Northwest Airlines Flight 255 - Crash

Crash

Flight 255 made its takeoff roll on Detroit's Runway 3C at approximately 8:45 p.m. EDT with Capt. Maus at the controls. The plane lifted off the runway at 170 knots (195 mph) and soon began to roll from side to side at a height just under 50 feet above the ground. The MD-82 went into a stall and rolled 40 degrees to the left when it struck a light pole near the end of the runway, severing 18 feet of its left wing and igniting jet fuel stored in the wing. It then rolled 90 degrees to the right, and its right wing tore through the roof of an Avis rental car building. The plane, now uncontrolled, crashed inverted onto Middlebelt Road and hit vehicles just north of the intersection of Wick Rd. The aircraft then broke apart, the fuselage skidded across the road, and then disintegrated and erupted into flames as it hit a railroad overpass and the overpass of eastbound Interstate 94.