Mich. woman remembers friend who died on Flight 255 - Fox 2 News Headlines

One woman who had a dear friend and passenger on Northwest Airlines Flight 255 on August 16, 1987 said she still feels the crash from "head to toe."

Thursday, August 16 marks twenty-five years since Flight 255 crashed on Middlebelt Road near the I-94 overpass shortly after takeoff from the Detroit Metro Airport.

The only survivor was a 4-year-old girl, Cecelia Cichanand. Sadly, 154 crew members and passengers were killed along with two people on the ground.

Karin Potter and her friend were flying from Detroit to Arizona, but, due to different schedules, she took a different flight than he did.

Her friend Steven Brosnan died in the crash at age 26. He had just begun getting his Masters degree and working at Intel.

"We were back in Detroit for two different reasons and we had talked about getting on the same flight and it just didn't work out with schedules and plans and everything," said Potter. "I flew back on Southwest and he flew back on Northwest."

Because the crash happened during a time before cell phones and social media, people had to use payphones to communicate while on the road, so it was never certain if people actually made the flight they were supposed to or not.

Potter's family back in Detroit had already heard about the crash and when her roommate came to pick her up from the airport, she thought her roommate's tears were because she missed her – until she found out is was due to relief that Potter was not on Flight 255.

It was unfortunately not the case for her friend Steven Brosnan, though.

"He had the world ahead of him -- fun-loving, wonderful person," she said.

To mark the anniversary coming up, Karin said she usually has a beer to think about Steven because she thinks he would love all of the new micro-brews.

Watch the video player to see the full report by Jason Carr.