| Survivors | 1 |
| Ground casualties | |
| Ground fatalities | 2 |
| Ground injuries | 5 |
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 (00:46 UTC August 17), resulting in the deaths of all six crew members and 148 of the 149 passengers, along with two people on the ground. The sole survivor was a 4-year-old girl, named Cecelia Cichan, who sustained serious injuries. At the time, it was the second-deadliest aviation accident in the United States, behind the 1979 crash of American Airlines Flight 191; it now ranks fifth, behind Flight 191 and the crashes of American Airlines Flight 587 in 2001, TWA Flight 800 in 1996 and Korean Air Flight 801 in 1997. It remains the deadliest aircraft accident in the history of the state of Michigan, and it was the worst crash in the history of Northwest Airlines. Before the crash of Air India Flight 171 in 2025, it was also the deadliest aviation accident to have a sole survivor.