The Nation - News from May 9, 1988

Federal authorities are expected to conclude that pilot error and a breakdown in a cockpit warning system caused last year’s crash in Detroit of a Northwest Airlines jetliner that killed 156 people, according to a published report. Officials at the National Transportation Safety Board have declined to divulge the contents of their preliminary crash investigation report, which the five-member board may accept, modify or reject after questioning federal investigators during a meeting Tuesday in Washington. A source close to the NTSB investigation told the Detroit Free Press that evidence continues to show that the pilots failed to deploy the plane’s wing flaps and slats to gain lift while taking off from Detroit Metropolitan Airport and that the computerized warning system failed to alert them to the error.