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1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision

On December 3, 1990, two Northwest Airlines jetliners collided at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Flight 1482, a scheduled Douglas DC-9-14 operating from Detroit to Pittsburgh International Airport, taxied by mistake onto an active runway in dense fog and was hit by a departing Boeing 727 operating as Flight 299 to Memphis International Airport. One member of the crew and seven passengers of the DC-9 were killed.^: 1

Accident

Northwest Airlines Flight 1482, a Douglas DC-9-14, was cleared from the gate toward Runway 03C, but it missed turning onto Taxiway Oscar 6 and instead entered the outer taxiway. To correct the error, the crew was instructed to turn right onto Taxiway X-ray, but they instead turned onto the active runway, 03C. They realized the mistake and contacted air traffic control, which instructed them to leave the runway immediately.

Five seconds later (at 13:45 EST), the crew saw the Boeing 727, Northwest Flight 299 to Memphis, heading toward them on its takeoff roll. The 727's wing cut through the right side of the DC-9's fuselage just below the windows, then continued aft, finally cutting off the DC-9's right side (#2) engine. The DC-9 caught fire and was destroyed.

The captain of the DC-9 escaped from the aircraft through the left sliding window. Eighteen people escaped the plane from the left overwing exit, 13 people escaped through the left main boarding door and four people jumped from the right service door. The rear jumpseat flight attendant and a passenger died from smoke inhalation in the DC-9's tail cone; the tail cone release was not activated. Later, an investigation determined that the release mechanism was mechanically inoperable.^: 9

Of the surviving passengers, the NTSB stated that 10 received serious injuries and 23 received minor or no injuries. The three surviving crew members received minor or no injuries. The NTSB added that it did not receive medical records for three passengers who were admitted to a burn center; for purposes of the report, the NTSB labeled their injuries as serious. The NTSB also did not receive medical records for the copilot and six passengers who were treated and released from area hospitals; for the purposes of the report, the NTSB assumed that they had received minor injuries.^: 11

After the collision, the 727 flight crew immediately initiated a rejected takeoff and was able to stop the aircraft safely on the remaining runway.^: 4 The captain then shut down all three engines and ascertained that no one on board had been injured and that the aircraft was only lightly damaged. Deciding that no immediate danger existed, he did not order an emergency evacuation, and the passengers and crew deplaned using the rear airstair after the aircraft was sprayed with fire retardant foam as a precaution.^: 37 The 727 sustained a damaged wing and was later repaired.

Aircraft and crew

The DC-9 operating Flight 1482, registered N3313L, was built in 1966 and had a total of 62,253 operating hours. The plane was delivered new to Delta, which sold it to Southern Airways in 1973. It became part of Northwest's fleet after the 1986 acquisition of Southern's successor, Republic Airlines.^: 87 It was declared a total loss and scrapped following this incident. The crew consisted of Captain William Lovelace (52), who had 23,000 flight hours with 4,000 hours in the DC-9, and First Officer James Schifferns (43), who had 4,685 flight hours with 185 hours in the DC-9.^: 12

The Boeing 727 operating Flight 299 was registered N278US and had been purchased by Northwest in 1975. It had 37,310 operating hours. The aircraft was repaired and continued in service for Northwest until 1995. N278US was flown by Kitty Hawk Aircargo before being scrapped in 2011.^: 87 The crew consisted of Captain Robert Ouellette (42), who had 10,400 flight hours with 5,400 hours on the 727, First Officer William Hagedorn (37), who had 5,400 flight hours with 2,350 hours on the 727, and Flight Engineer Darren Owen (31), who had 3,300 flight hours with 900 hours on the 727.^: 14

Investigation

The accident was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board, which determined the probable cause of the accident to be:

a lack of proper crew coordination, including a virtual reversal of roles by the DC-9 pilots, which led to their failure to stop taxiing their airplane and alert the ground controller of their positional uncertainty promptly before and after intruding onto the active runway.
Contributing to the cause of the accident were (1) deficiencies in the air traffic control services provided by the Detroit tower, including failure of the ground controller to take timely action to alert the local controller to the possible runway incursion, inadequate visibility observations, failure to use progressive taxi instructions in low-visibility conditions, and issuance of inappropriate and confusing taxi instructions compounded by inadequate backup supervision for the level of experience of the staff on duty; (2) deficiencies in the surface markings, signage, and lighting at the airport and the failure of Federal Aviation Administration surveillance to detect or correct any of these deficiencies; and (3) failure of Northwest Airlines, Inc., to provide adequate cockpit resource management training to their line aircrews.
Contributing to the fatalities in the accident was the inoperability of the DC-9 internal tail cone release mechanism. Contributing to the number and severity of injuries was the failure of the crew of the DC-9 to properly execute the passenger evacuation.^: 79

In popular culture

The accident is featured in the fourth episode of Season 20 of Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation. The episode is titled "Taxiway Turmoil."