August 16, 1987

1987Northwest Airlines Flight 255, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashes after takeoff in Detroit, Michigan, killing 154 of the 155 on board, plus two people on the ground.^[†]

On August 16, 1987, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, operating as Northwest Airlines Flight 255, crashed shortly after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, about 8:46 pm EDT, resulting in the deaths of all six crew members and 148 of the 149 passengers, along with two people on the ground. The sole survivor was a 4-year-old girl, named Cecelia Cichan, who sustained serious injuries. At the time, it was the second-deadliest aviation accident in the United States, behind the 1979 crash of American Airlines Flight 191; it now ranks fifth, behind Flight 191 and the crashes of American Airlines Flight 587 in 2001, TWA Flight 800 in 1996 and Korean Air Flight 801 in 1997. It remains the deadliest aircraft accident in the history of the state of Michigan, and it was the worst crash in the history of Northwest Airlines. Before the crash of Air India Flight 171 in 2025, it was also the deadliest aviation accident to have a sole survivor.