Safety Board to Open Hearing Today in Detroit Jetliner Crash
The team investigating the Aug. 16 crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255 will re-create the day of the crash for the National Transportation Safety Board in a public hearing that begins today in Detroit.
The team has published 10,000 pages of information ranging from weather conditions to a history of the crashed Douglas MD-80’s repairs, the airline’s training methods and any distractions that the crew experienced before it attempted to take off from the Detroit airport on a flight to Phoenix.
The plane rose only 48 feet before it clipped a light pole, hit a rental car agency and exploded on a freeway, killing 156 people.
The only survivor was 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan.
Patricia Goldman, who will chair the hearing, said she expects to focus on the pilots’ performance and the failure of a warning system to tell the crew that the wing flaps were not extended as they should have been.
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