1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision

Northwest Airlines
Flight 1482 · Flight 299

Wreckage of N3313L.
Accident
Date	December 3, 1990 (1990-12-03)
Summary	Runway incursion in fog
Site	Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Michigan 42°12′45″N 83°21′12″W
Total fatalities	8
Total injuries	10
Total survivors	190
First aircraft
A Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-9-14, similar to the one involved.
Type	McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14
Operator	Northwest Airlines
Registration	N3313L
Flight origin	Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Michigan
Destination	Pittsburgh International Airport
Occupants	44
Passengers	40
Crew	4
Fatalities	8
Injuries	10
Survivors	36
Second aircraft
The accident aircraft in December 1993 after repair and return to service
Type	Boeing 727-251-Adv
Operator	Northwest Airlines
Registration	N278US
Flight origin	Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, Michigan
Destination	Memphis International Airport, Tennessee
Occupants	154
Passengers	146
Crew	8
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	154

The Wayne County Airport runway collision involved the collision of two Northwest Airlines planes at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport on December 3, 1990. It occurred when 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.

Accident

Northwest 1482 was cleared from the gate towards Runway 03C, but it missed turning onto taxiway Oscar 6 and instead entered the Outer taxiway. To correct the error, they were instructed to turn right onto Taxiway Xray, but the crew instead turned onto the active runway, 03C. They realized the mistake and contacted air traffic control, who told them to leave the runway immediately.

Five seconds later (at 13:45 EST), the crew saw the Boeing 727 heading towards them. The 727 was operating Northwest Flight 299 to Memphis, and had just been cleared for take-off. The 727's wing hit the right-hand side of the DC-9 and cut through the fuselage just below the windows, then continued aft, finally cutting off the DC-9's right-hand (#2) engine. The DC-9 caught fire and was destroyed.

The captain of the DC-9 escaped from his aircraft through the left sliding window. Eighteen people escaped the plane from the left overwing exit; thirteen persons got out through the left main boarding door; 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 tailcone; the tailcone release was not activated, and later investigation determined that release mechanism was mechanically inoperable.

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 received minor injuries.

After the collision, the 727 flight crew immediately initiated a rejected takeoff, and was able to stop the aircraft safely on the remaining runway. 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. The 727 sustained a damaged wing and was later repaired.

Aircraft and crew

The Douglas DC-9 operating Flight 1482 was registered N3313L; it was built in 1966 and had a total of 62,253 operating hours and was declared a total loss and scrapped following this incident. The DC-9 was delivered new to Delta before being sold to Northwest predecessor Southern Airways in 1973. 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.

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 flew for Northwest until 1995. N278US was flown by Kitty Hawk Aircargo before being scrapped in 2011. 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.

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 in a timely manner 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.

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".

See also

• Tenerife airport disaster – 1977 runway incursion in dense fog involving two Boeing 747s, the deadliest such accident in history
• Madrid runway disaster – 1983 fatal takeoff accident also involving a DC-9 and a 727
• Air Canada Flight 759 - 2017 near miss involving an Airbus A320-211 nearly landing on a taxiway occupied by four aircraft
• Los Angeles runway disaster – 1991 fatal accident in which a Boeing 737 landed on a runway occupied by a Fairchild Metroliner
• Linate Airport disaster - 2001 fatal accident in which a Cessna Citation CJ2 taxied in front of a McDonnell Douglas MD-87 taking off in dense fog

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Transportation Safety Board.