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Aloha Airlines Flight 243
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight flown by Aloha Airlines between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, the Boeing 737-297 airplane serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, caused by part of the fuselage breaking due to poor maintenance and metal fatigue. The plane was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. The one fatality, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, was ejected from the airplane. Sixty-five passengers and crew were injured. The substantial damage inflicted by the decompression, the loss of one cabin crew member, and the safe landing of the aircraft established the accident as a significant event in the history of aviation, with far-reaching effects on aviation safety policies and procedures.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-297 registered as N73711, manufactured in 1969. Prior to the accident, it had accumulated 35,496 flight hours in 89,680 flight cycles (takeoffs and landings), owing to its use on short flights; however, this also meant that the maximum altitude and pressure differential was not reached on every flight, so the number of equivalent full pressurization cycles was significantly less. During the 737 certification, a representative half section of its fuselage went through 150,000 full pressurization cycles (two times the economic design life goal of 75,000 cycles and 51,000 hours); however, this did not consider effects of corrosion in real practice. At the time of the accident, Aloha Airlines operated the two highest flight-cycle Boeing 737s in the world, with the accident aircraft being number two.
In command was 44-year-old Captain Robert Schornstheimer, an experienced pilot with 8,500 flight hours, 6,700 of which in Boeing 737s. The first officer was 36-year-old Mimi Tompkins, who also had significant experience flying the 737, having logged 3,500 of her total 8,000 flight hours in that model.
Flight 243 departed from Hilo International Airport at 13:25 HST on April 28, 1988, with 5 crew members and 90 passengers on board (including an air traffic controller travelling on the cockpit jumpseat), bound for Honolulu. Nothing unusual was noted during the pre-departure inspection of the aircraft, which had already completed three uneventful round-trip flights between Honolulu and Hilo, Maui, and Kauai earlier that day. Meteorological conditions were checked, but no advisories for weather phenomena were reported along the air route, per AIRMETs or SIGMETs.
After a routine takeoff and ascent, just as the aircraft had reached its normal flight altitude of 24,000 feet (7,300 m), at 13:46, about 23 nautical miles (43 km; 26 mi) south-southeast of Kahului on Maui, a section on the left side of the roof ruptured with a "whooshing" sound. The captain felt the aircraft roll to the left and right, and the controls went loose; the first officer noticed pieces of gray insulation "floating in the cockpit". The cockpit door had broken away and the captain could see "blue sky where the first-class ceiling had been." A large section of the roof had torn off, consisting of the entire top half of the aircraft skin extending from just behind the cockpit to the fore-wing area, a length of about 18 feet (5.5 m).
The only fatality was 58-year-old chief flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, a veteran of 37 years, who was swept out of the airplane while standing near the fifth-row seats; her body was never found. Eight other people, including one flight attendant, suffered serious injuries; 57 passengers suffered minor injuries. All passengers had been seated and were wearing their seat belts during the depressurization.
First Officer Tompkins was the pilot flying at the time of the accident; Captain Schornstheimer took over controls and performed an immediate emergency descent. The crew declared an emergency and diverted to Kahului Airport for an emergency landing. During the approach to the airport, the left engine failed, and the flight crew was unsure if the nose gear were lowered correctly. Nevertheless, they landed normally on Runway 2, thirteen minutes after the accident. Upon landing, the aircraft's emergency evacuation slides were deployed and passengers quickly evacuated from the aircraft. Sixty-five people were reported injured, eight of them seriously. At the time, Maui had no plan in place for such an emergency. The injured were taken to the hospital in tour vans belonging to Akamai Tours, driven by office personnel and mechanics, as the island only had two ambulances. Air traffic control radioed Akamai and requested as many of their 15-passenger vans as they could spare to go to the airport (which was 3 miles (4.8 km) from their base) to transport the injured. Two of the Akamai drivers were former paramedics and established a triage on the runway.
Additional damage to the airplane included damaged and dented horizontal stabilizers, both of which had been struck by flying debris. Some of the metal debris had also struck the vertical stabilizer, causing slight damage. The leading edges of both wings and both engine cowlings had also sustained damage. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair, dismantled on site and written off.
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Aloha Airlines Flight 243
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight flown by Aloha Airlines between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, the Boeing 737-297 airplane serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, caused by part of the fuselage breaking due to poor maintenance and metal fatigue. The plane was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. The one fatality, flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, was ejected from the airplane. Sixty-five passengers and crew were injured. The substantial damage inflicted by the decompression, the loss of one cabin crew member, and the safe landing of the aircraft established the accident as a significant event in the history of aviation, with far-reaching effects on aviation safety policies and procedures.
The aircraft involved was a Boeing 737-297 registered as N73711, manufactured in 1969. Prior to the accident, it had accumulated 35,496 flight hours in 89,680 flight cycles (takeoffs and landings), owing to its use on short flights; however, this also meant that the maximum altitude and pressure differential was not reached on every flight, so the number of equivalent full pressurization cycles was significantly less. During the 737 certification, a representative half section of its fuselage went through 150,000 full pressurization cycles (two times the economic design life goal of 75,000 cycles and 51,000 hours); however, this did not consider effects of corrosion in real practice. At the time of the accident, Aloha Airlines operated the two highest flight-cycle Boeing 737s in the world, with the accident aircraft being number two.
In command was 44-year-old Captain Robert Schornstheimer, an experienced pilot with 8,500 flight hours, 6,700 of which in Boeing 737s. The first officer was 36-year-old Mimi Tompkins, who also had significant experience flying the 737, having logged 3,500 of her total 8,000 flight hours in that model.
Flight 243 departed from Hilo International Airport at 13:25 HST on April 28, 1988, with 5 crew members and 90 passengers on board (including an air traffic controller travelling on the cockpit jumpseat), bound for Honolulu. Nothing unusual was noted during the pre-departure inspection of the aircraft, which had already completed three uneventful round-trip flights between Honolulu and Hilo, Maui, and Kauai earlier that day. Meteorological conditions were checked, but no advisories for weather phenomena were reported along the air route, per AIRMETs or SIGMETs.
After a routine takeoff and ascent, just as the aircraft had reached its normal flight altitude of 24,000 feet (7,300 m), at 13:46, about 23 nautical miles (43 km; 26 mi) south-southeast of Kahului on Maui, a section on the left side of the roof ruptured with a "whooshing" sound. The captain felt the aircraft roll to the left and right, and the controls went loose; the first officer noticed pieces of gray insulation "floating in the cockpit". The cockpit door had broken away and the captain could see "blue sky where the first-class ceiling had been." A large section of the roof had torn off, consisting of the entire top half of the aircraft skin extending from just behind the cockpit to the fore-wing area, a length of about 18 feet (5.5 m).
The only fatality was 58-year-old chief flight attendant Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, a veteran of 37 years, who was swept out of the airplane while standing near the fifth-row seats; her body was never found. Eight other people, including one flight attendant, suffered serious injuries; 57 passengers suffered minor injuries. All passengers had been seated and were wearing their seat belts during the depressurization.
First Officer Tompkins was the pilot flying at the time of the accident; Captain Schornstheimer took over controls and performed an immediate emergency descent. The crew declared an emergency and diverted to Kahului Airport for an emergency landing. During the approach to the airport, the left engine failed, and the flight crew was unsure if the nose gear were lowered correctly. Nevertheless, they landed normally on Runway 2, thirteen minutes after the accident. Upon landing, the aircraft's emergency evacuation slides were deployed and passengers quickly evacuated from the aircraft. Sixty-five people were reported injured, eight of them seriously. At the time, Maui had no plan in place for such an emergency. The injured were taken to the hospital in tour vans belonging to Akamai Tours, driven by office personnel and mechanics, as the island only had two ambulances. Air traffic control radioed Akamai and requested as many of their 15-passenger vans as they could spare to go to the airport (which was 3 miles (4.8 km) from their base) to transport the injured. Two of the Akamai drivers were former paramedics and established a triage on the runway.
Additional damage to the airplane included damaged and dented horizontal stabilizers, both of which had been struck by flying debris. Some of the metal debris had also struck the vertical stabilizer, causing slight damage. The leading edges of both wings and both engine cowlings had also sustained damage. The aircraft was damaged beyond repair, dismantled on site and written off.