The Nation - News from Nov. 19, 1987

The crew of a Northwest Airlines jet that crashed Aug. 16 shortly after takeoff, killing 156 people, had performed all necessary checks on trips earlier in the day, a company pilot testified at a federal hearing in Romulus, Mich. First Officer Robert Britt sat behind the flight crew in the cockpit as the jet flew from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Saginaw. He said the crew went through checklists before starting the engines and while the plane was taxiing toward takeoff. But Britt could not remember if the flight crew checked the airplane’s flaps and slats. Preliminary National Transportation Safety Board reports have said Flight 255’s flaps were in the retracted position, which was not recommended for takeoff.