Martin says pilot error was definitely a factor, and a warning alert that was supposed to go off didn’t, likely because of a failed breaker. The NTSB eventually determined several factors that probably contributed to the crash. He says he couldn’t see any human bodies, just pieces of smoldering sheet metal. Pluta recalls getting to the scene of the crash, where the plane had crashed into the bridge over Middlebelt Road. “The sheriff’s deputy told me he was driving on 94 when he saw the fireball in the sky.” “I pulled onto the shoulder and drove until I got to a Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy who was … really just stopping. Trying to get to the crash, both reporters recalled traffic on I-94 being at a standstill. He heard about the crash and was off to the airport. Martin said he was in bed reading after watching a Detroit Tiger’s game when he got a call from the Detroit News city desk. Roger Martin was a Detroit News reporter who was one of the first journalists on the scene, and Michigan’s Radio’s Rick Pluta was there as a reporter for United Press International. National network reporters told the nation about the disaster, but many Michigan journalists were also on the scene after news of the crash broke. Two motorists on Middlebelt Road were also killed.

The only survivor was four-year-old Cecelia Cichan. Moments after takeoff, Northwest Flight 255 stalled and crashed onto Middlebelt Road. Thirty years ago today, a flight outbound from Detroit Metro Airport on its way to Phoenix never reached its destination.

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