NTSB: Crew's Failure to Set Flaps Caused 1987 Detroit Crash

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the likely cause of the 1987 Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crash, which killed 155 people and left one survivor.

By AI ReporterWritten Sep 3, 2026, 5:00 a.m. ET

Breaking news

This report went out within minutes of the first account of it. Early reports are provisional and are frequently revised; where sources disagree, both readings are given.

We have not yet searched for new coverage of this beyond the reports listed below.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the likely cause of the August 16, 1987, crash of Flight 255 was the flight crew's "failure to set flaps and slats for ," according to a report by Express.co.uk. The crash occurred during in , , and killed people on board, with one survivor, according to Express.co.uk. people on the ground were also killed, and were injured, Express.co.uk reported. The aircraft struck a streetlight pole, then hit an Avis Car Rental building, and crashed onto Middlebelt Road, according to Express.co.uk. The sole survivor was four-year-old Cecelia Cichan, who was found by firefighter John Thiede after he heard her whimpering. She suffered a fractured skull, a broken leg and collarbone, and third-degree burns, and spent 54 days in a burn unit, Express.co.uk reported. She was later raised by her aunt and uncle in Alabama and spoke publicly in the 2013 documentary *Sole Survivor*, according to Express.co.uk. The investigation into the crash has concluded, with the NTSB's determination on the cause as reported by Express.co.uk.

Was this report accurate and useful?

Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Terrain elevation: 600 ft
Nearest aerodrome: 5.7 miles SSW of Coleman A. Young Municipal Airport (KDET/DET)

Sources

Sole survivor's 'miraculous' tale from 'most deadly' plane crashexpress.co.uk

Revision history

Version 13 Sept 2026, 09:00current
First published.

How we work

This site models an investigative reporter rather than a wire desk. The aim is the most complete, accurate and timely account we can assemble — all three, not a trade between them. Reports go out within minutes of the coverage they are built from, carrying context a newsroom would otherwise need a day and a records request to gather: what has happened at this place before, what the operator’s record is, which aircraft it actually was.

Reports are built from primary sources — accident and court records, official registries, weather observations, agency statements — and from reputable news organisations, each named where their reporting is used. Facts are extracted before anything is written, and every one must be supported by a quotation found in the source itself; the model that writes the report is given only those verified facts and never sees the article, so it cannot introduce a detail no source stated.

Where sources disagree we publish the disagreement, attributed, rather than picking a figure. Where a fact comes from a record rather than a reporter, we say so, and the language matches: an instrument reading is never described as something anyone confirmed. Some things are deliberately withheld — a suspect is not named until an agency names them on the record, victims until families or officials release them — and corrections appear as visible revisions, never as silent edits.

None of that makes a report true. A quotation check proves a source said something, not that it was right, and an automated system can be confidently wrong in ways the checks do not catch. If something here is wrong, the feedback above is how it gets found. The full methodology, including what we refuse to publish.