September 3, 2025 • 36 mins
On August 16, 1987, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed just moments after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, killing 154 people and leaving only one survivor—a four-year-old girl who became known as the "miracle child." Discover how an experienced crew's missed checklist, combined with schedule pressure and a disabled warning system, led to one of America's deadliest aviation disasters. Learn about the fundamental safety changes that emerged from this tragedy and why Flight 255 became a watershed moment for aviation checklist procedures worldwide.
SOURCES:
- NTSB Accident Report AAR-88/05: "Aircraft Accident Report - Northwest Airlines, Inc., McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82, N312RC, Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Romulus, Michigan, August 16, 1987"
- Mayday: Air Disaster - Season 9, Episode 4, titled "Alarming Silence"
- NTSB Investigation Database Case DCA87MA046
- Aviation Safety Network Database Entry for Northwest Airlines Flight 255
- "The Sole Survivor: Cecelia Cichan's Story" - Various news interviews and documentaries
- NASA Ames Research Center Checklist Design Studies
- FAA Advisory Circulars on Takeoff Warning Systems
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CREDITS:
Final Boarding Call is hosted by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas, researched and written by Alice Stern, produced and edited by Alice Stern and Zach Stemas.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Picture this.
I can't read the screen because mywife wants to tell me the story,
so I have no idea what to say.
I am just stealing her thunder
close.
Actually, I, that was the original introI wrote, but then I wrote something else.
Okay, let's try again.
Okay.
Picture, picture this, this.
(00:22):
It is a sweltering summer eveningin Detroit, a McDonald Douglas MD 82
races down the runway, packed with155 souls heading to sunny phoenix.
The plane lifts off, but something isterribly wrong, we're about to discover
(00:45):
what happens when the pressure ofschedule delays and bad weather leads
to a basic mistake that is so deadlyit will haunt aviation for decades.
So stow your tray tables, fastenyour seat belts, and prepare for
some extreme turbulence because this.
(01:07):
Is final boarding call,
intro, music intro.
Alright.
Just check, check, check, check.
1, 2, 6.
Why did that sound so good?
(01:27):
Because I've listened to this musica very long time and I've practiced.
That's really good though.
Hello and welcome to Final Boarding Call.
I'm your disaster obsessed host Alice.
And I'm Zach, who still hasn't pickeda calling card because I had zero
moments to think about it today.
Dang.
Bing.
(01:48):
Bing.
Grill daddy.
Ooh, I could be that.
It's summer.
I'm just saying you have been working thegrill this summer and it does seem that
no matter where we go, unless it's yourmom's house, I do be doing the grilling.
You do always get pulled into grill.
Everywhere that we go, it does feel likean honor though, rather than a burden.
(02:10):
People just assume youlook like a grill daddy.
It's the chub.
I'll tell you what, look, when I workedin the food industry, we had a saying
that you should never trust a skinny chef.
And kind of the same with a grill.
Grill, man.
Guys, that's the first time mywife's ever agreed that I'm fat.
So I think we're getting a divorce.
(02:30):
Hmm.
Yes.
And I wanted to tell you here on ourpodcast, I felt like this would be
the easiest way to break it to you.
It's definitely the safest way.
And on that wonderful note, uh,before we dive in, quick reminder
to you, our wonderful listeners.
Please rate, review, and subscribewherever you get your podcasts.
(02:53):
And tell a friend if you.
Have friends.
I don't wanna make assumptions.
I thought that you were leading upto say, we don't have those, and
I'm like, we have the best friends.
Oh no, we, we say we.
But really They're yourfriends, but they're incredible.
Well, they were very welcoming.
Okay.
They were.
Yep.
They're mine by default now.
Okay.
Let's talk sources.
(03:15):
We have a mayday air disaster.
Season nine, episode four,titled Alarming Silence.
And then there is the NTSB AccidentInvestigation Report as well.
And I think I got a littlefrom the Wikipedia page too.
The Wiki, Wikipedia.
Okay.
Let's travel back in time, shall we?
(03:37):
I've always wanted to.
Great.
Because it's August 16th, 1987 and we arein Detroit, which no shade to Detroit,
but is not my first pick for August.
Because it's, it gets prettyhot there, so the temperatures
are right around 90 degrees.
(03:57):
And it's evening.
Ew.
It's hot.
Yeah.
At Detroit MetropolitanWayne County Airport.
The late afternoon rush is in full swing.
At Gate a 10 passengers are boarding.
Northwest Airlines.
Flight 2 55, bound for Phoenix,Arizona with a final destination
(04:22):
of Santa Ana, California.
Okay, so immediately Northwest Airlines,is that what Southwest used to be?
Because what?
Why?
Let's find out who boughtNorthwest Airlines Delta.
Oh, okay.
So Delta bought Northwest Airlinesin a merger in 2008, and that
(04:43):
merger was fully completed in 2010.
So that's why you don't hearNorthwest Airlines anymore.
I'm gonna get some SoutheastAirlines going, Southeast.
Southeast Airlines.
I'm digging it.
Okay.
The aircraft, it's a McDonald Douglas,which we have done a bunch of McDonald
Douglas's, but this is actually an MD 82.
(05:07):
This one is.
An updated, stretchedversion of the older DC nine.
Hmm.
So we've talked a lot about the DC tens.
Yeah, but we're goingeven further back in time.
It's the DC nine.
This is the Long Boy of it.
The Long Boy.
Yep.
(05:28):
It's an Audi A eight L, if you would.
Oh my gosh.
Good one.
It's a twin engine narrow body jet thattypically carries 130 to 150 passengers.
So I would say kind of, I don't know.
To me that's like fairlystandard, I guess it's long, but
(05:48):
it's skinny, long and skinny.
It's powered by two Pratt andWhitney, jt eight D engines that
are mounted on the rear fuselage.
So CO in command is Captain John R Maos.
A 57-year-old Las Vegas nativewith 31 years of experience and
(06:12):
over 20,000 flight hours, miles.
Okay?
That is more than two years.
Nonstop flying.
That's a lot of time.
Boom.
His first officer is 30 5-year-old.
David J.
Dots from I'm ap, I apologize, Illinois.
(06:32):
Um.
Gina Galena, Illinois.
I believe that's how you pronounce that,with over 8,000 flight hours and more
than eight years with Northwest, bothof these people are considered highly
professional and experienced, right?
You feel safe about who'sin the cockpit on this one.
(06:52):
Among the passengers is the Han.
family, Michael and Paulatraveling with their children.
6-year-old David and 4-year-old Cecilia.
They are returning home to Tempe, Arizonaafter visiting relatives in Penna.
Yeah.
Also on board is Nick Vanos,who's a 24-year-old center for
(07:16):
the Phoenix Sons basketball team.
Hmm.
This guy is tall.
Okay.
If you have ever felt like you didnot have leg room on a plane, this
guy is seven feet, two inches tall.
Hilarious.
Seven feet.
That's crazy.
The crew is already running behindschedule . the flight was supposed to
(07:39):
depart at 8:15 PM but various delayshave pushed their departure time back.
Looking out the windows, passengers cansee storm clouds building on the horizon.
The kind of typical August eveningweather that creates havoc for flight
schedules at approximately 8:29 PM flight2 55 finally pushes back from the gate.
(08:06):
It is already 14 minutes behindschedule, but as they taxi towards
the runway, forces are already inmotion that will turn this routine
evening departure into one of thedeadliest accidents in aviation history.
So good news, Zach,they've left the gate Aza.
(08:26):
Everybody on that airplaneis probably like, Woohoo.
We're about to go take off.
Cheering.
Clapping.
Stoked.
Yes.
Confetti falling.
No strippers.
Wow.
This is a hell of a plane.
Um, you know, but anybody that's been alittle delayed, departing from the gate.
And then it finally starts moving.
(08:47):
You have that feeling of like,oh, praise be, we're rolling.
As flight 2 55 taxis away from the gate,the crew faces their first complication.
The approaching storm has causeda wind direction change, and air
traffic control makes a last minuterunway assignment change from their
(09:08):
planned runway 21 L, which means.
21 left two.
The shorter runway.
Three C Center.
Yep.
I'd be guessing, butI'd be guessing smartly.
You're doing good.
This forces first, officer Dodds toquickly recalculate their takeoff
(09:31):
performance while they're navigatingto an unfamiliar part of the airport.
So they're trying to findtheir way to this new runway.
And then they also, I don'tknow if we've talked about this
before, but before takeoff, thepilots have to literally do math.
To determine things likenecessary speed because they
(09:54):
have to know the runway length.
They need to be able to make surethat the plane will lift off.
How heavy is the plane?
There is a ton of math thatactually goes into this.
I think what makes more senseis just full speed ahead, no
matter what runway you're on.
Okay.
You know that you'll get up tospeed if you're just flooring
it, floor it, floor it.
(10:15):
That's, that's Zach's stakeand it we're in doubt flora.
Okay?
So they are, they had alreadydone this math for the runway that
they were originally assigned to.
Now they're gonna be on a shorter runway,which means they need to recalculate.
Everything.
Mm-hmm.
In the confusion.
The crew takes a wrong turn,which is like me driving.
(10:38):
It forces them to contact groundcontrol and literally get directions.
Oh God, that would be me.
Every time I was at a new airportI'd be like, hi air traffic control.
It's your girl at Walt.
Dunno where I'm going.
That would be you if I blindfoldedyou and took you two blocks from here.
That's so true.
(10:59):
So true.
Woof guys, I'm a hell of a driver,but my sense of direction is wild.
The combination of schedule delays,weather, pressure, navigation,
confusion, and a looming lineof thunderstorms 25 miles wide.
Is creating exactly the kindof high workload environment
(11:21):
where mistakes can happen.
So that's a lot of factors, a lot ofstressful stuff going on on these pilots
at 8:42 PM they make it to runway three C.
So they got their directions 'causewe're, we're here, we made it.
Still haven't had timeto do the math though.
You mind if we just park it for a minute?
(11:44):
Uh, that's kind of funny becauseair traffic control instructs
them to position and hold.
Oh.
Uh, explaining that there's a three minutedelay for wake turbulence separation.
And do you rememberwhat wake turbulence is?
No.
Okay.
So Wake turbulence is the turbulencethat's created from the wake of another.
(12:05):
Airplane.
Mm-hmm.
So when a plane takes off, youneed to wait a little bit before
you can just shoot another oneoff because you don't want planes.
Sorry, that was my tea.
I set it down enthusiastically.
Wow.
I know you don't want planes togo through another planes wake
because it will create turbulence.
Just take a boot.
(12:25):
I gotcha ex.
That's exactly it.
Zach is just like boating.
Okay.
As they wait on the runway, thecrew should complete their taxi
checklist, which is a criticalseries of items that literally
make sure the plane can take off.
However, they're very distracted.
(12:46):
There are delays, there'spressure, and something crucial
is about to be overlooked.
At 8:44 PM exactly 29 minutes behindschedule, Detroit Tower finally
clears flight 2 55 for takeoff.
The engine spool up to take off powerand 143,000 pounds of aircraft and human
(13:11):
hopes begins accelerating down runwaythree C in less than a minute, 154 people.
We'll be dead.
Hmm.
At 8:44 PM Flight 2 55 beginsits takeoff role with Captain
Maos at the controls, but almostimmediately, something is wrong.
(13:31):
Just 28 seconds into the roll mouse makesa concerning observation about the auto
throttle system not engaging properly.
What they don't realize is that thisauto throttle problem is actually
just a symptom of a much larger issue.
(13:54):
The computer isn't engagingbecause the aircraft is not
properly configured for takeoff.
Mm.
And they're trying to take off.
They are.
In fact, as the aircraft continuesaccelerating, first, officer Dodds
makes the standard speed callouts.
(14:15):
So we've talked about this before.
This is where there is averbal confirmation of the
speed, 50 knots, 75 knots.
Mm-hmm.
And we have that speed where.
There's no going back.
Mm-hmm.
It is the commitment speed.
If you hit that speed, you no longerhave enough runway in front of you.
Slow to be able to slow down.
Mm-hmm.
You are taking off.
(14:37):
So he calls out a hundredknots V one rotate.
At this moment, the MD 82 shouldgracefully lift off and begin
climbing into the Detroit Sky.
But that does not happen.
The aircraft does lift off, but barelyat only 50 feet above the ground.
(15:01):
The MD 82 begins rolling side toside uncontrollably within seconds.
The stick shaker activateswarning of an impending stall.
So we've talked about this stick shaker.
Mm-hmm.
A lot.
I stuck my shake at you, whichis what I say every single time.
(15:22):
We do.
Every single time, every single time.
Instead of I shake my stick at you.
But this happens and it's a stallwarning automation and also a stall
warning system begins blaring at them.
Stall, stall, stall.
So like everything ishappening stall, right?
I can imagine at 50 feet inthe air you don't really have
(15:44):
any room to push forward.
So you just hope thatthrottle up will do it.
That?
Yes.
So Zach, amazing comment becausetypically when this happens, the way
that you resolve this issue is to.
Actually initiate a dive, a little bit ofa dive and try to pick up some speed in
(16:06):
order to prevent a stall from happening.
But you're totally right.
They are 50 feet up in the air.
Like how long is the aircraft?
I could throw a footballover that mountain.
Yeah.
Name the movie.
Okay.
The MD 82 is unable to maintainflight at such low altitude and speed,
and it begins to descend and it didnot have very far to descend send.
(16:32):
At less than a minute into the flight,the aircraft's left wing strikes a
light pole in an Avis rental car.
Lot.
Oh fuck them guys.
Sine the wing disintegrates and burstsinto flames as jet fuel ignites.
Hmm.
The collision sends the aircraft intoan uncontrollable roll to the left,
(16:55):
and within seconds it strikes theroof of the Avis Rental car building.
Then it crashes inverted onto middlebelt road, instantly killing two people
that were in their car on that road.
I know the entire sequence fromfirst sign of trouble to final
(17:18):
impact lasts only 30 seconds.
When first responders arrive, theyfind a trail of wreckage and fire
stretched two thirds of a mile.
The devastation suggeststhat no one could survive.
But in the midst of this unimaginabletragedy, something extraordinary is
(17:42):
about to be discovered in the wreckage.
The scene along Middle BeltRoad is complete devastation
as you could imagine, Zach.
I mean, big plane, neighborhood, bigplane that already hit a building.
Then it flipped, then it crashed onto thisroad and had a lot of fuel to be on fire.
(18:04):
It had all the fuel,it had all of its fuel.
Burning wreckage is scattered acrossmultiple city blocks as emergency
responders converge on the crash site.
Paramedic Tim Schrader has never respondedto a major aviation accident and nothing
could have prepared him for the scale ofthis devastation given the violent nature
(18:29):
of the crash and extensive fire damage.
No one is going there expecting to findanyone who survived, but a Schrader and
his partner work through the debris field.
They hear a faint sound, almost likea cry a, a baby survive following it.
(18:51):
Schrader spots an arm underneatha seat working together.
They carefully lift away debris.
And they discover 4-year-old CeciliaHan somehow still alive in wreckage
that claimed everyone else on board.
Cecilia is badly injured, Zach, duh.
(19:16):
Uh, she has third degree burns.
She has a fractured skull, brokencollarbone, and a fractured left leg.
So that's, that's pretty rough.
Mm-hmm.
Shape.
Mm-hmm.
She is unconscious, but she has a pulse.
And against all odds, this littlegirl has survived one of the most
(19:37):
violent aviation accidents in history.
They race her to the hospital, obviously.
Mm-hmm.
While rescue teams.
Continue searching, hoping that maybethere are more survivors, but despite
hours of searching every piece ofwreckage, no other survivors are found.
(19:59):
The accident has claimed 154lives, all six crew members,
and 148 of the 149 passengers.
And.
Two people that were intheir car on that road.
Rough horrifically rough.
The lone survivor.
(20:21):
This incredible 4-year-oldgirl absolutely defies.
Explanation.
Her small size may have workedin her favor and her position in
the aircraft may have shieldedher from the worst impact forces.
But ultimately, experts agreethat her survival remains one of
(20:42):
those in explainable miracles.
Like it's just She should have died.
She should have died.
Yeah.
And she didn't.
If everyone else did.
Everyone else died.
Meanwhile, investigators arebeginning the painstaking process of
determining what DFU happened, whatthey're about to discover is wild.
(21:07):
Within hours.
NTSB investigators arrive at the crash.
Their first priority is locating.
Give it to me, Zach.
Oh, I don't wanna play that game.
Black.
Box.
Box.
Give it to me, Zach.
Pew, pew, pew, pew.
Yep.
The black box.
While waiting for recorder analysis.
Investigators interview witnesses.
(21:29):
Multiple witnesses reported seeingthe aircraft struggle to climb, flying
in a nose high attitude as pilotsdesperately tried to gain altitude.
The breakthrough comes when investigatorsexamine the aircraft's flap and slat
position indicators in the wreckage.
(21:51):
It's like bend and snap flap and slat.
Okay.
Flaps and slats are those movablewing surfaces that extend to
increased lift during takeoff.
So those are the things on the wingsthat pop out, and then they come back
in and it's important that they'rein the poppy out position for off to
create the goody lift, the lefty lift.
(22:14):
Exactly.
For takeoff, the MD 80 twos flapsshould have been extended to 11
degrees with slats extended as well.
But the physical evidencetells a different story.
The flap position indicator isfound in the retracted position.
(22:34):
Oh, marked by impact damage showingwhere it was positioned at impact.
So the analysis of severedslack control cables can.
Confirm that the slotswere also retracted.
So basically the question was when theyfound this plane, the investigators
were like, oh, well, did the accidentpush the slats and the flaps in?
(22:59):
But the answer is or not, theanswer is no, it's almost like when
we're doing a timing belt, right?
And you have to like line up.
You can mark and then you can line onthe belt so that you can line them up
when you're putting it back together.
That's how they were able to tellthat they were in this position
because the debris actually madea mark on there, so they were able
(23:23):
to see that they were not at all.
Mm-hmm.
Retracted.
I'm just trying to explain for thepeople, because I don't know if
I did a great job writing that.
I don't know how many of thepeople do timing belts, but, Hmm.
12, 12.
I feel like our listener bases, itmight be heavy automotive people.
I dunno.
(23:43):
I dunno.
A lot of 'em have timingchain cars though.
Ugh.
That's so, that's so true.
Okay.
Anything in the world that, youknow, you mark and then when it
moves, you can tell that it movedbecause the mark moved on it.
It's like that.
It's got a mark.
It's got a mark.
(24:03):
Okay.
This explains everythingthat the witnesses saw.
The barely successful liftoff, theimmediate struggle to climb, the
roll and stall that led to the crash.
Flight 2 55 literallydidn't have enough lift.
That's it.
The discovery raises an evenmore troubling question.
(24:23):
How could these incredibly experienced?
Pilots.
And professional.
And professional, how could this happen?
I mean, this one, one of theseguys had 20,000 flight hours.
How?
Tell me, okay.
I.
When investigators analyze thecockpit voice recorder, they
(24:45):
make a shocking discovery.
The recording captures the crewperforming several pre takeoff
checklists, but there was onecritical checklist completely absent.
The taxi checklist.
Mm-hmm.
Like there was literally a whole, wholeass checklist that just got skipped over.
(25:07):
In commercial aviation checklistsare the backbone of safety.
The taxi checklist includes dozens ofitems, but the first, literally, Zach,
the first thing on this list is flaps.
Numer, how's your flippy flaps?
Yes, this single word would have remindedthe crew to extend flaps to the proper
(25:32):
takeoff position, but the voice recordercontains no evidence that this checklist
was ever performed in the confusion of therunway changes, having to get directions,
weather delays, schedule delays.
Stress.
Stress.
This experienced crew neverran through the taxi checklist.
(25:56):
It created what aviationexperts call task saturation.
When crews become so busy doing too many,dealing with yes, the immediate problems.
That you have to get to the right runway.
That's an immediate thingthat you have to figure out.
You're navigating directions.
(26:17):
So something that you'vedone repeatedly mm-hmm.
10,000 times falls to the backburner in your brain, but there
should have been a backup.
The takeoff configuration Warning system.
So every commercial aircraft has analarm that sounds if crew attempt
takeoff without proper configuration.
(26:37):
Right.
Redundancy.
Drink this system.
Should have blared a loud warning systemwhen they advanced the throttles, like the
second that that plane got any indicationthat they were about to initiate takeoff.
Mm-hmm.
It should have blared at them.
The takeoff warning never went off.
It never went off.
(26:57):
S it never went off even worse.
The stall warning that did activate.
Only came from one speaker instead oftwo, suggesting a partial system failure.
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
They didn't verbally run throughthe checklist, but maybe they had
(27:19):
physically looked at whatever indicatorand it showed that it was out.
Why else wouldn't it have blared at all?
We're gonna find out.
I did it guys.
I solved the case again.
No, we're gonna find out.
Okay, we're gonna find them.
We're gonna confirm that I'm right this,
so this leads the investigators toexamine the aircraft's warning system
wiring because even though not all ofour listeners are into cars, we're gonna
(27:44):
give you a little hint here, folks, when.
Something.
Wires do things that requireswiring isn't working.
You should look at the wiring.
Well, you should look at a fusefirst, but keep it simple, stupid.
All right.
Okay.
Well, they're gonna makea crucial discovery.
The P 40 circuit breaker, which I hatethis game with you, which controls
(28:07):
both the takeoff configuration warning.
And part of the stall warning system.
Had lost power, they flipped the breaker.
The NTSB couldn't determine if thecircuit breaker tripped accidentally or
if it was intentionally pulled, however.
They, this isn't a drift car, soyou shouldn't be pulling anything
(28:31):
out that's designed to do stuff.
However, they discovered that otherMD 80 aircraft showed heavy wear
marks around P 40 circuit breakersfrom repeated manual manipulation.
Hmm.
It turns out that many pilotsroutinely pulled this circuit breaker.
Interesting.
Yes.
(28:51):
And they, why they did it to silencenuance warnings during taxi operations.
They got tired of the buzzer.
Is that what I just heard?
Yes.
And instead of nuance.
It should be nuisance.
No.
Yeah.
The very warning system designedto prevent this type of accident.
It had been disabled possibly bythe people that it was meant to
(29:15):
protect because it's annoying.
There's a reason that I keep theseatbelt chime on when we're driving too.
Like I know I don't have my seatbelt on.
I should suffer throughthe sound punishment.
Mm-hmm.
For making a bad choice.
Eh, I only do it on a real short drive.
Oh, okay.
They, this one had gotten pulled,whether it was these crew members that
(29:39):
did it or somebody else, but in anycase, on this airplane, it was aed.
The crew under pressureskipped a critical checklist.
They attempt to take off withoutproper configuration, and the
warning system that should havecaught their error was disabled.
That's a lot of thingsthat all went wrong.
(30:02):
Swiss Cheese theory baby.
The crash sent shockwaves throughthe aviation industry for the
families of the 154 victims.
The loss was.
Incomprehensible loved oneswho had left for routine trips.
Never came home for young Cecilia, oursole survivor, our little 4-year-old.
(30:26):
The aftermath would define her life.
After weeks in the hospital,she went to live with her
aunt and her uncle in Alabama.
She would not speak publiclyabout the crash until 2011.
Wow.
Describing, carrying both physicaland emotional scars and struggling
with immense survivor's guilt.
(30:49):
I mean, this is survivor'sguilt times 154.
Yeah.
But you're four, like whatdifference could you have made?
I don't think it, itisn't logical like that.
I think when you're thinkingabout it, it's like, why me?
Yeah, why not my brother?
Why not my mom or my dad?
Did you have a brother on there?
Yeah.
How old was he?
(31:09):
So it was the mom and dad and theywere traveling with 6-year-old
David, who's the brother, andthen obviously Cecilia was four.
Oh, okay.
So survivor's guilt.
She's suffering big time.
The nts B's final report concluded theprobable cause was the flight cruise
failure to use the taxi checklist.
(31:30):
Boom.
Yeah, that simple With the, with thecritical contributing factor being
the absence of electrical power tothe airplane takeoff warning system.
Yeah.
Pull Fs in airplanes, seams.
Bold, terrible.
These findings led to sweeping changesin aviation safety, the FAA ordered
(31:51):
modifications to take off warningsystems on all commercial aircraft so
that they could not be easily disabledand they wouldn't produce nuisance
alarms during normal operations.
Just when, hey, warning,this is happening.
Mm-hmm.
Airlines worldwide beganemphasizing checklist, discipline
(32:11):
and training programs as well.
The Northwest 2 55 accident.
Became a case study in how highworkload and stress can lead
even the most experienced crewsto skip fundamental procedures.
Perhaps most importantly, theaccident helped drive development
of improving checklist design.
(32:33):
So this is actually really cool.
Zach NASA stepped in and they startedstudying how crews use checklists
under real world conditions.
Leading to better formatting,clear procedures, and eventually
electronic checklists.
Mm.
(32:54):
Yeah.
The technological, I know,like that's, it's great.
It's really important.
Those checklists are huge.
It's funny 'cause anytime I'm in a, likea delayed flight and there's a mechanical.
Thing that's causing the delay.
And then the pilot comes on andhe's like, great news guides.
We got it fixed.
We're just gonna run through ourchecklists and then we'll be on our way.
And everybody in the air airplane withoutfail, folks goes, Ugh, safety third,
(33:20):
they have to run through a checklistand I'm probably the only fucker on
that plane who is like, run it twice.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Take as long as you need.
Triple check your checklist, friends.
Because that kills people.
Skimping on the checklistis absolutely fatal.
And this tragedy also highlighted theimportance of crew rescue management
(33:43):
training, teaching pilots to communicatemore effectively, manage workloads better,
and speak up when something seems wrong.
Northwest Airlines retiredflight numbers 2 54 and 2 55.
Today, Memorial stand at the crashsite and as well in Phoenix, which is
where that plane was supposed to go.
(34:05):
These monuments serve asreminders, not just of lives lost.
But of the ongoing commitment to aviationsafety that emerged from this tragedy.
Okay, Zach, that's our story for today.
Kind of a doozy.
That's a lot of peopleto lose their lives.
(34:25):
It is nice though that, one young childgot to live on, we all have trauma.
Hers is just like a capital T.
Come on Zach,
don't judge me.
I'm, I'm judging you.
You're being judged right now.
Yeah.
Whatever.
Not just by me, probably bymany of our listeners as well.
Yeah.
I mean, huge kudos to to her forbeing willing to speak about it.
(34:48):
It's such an insane thing to gothrough and beyond just, surviving.
She lost her family.
Her whole family, a 4-year-old.
I mean, we have a three and a halfyear old and just, you know, I
just imagine her losing everyone.
It's just crazy.
Yeah, it's horrible.
Okay, this one was a bummer.
(35:09):
But you know, it's kind of backto our normal storytelling.
So we did our TTSA episodes,which was a little bit of a
departure from our usual, but.
I thought really interesting.
and now we're back to our bread andbutter, and next week we are going
to have our first ever guest episode.
Zach any word for the peoplebefore we wrap this thing up?
(35:31):
I love you.
I love you.
I love you, and that'sall you need to know.
Join us next time when we'll be exploringanother transportation disaster story.
Until then, remember to stow yourtray tables, fasten your seat belts,
and prepare for the unexpected,because not every trip reaches.
(35:52):
It's final destination.
Goodbye,
and don't forget to rate,review, and subscribe.
Picture this.
I can't read the screen because mywife wants to tell me the story,
so I have no idea what to say.
I am just stealing her thunder
close.
Actually, I, that was the original introI wrote, but then I wrote something else.
Okay, let's try again.
Okay.
Picture, picture this, this.
(00:22):
It is a sweltering summer eveningin Detroit, a McDonald Douglas MD 82
races down the runway, packed with155 souls heading to sunny phoenix.
The plane lifts off, but something isterribly wrong, we're about to discover
(00:45):
what happens when the pressure ofschedule delays and bad weather leads
to a basic mistake that is so deadlyit will haunt aviation for decades.
So stow your tray tables, fastenyour seat belts, and prepare for
some extreme turbulence because this.
(01:07):
Is final boarding call,
intro, music intro.
Alright.
Just check, check, check, check.
1, 2, 6.
Why did that sound so good?
(01:27):
Because I've listened to this musica very long time and I've practiced.
That's really good though.
Hello and welcome to Final Boarding Call.
I'm your disaster obsessed host Alice.
And I'm Zach, who still hasn't pickeda calling card because I had zero
moments to think about it today.
Dang.
Bing.
(01:48):
Bing.
Grill daddy.
Ooh, I could be that.
It's summer.
I'm just saying you have been working thegrill this summer and it does seem that
no matter where we go, unless it's yourmom's house, I do be doing the grilling.
You do always get pulled into grill.
Everywhere that we go, it does feel likean honor though, rather than a burden.
(02:10):
People just assume youlook like a grill daddy.
It's the chub.
I'll tell you what, look, when I workedin the food industry, we had a saying
that you should never trust a skinny chef.
And kind of the same with a grill.
Grill, man.
Guys, that's the first time mywife's ever agreed that I'm fat.
So I think we're getting a divorce.
(02:30):
Hmm.
Yes.
And I wanted to tell you here on ourpodcast, I felt like this would be
the easiest way to break it to you.
It's definitely the safest way.
And on that wonderful note, uh,before we dive in, quick reminder
to you, our wonderful listeners.
Please rate, review, and subscribewherever you get your podcasts.
(02:53):
And tell a friend if you.
Have friends.
I don't wanna make assumptions.
I thought that you were leading upto say, we don't have those, and
I'm like, we have the best friends.
Oh no, we, we say we.
But really They're yourfriends, but they're incredible.
Well, they were very welcoming.
Okay.
They were.
Yep.
They're mine by default now.
Okay.
Let's talk sources.
(03:15):
We have a mayday air disaster.
Season nine, episode four,titled Alarming Silence.
And then there is the NTSB AccidentInvestigation Report as well.
And I think I got a littlefrom the Wikipedia page too.
The Wiki, Wikipedia.
Okay.
Let's travel back in time, shall we?
(03:37):
I've always wanted to.
Great.
Because it's August 16th, 1987 and we arein Detroit, which no shade to Detroit,
but is not my first pick for August.
Because it's, it gets prettyhot there, so the temperatures
are right around 90 degrees.
(03:57):
And it's evening.
Ew.
It's hot.
Yeah.
At Detroit MetropolitanWayne County Airport.
The late afternoon rush is in full swing.
At Gate a 10 passengers are boarding.
Northwest Airlines.
Flight 2 55, bound for Phoenix,Arizona with a final destination
(04:22):
of Santa Ana, California.
Okay, so immediately Northwest Airlines,is that what Southwest used to be?
Because what?
Why?
Let's find out who boughtNorthwest Airlines Delta.
Oh, okay.
So Delta bought Northwest Airlinesin a merger in 2008, and that
(04:43):
merger was fully completed in 2010.
So that's why you don't hearNorthwest Airlines anymore.
I'm gonna get some SoutheastAirlines going, Southeast.
Southeast Airlines.
I'm digging it.
Okay.
The aircraft, it's a McDonald Douglas,which we have done a bunch of McDonald
Douglas's, but this is actually an MD 82.
(05:07):
This one is.
An updated, stretchedversion of the older DC nine.
Hmm.
So we've talked a lot about the DC tens.
Yeah, but we're goingeven further back in time.
It's the DC nine.
This is the Long Boy of it.
The Long Boy.
Yep.
(05:28):
It's an Audi A eight L, if you would.
Oh my gosh.
Good one.
It's a twin engine narrow body jet thattypically carries 130 to 150 passengers.
So I would say kind of, I don't know.
To me that's like fairlystandard, I guess it's long, but
(05:48):
it's skinny, long and skinny.
It's powered by two Pratt andWhitney, jt eight D engines that
are mounted on the rear fuselage.
So CO in command is Captain John R Maos.
A 57-year-old Las Vegas nativewith 31 years of experience and
(06:12):
over 20,000 flight hours, miles.
Okay?
That is more than two years.
Nonstop flying.
That's a lot of time.
Boom.
His first officer is 30 5-year-old.
David J.
Dots from I'm ap, I apologize, Illinois.
(06:32):
Um.
Gina Galena, Illinois.
I believe that's how you pronounce that,with over 8,000 flight hours and more
than eight years with Northwest, bothof these people are considered highly
professional and experienced, right?
You feel safe about who'sin the cockpit on this one.
(06:52):
Among the passengers is the Han.
family, Michael and Paulatraveling with their children.
6-year-old David and 4-year-old Cecilia.
They are returning home to Tempe, Arizonaafter visiting relatives in Penna.
Yeah.
Also on board is Nick Vanos,who's a 24-year-old center for
(07:16):
the Phoenix Sons basketball team.
Hmm.
This guy is tall.
Okay.
If you have ever felt like you didnot have leg room on a plane, this
guy is seven feet, two inches tall.
Hilarious.
Seven feet.
That's crazy.
The crew is already running behindschedule . the flight was supposed to
(07:39):
depart at 8:15 PM but various delayshave pushed their departure time back.
Looking out the windows, passengers cansee storm clouds building on the horizon.
The kind of typical August eveningweather that creates havoc for flight
schedules at approximately 8:29 PM flight2 55 finally pushes back from the gate.
(08:06):
It is already 14 minutes behindschedule, but as they taxi towards
the runway, forces are already inmotion that will turn this routine
evening departure into one of thedeadliest accidents in aviation history.
So good news, Zach,they've left the gate Aza.
(08:26):
Everybody on that airplaneis probably like, Woohoo.
We're about to go take off.
Cheering.
Clapping.
Stoked.
Yes.
Confetti falling.
No strippers.
Wow.
This is a hell of a plane.
Um, you know, but anybody that's been alittle delayed, departing from the gate.
And then it finally starts moving.
(08:47):
You have that feeling of like,oh, praise be, we're rolling.
As flight 2 55 taxis away from the gate,the crew faces their first complication.
The approaching storm has causeda wind direction change, and air
traffic control makes a last minuterunway assignment change from their
(09:08):
planned runway 21 L, which means.
21 left two.
The shorter runway.
Three C Center.
Yep.
I'd be guessing, butI'd be guessing smartly.
You're doing good.
This forces first, officer Dodds toquickly recalculate their takeoff
(09:31):
performance while they're navigatingto an unfamiliar part of the airport.
So they're trying to findtheir way to this new runway.
And then they also, I don'tknow if we've talked about this
before, but before takeoff, thepilots have to literally do math.
To determine things likenecessary speed because they
(09:54):
have to know the runway length.
They need to be able to make surethat the plane will lift off.
How heavy is the plane?
There is a ton of math thatactually goes into this.
I think what makes more senseis just full speed ahead, no
matter what runway you're on.
Okay.
You know that you'll get up tospeed if you're just flooring
it, floor it, floor it.
(10:15):
That's, that's Zach's stakeand it we're in doubt flora.
Okay?
So they are, they had alreadydone this math for the runway that
they were originally assigned to.
Now they're gonna be on a shorter runway,which means they need to recalculate.
Everything.
Mm-hmm.
In the confusion.
The crew takes a wrong turn,which is like me driving.
(10:38):
It forces them to contact groundcontrol and literally get directions.
Oh God, that would be me.
Every time I was at a new airportI'd be like, hi air traffic control.
It's your girl at Walt.
Dunno where I'm going.
That would be you if I blindfoldedyou and took you two blocks from here.
That's so true.
(10:59):
So true.
Woof guys, I'm a hell of a driver,but my sense of direction is wild.
The combination of schedule delays,weather, pressure, navigation,
confusion, and a looming lineof thunderstorms 25 miles wide.
Is creating exactly the kindof high workload environment
(11:21):
where mistakes can happen.
So that's a lot of factors, a lot ofstressful stuff going on on these pilots
at 8:42 PM they make it to runway three C.
So they got their directions 'causewe're, we're here, we made it.
Still haven't had timeto do the math though.
You mind if we just park it for a minute?
(11:44):
Uh, that's kind of funny becauseair traffic control instructs
them to position and hold.
Oh.
Uh, explaining that there's a three minutedelay for wake turbulence separation.
And do you rememberwhat wake turbulence is?
No.
Okay.
So Wake turbulence is the turbulencethat's created from the wake of another.
(12:05):
Airplane.
Mm-hmm.
So when a plane takes off, youneed to wait a little bit before
you can just shoot another oneoff because you don't want planes.
Sorry, that was my tea.
I set it down enthusiastically.
Wow.
I know you don't want planes togo through another planes wake
because it will create turbulence.
Just take a boot.
(12:25):
I gotcha ex.
That's exactly it.
Zach is just like boating.
Okay.
As they wait on the runway, thecrew should complete their taxi
checklist, which is a criticalseries of items that literally
make sure the plane can take off.
However, they're very distracted.
(12:46):
There are delays, there'spressure, and something crucial
is about to be overlooked.
At 8:44 PM exactly 29 minutes behindschedule, Detroit Tower finally
clears flight 2 55 for takeoff.
The engine spool up to take off powerand 143,000 pounds of aircraft and human
(13:11):
hopes begins accelerating down runwaythree C in less than a minute, 154 people.
We'll be dead.
Hmm.
At 8:44 PM Flight 2 55 beginsits takeoff role with Captain
Maos at the controls, but almostimmediately, something is wrong.
(13:31):
Just 28 seconds into the roll mouse makesa concerning observation about the auto
throttle system not engaging properly.
What they don't realize is that thisauto throttle problem is actually
just a symptom of a much larger issue.
(13:54):
The computer isn't engagingbecause the aircraft is not
properly configured for takeoff.
Mm.
And they're trying to take off.
They are.
In fact, as the aircraft continuesaccelerating, first, officer Dodds
makes the standard speed callouts.
(14:15):
So we've talked about this before.
This is where there is averbal confirmation of the
speed, 50 knots, 75 knots.
Mm-hmm.
And we have that speed where.
There's no going back.
Mm-hmm.
It is the commitment speed.
If you hit that speed, you no longerhave enough runway in front of you.
Slow to be able to slow down.
Mm-hmm.
You are taking off.
(14:37):
So he calls out a hundredknots V one rotate.
At this moment, the MD 82 shouldgracefully lift off and begin
climbing into the Detroit Sky.
But that does not happen.
The aircraft does lift off, but barelyat only 50 feet above the ground.
(15:01):
The MD 82 begins rolling side toside uncontrollably within seconds.
The stick shaker activateswarning of an impending stall.
So we've talked about this stick shaker.
Mm-hmm.
A lot.
I stuck my shake at you, whichis what I say every single time.
(15:22):
We do.
Every single time, every single time.
Instead of I shake my stick at you.
But this happens and it's a stallwarning automation and also a stall
warning system begins blaring at them.
Stall, stall, stall.
So like everything ishappening stall, right?
I can imagine at 50 feet inthe air you don't really have
(15:44):
any room to push forward.
So you just hope thatthrottle up will do it.
That?
Yes.
So Zach, amazing comment becausetypically when this happens, the way
that you resolve this issue is to.
Actually initiate a dive, a little bit ofa dive and try to pick up some speed in
(16:06):
order to prevent a stall from happening.
But you're totally right.
They are 50 feet up in the air.
Like how long is the aircraft?
I could throw a footballover that mountain.
Yeah.
Name the movie.
Okay.
The MD 82 is unable to maintainflight at such low altitude and speed,
and it begins to descend and it didnot have very far to descend send.
(16:32):
At less than a minute into the flight,the aircraft's left wing strikes a
light pole in an Avis rental car.
Lot.
Oh fuck them guys.
Sine the wing disintegrates and burstsinto flames as jet fuel ignites.
Hmm.
The collision sends the aircraft intoan uncontrollable roll to the left,
(16:55):
and within seconds it strikes theroof of the Avis Rental car building.
Then it crashes inverted onto middlebelt road, instantly killing two people
that were in their car on that road.
I know the entire sequence fromfirst sign of trouble to final
(17:18):
impact lasts only 30 seconds.
When first responders arrive, theyfind a trail of wreckage and fire
stretched two thirds of a mile.
The devastation suggeststhat no one could survive.
But in the midst of this unimaginabletragedy, something extraordinary is
(17:42):
about to be discovered in the wreckage.
The scene along Middle BeltRoad is complete devastation
as you could imagine, Zach.
I mean, big plane, neighborhood, bigplane that already hit a building.
Then it flipped, then it crashed onto thisroad and had a lot of fuel to be on fire.
(18:04):
It had all the fuel,it had all of its fuel.
Burning wreckage is scattered acrossmultiple city blocks as emergency
responders converge on the crash site.
Paramedic Tim Schrader has never respondedto a major aviation accident and nothing
could have prepared him for the scale ofthis devastation given the violent nature
(18:29):
of the crash and extensive fire damage.
No one is going there expecting to findanyone who survived, but a Schrader and
his partner work through the debris field.
They hear a faint sound, almost likea cry a, a baby survive following it.
(18:51):
Schrader spots an arm underneatha seat working together.
They carefully lift away debris.
And they discover 4-year-old CeciliaHan somehow still alive in wreckage
that claimed everyone else on board.
Cecilia is badly injured, Zach, duh.
(19:16):
Uh, she has third degree burns.
She has a fractured skull, brokencollarbone, and a fractured left leg.
So that's, that's pretty rough.
Mm-hmm.
Shape.
Mm-hmm.
She is unconscious, but she has a pulse.
And against all odds, this littlegirl has survived one of the most
(19:37):
violent aviation accidents in history.
They race her to the hospital, obviously.
Mm-hmm.
While rescue teams.
Continue searching, hoping that maybethere are more survivors, but despite
hours of searching every piece ofwreckage, no other survivors are found.
(19:59):
The accident has claimed 154lives, all six crew members,
and 148 of the 149 passengers.
And.
Two people that were intheir car on that road.
Rough horrifically rough.
The lone survivor.
(20:21):
This incredible 4-year-oldgirl absolutely defies.
Explanation.
Her small size may have workedin her favor and her position in
the aircraft may have shieldedher from the worst impact forces.
But ultimately, experts agreethat her survival remains one of
(20:42):
those in explainable miracles.
Like it's just She should have died.
She should have died.
Yeah.
And she didn't.
If everyone else did.
Everyone else died.
Meanwhile, investigators arebeginning the painstaking process of
determining what DFU happened, whatthey're about to discover is wild.
(21:07):
Within hours.
NTSB investigators arrive at the crash.
Their first priority is locating.
Give it to me, Zach.
Oh, I don't wanna play that game.
Black.
Box.
Box.
Give it to me, Zach.
Pew, pew, pew, pew.
Yep.
The black box.
While waiting for recorder analysis.
Investigators interview witnesses.
(21:29):
Multiple witnesses reported seeingthe aircraft struggle to climb, flying
in a nose high attitude as pilotsdesperately tried to gain altitude.
The breakthrough comes when investigatorsexamine the aircraft's flap and slat
position indicators in the wreckage.
(21:51):
It's like bend and snap flap and slat.
Okay.
Flaps and slats are those movablewing surfaces that extend to
increased lift during takeoff.
So those are the things on the wingsthat pop out, and then they come back
in and it's important that they'rein the poppy out position for off to
create the goody lift, the lefty lift.
(22:14):
Exactly.
For takeoff, the MD 80 twos flapsshould have been extended to 11
degrees with slats extended as well.
But the physical evidencetells a different story.
The flap position indicator isfound in the retracted position.
(22:34):
Oh, marked by impact damage showingwhere it was positioned at impact.
So the analysis of severedslack control cables can.
Confirm that the slotswere also retracted.
So basically the question was when theyfound this plane, the investigators
were like, oh, well, did the accidentpush the slats and the flaps in?
(22:59):
But the answer is or not, theanswer is no, it's almost like when
we're doing a timing belt, right?
And you have to like line up.
You can mark and then you can line onthe belt so that you can line them up
when you're putting it back together.
That's how they were able to tellthat they were in this position
because the debris actually madea mark on there, so they were able
(23:23):
to see that they were not at all.
Mm-hmm.
Retracted.
I'm just trying to explain for thepeople, because I don't know if
I did a great job writing that.
I don't know how many of thepeople do timing belts, but, Hmm.
12, 12.
I feel like our listener bases, itmight be heavy automotive people.
I dunno.
(23:43):
I dunno.
A lot of 'em have timingchain cars though.
Ugh.
That's so, that's so true.
Okay.
Anything in the world that, youknow, you mark and then when it
moves, you can tell that it movedbecause the mark moved on it.
It's like that.
It's got a mark.
It's got a mark.
(24:03):
Okay.
This explains everythingthat the witnesses saw.
The barely successful liftoff, theimmediate struggle to climb, the
roll and stall that led to the crash.
Flight 2 55 literallydidn't have enough lift.
That's it.
The discovery raises an evenmore troubling question.
(24:23):
How could these incredibly experienced?
Pilots.
And professional.
And professional, how could this happen?
I mean, this one, one of theseguys had 20,000 flight hours.
How?
Tell me, okay.
I.
When investigators analyze thecockpit voice recorder, they
(24:45):
make a shocking discovery.
The recording captures the crewperforming several pre takeoff
checklists, but there was onecritical checklist completely absent.
The taxi checklist.
Mm-hmm.
Like there was literally a whole, wholeass checklist that just got skipped over.
(25:07):
In commercial aviation checklistsare the backbone of safety.
The taxi checklist includes dozens ofitems, but the first, literally, Zach,
the first thing on this list is flaps.
Numer, how's your flippy flaps?
Yes, this single word would have remindedthe crew to extend flaps to the proper
(25:32):
takeoff position, but the voice recordercontains no evidence that this checklist
was ever performed in the confusion of therunway changes, having to get directions,
weather delays, schedule delays.
Stress.
Stress.
This experienced crew neverran through the taxi checklist.
(25:56):
It created what aviationexperts call task saturation.
When crews become so busy doing too many,dealing with yes, the immediate problems.
That you have to get to the right runway.
That's an immediate thingthat you have to figure out.
You're navigating directions.
(26:17):
So something that you'vedone repeatedly mm-hmm.
10,000 times falls to the backburner in your brain, but there
should have been a backup.
The takeoff configuration Warning system.
So every commercial aircraft has analarm that sounds if crew attempt
takeoff without proper configuration.
(26:37):
Right.
Redundancy.
Drink this system.
Should have blared a loud warning systemwhen they advanced the throttles, like the
second that that plane got any indicationthat they were about to initiate takeoff.
Mm-hmm.
It should have blared at them.
The takeoff warning never went off.
It never went off.
(26:57):
S it never went off even worse.
The stall warning that did activate.
Only came from one speaker instead oftwo, suggesting a partial system failure.
Mm.
Mm-hmm.
They didn't verbally run throughthe checklist, but maybe they had
(27:19):
physically looked at whatever indicatorand it showed that it was out.
Why else wouldn't it have blared at all?
We're gonna find out.
I did it guys.
I solved the case again.
No, we're gonna find out.
Okay, we're gonna find them.
We're gonna confirm that I'm right this,
so this leads the investigators toexamine the aircraft's warning system
wiring because even though not all ofour listeners are into cars, we're gonna
(27:44):
give you a little hint here, folks, when.
Something.
Wires do things that requireswiring isn't working.
You should look at the wiring.
Well, you should look at a fusefirst, but keep it simple, stupid.
All right.
Okay.
Well, they're gonna makea crucial discovery.
The P 40 circuit breaker, which I hatethis game with you, which controls
(28:07):
both the takeoff configuration warning.
And part of the stall warning system.
Had lost power, they flipped the breaker.
The NTSB couldn't determine if thecircuit breaker tripped accidentally or
if it was intentionally pulled, however.
They, this isn't a drift car, soyou shouldn't be pulling anything
(28:31):
out that's designed to do stuff.
However, they discovered that otherMD 80 aircraft showed heavy wear
marks around P 40 circuit breakersfrom repeated manual manipulation.
Hmm.
It turns out that many pilotsroutinely pulled this circuit breaker.
Interesting.
Yes.
(28:51):
And they, why they did it to silencenuance warnings during taxi operations.
They got tired of the buzzer.
Is that what I just heard?
Yes.
And instead of nuance.
It should be nuisance.
No.
Yeah.
The very warning system designedto prevent this type of accident.
It had been disabled possibly bythe people that it was meant to
(29:15):
protect because it's annoying.
There's a reason that I keep theseatbelt chime on when we're driving too.
Like I know I don't have my seatbelt on.
I should suffer throughthe sound punishment.
Mm-hmm.
For making a bad choice.
Eh, I only do it on a real short drive.
Oh, okay.
They, this one had gotten pulled,whether it was these crew members that
(29:39):
did it or somebody else, but in anycase, on this airplane, it was aed.
The crew under pressureskipped a critical checklist.
They attempt to take off withoutproper configuration, and the
warning system that should havecaught their error was disabled.
That's a lot of thingsthat all went wrong.
(30:02):
Swiss Cheese theory baby.
The crash sent shockwaves throughthe aviation industry for the
families of the 154 victims.
The loss was.
Incomprehensible loved oneswho had left for routine trips.
Never came home for young Cecilia, oursole survivor, our little 4-year-old.
(30:26):
The aftermath would define her life.
After weeks in the hospital,she went to live with her
aunt and her uncle in Alabama.
She would not speak publiclyabout the crash until 2011.
Wow.
Describing, carrying both physicaland emotional scars and struggling
with immense survivor's guilt.
(30:49):
I mean, this is survivor'sguilt times 154.
Yeah.
But you're four, like whatdifference could you have made?
I don't think it, itisn't logical like that.
I think when you're thinkingabout it, it's like, why me?
Yeah, why not my brother?
Why not my mom or my dad?
Did you have a brother on there?
Yeah.
How old was he?
(31:09):
So it was the mom and dad and theywere traveling with 6-year-old
David, who's the brother, andthen obviously Cecilia was four.
Oh, okay.
So survivor's guilt.
She's suffering big time.
The nts B's final report concluded theprobable cause was the flight cruise
failure to use the taxi checklist.
(31:30):
Boom.
Yeah, that simple With the, with thecritical contributing factor being
the absence of electrical power tothe airplane takeoff warning system.
Yeah.
Pull Fs in airplanes, seams.
Bold, terrible.
These findings led to sweeping changesin aviation safety, the FAA ordered
(31:51):
modifications to take off warningsystems on all commercial aircraft so
that they could not be easily disabledand they wouldn't produce nuisance
alarms during normal operations.
Just when, hey, warning,this is happening.
Mm-hmm.
Airlines worldwide beganemphasizing checklist, discipline
(32:11):
and training programs as well.
The Northwest 2 55 accident.
Became a case study in how highworkload and stress can lead
even the most experienced crewsto skip fundamental procedures.
Perhaps most importantly, theaccident helped drive development
of improving checklist design.
(32:33):
So this is actually really cool.
Zach NASA stepped in and they startedstudying how crews use checklists
under real world conditions.
Leading to better formatting,clear procedures, and eventually
electronic checklists.
Mm.
(32:54):
Yeah.
The technological, I know,like that's, it's great.
It's really important.
Those checklists are huge.
It's funny 'cause anytime I'm in a, likea delayed flight and there's a mechanical.
Thing that's causing the delay.
And then the pilot comes on andhe's like, great news guides.
We got it fixed.
We're just gonna run through ourchecklists and then we'll be on our way.
And everybody in the air airplane withoutfail, folks goes, Ugh, safety third,
(33:20):
they have to run through a checklistand I'm probably the only fucker on
that plane who is like, run it twice.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Take as long as you need.
Triple check your checklist, friends.
Because that kills people.
Skimping on the checklistis absolutely fatal.
And this tragedy also highlighted theimportance of crew rescue management
(33:43):
training, teaching pilots to communicatemore effectively, manage workloads better,
and speak up when something seems wrong.
Northwest Airlines retiredflight numbers 2 54 and 2 55.
Today, Memorial stand at the crashsite and as well in Phoenix, which is
where that plane was supposed to go.
(34:05):
These monuments serve asreminders, not just of lives lost.
But of the ongoing commitment to aviationsafety that emerged from this tragedy.
Okay, Zach, that's our story for today.
Kind of a doozy.
That's a lot of peopleto lose their lives.
(34:25):
It is nice though that, one young childgot to live on, we all have trauma.
Hers is just like a capital T.
Come on Zach,
don't judge me.
I'm, I'm judging you.
You're being judged right now.
Yeah.
Whatever.
Not just by me, probably bymany of our listeners as well.
Yeah.
I mean, huge kudos to to her forbeing willing to speak about it.
(34:48):
It's such an insane thing to gothrough and beyond just, surviving.
She lost her family.
Her whole family, a 4-year-old.
I mean, we have a three and a halfyear old and just, you know, I
just imagine her losing everyone.
It's just crazy.
Yeah, it's horrible.
Okay, this one was a bummer.
(35:09):
But you know, it's kind of backto our normal storytelling.
So we did our TTSA episodes,which was a little bit of a
departure from our usual, but.
I thought really interesting.
and now we're back to our bread andbutter, and next week we are going
to have our first ever guest episode.
Zach any word for the peoplebefore we wrap this thing up?
(35:31):
I love you.
I love you.
I love you, and that'sall you need to know.
Join us next time when we'll be exploringanother transportation disaster story.
Until then, remember to stow yourtray tables, fasten your seat belts,
and prepare for the unexpected,because not every trip reaches.
(35:52):
It's final destination.
Goodbye,
and don't forget to rate,review, and subscribe.
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