Aloha Airlines Flight 243
Encyclopedia
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 (AQ 243, AAH 243) was a scheduled Aloha Airlines
flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737-200 serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport
on Maui
. The only fatality was flight attendant C.B. Lansing who was blown out of the airplane. Another 65 passengers and crew were injured.
The safe landing of the aircraft despite the substantial damage inflicted by the decompression established Aloha Airlines Flight 243 as a significant event in the history of aviation, with far-reaching effects on aviation safety policies and procedures.
(PHTO) at 13:25 HST on 28 April 1988, bound for Honolulu (PHNL). There were 90 passengers and five crew members on board. No unusual occurrences were reported during the take-off and climb.
Around 13:48, as the aircraft reached its normal flight altitude of 24000 feet (7,315.2 m) about 23 nautical miles (42.6 km) south-southeast of Kahului, a small section on the left side of the roof ruptured. The resulting explosive decompression tore off a large section of the roof, consisting of the entire top half of the aircraft skin
extending from just behind the cockpit to the fore-wing area.
As part of the design of the 737, stress may be alleviated by controlled area breakaway zones
. The intent was to provide controlled depressurization that would maintain the integrity of the fuselage structure. The age of the plane and the condition of the fuselage (that had corroded and was stressing the rivets beyond their designed capacity) appear to have conspired to render the design a part of the problem; when that first controlled area broke away, according to the small rupture theory, the rapid sequence of events resulted in the failure sequence. This has been referred to as a zipper effect.
First Officer Madeline "Mimi" Tompkins
' head was jerked back during the decompression, and she saw cabin insulation flying around the cockpit. Captain Robert Schornstheimer looked back and saw blue sky where the first class cabin's roof had been. Tompkins immediately contacted Air Traffic Control on Maui to declare mayday
, switching duties with Captain Schornstheimer, who from this point on, took over control of the plane, as it is usually customary for the Captain to take over a flight that enters a state of emergency.
At the time of the decompression, the chief flight attendant
, Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, was standing at seat row 5 collecting drink cups from passengers. According to passengers' accounts, Lansing was blown out through a hole in the side of the airplane by the greater air pressure remaining in the cabin.
Flight attendant Michelle Honda, who was standing near rows 15 and 16, was thrown violently to the floor during the decompression. Despite her injuries, she was able to crawl up and down the aisle to assist and calm the terrified passengers. Flight attendant Jane Sato-Tomita, who was at the front of the plane, was seriously injured by flying debris and was thrown to the floor. Passengers held onto her during the descent into Maui.
The explosive decompression severed the electrical wiring from the nose gear to the indicator light on the cockpit instrument panel. As a result, the light did not illuminate when the nose gear was lowered, and the pilots had no way of knowing if it had fully lowered.
Before landing, passengers were instructed to don their life jackets, in case the aircraft did not make it to Kahului.
The crew performed an emergency landing
on Kahului Airport
's runway 2 at 13:58. Upon landing, the crew deployed the aircraft's emergency evacuation slide
s and evacuated passengers from the aircraft quickly. First Officer Mimi Tompkins assisted passengers down the evacuation slide. In all, 65 people were reported injured, eight seriously. At the time, Maui had no plan for a disaster of this type. The injured were taken to the hospital by the tour vans from Akamai Tours (now defunct) driven by office personnel and mechanics, since the island only had a couple of ambulances. Air traffic control radioed Akamai and requested as many of their 15 passenger vans as they could spare to go to the airport (less than a mile away) to transport the injured. Two of the Akamai drivers were former medics and established a triage
on the runway. The aircraft was a write-off
.
(NTSB) concluded that the accident was caused by metal fatigue
exacerbated by crevice corrosion
(the plane operated in a coastal environment, with exposure to salt and humidity). The root cause
of the problem was failure of an epoxy
adhesive used to bond the aluminum sheets of the fuselage together when the B737 was manufactured. Water was able to enter the gap where the epoxy failed to bond the two surfaces together properly, and started the corrosion process.
The age of the aircraft became a key factor in why the damage had been so severe: It was 19 years old at the time of the accident and had sustained a remarkable number of takeoff–landing cycles—89,090, the second most cycles for a plane in the world at the time, and well beyond the 75,000 trips it was designed to sustain. However, several other aircraft operating under similar environments did not exhibit the same phenomenon. A deep and thorough inspection of Aloha Airlines by NTSB revealed that the most extensive and longer "D Check" was performed in several early morning installments, instead of a full uninterrupted maintenance procedure.
According to the official NTSB report of the investigation, Gayle Yamamoto, a passenger, noticed a crack in the fuselage upon boarding the aircraft prior to the ill-fated flight but did not notify anyone. The crack was located aft of the front port side passenger door. The crack was probably due to metal fatigue related to the 89,090 compression and decompression cycles experienced in the short hop flights by Aloha.
As a direct result of this incident, the FAA instituted additional and more thorough mandatory maintenance checks for aging aircraft. In addition, the United States Congress
passed the Aviation Safety Research Act of 1988 in the wake of the disaster. This provided for stricter research into probable causes of future airplane disasters.
Both pilots remained with Aloha Airlines. Robert Schornstheimer retired from Aloha Airlines in August 2005. At that time, Madeline Tompkins was still a captain of the airline's Boeing 737-700
aircraft until the airline ceased passenger operations in 2008.
, which tore the jet apart. The NTSB recognizes this hypothesis, but the board does not share the conclusion and maintains its original finding that the fuselage failed at multiple points at once. Former NTSB investigator Brian Richardson, who led the NTSB study of Flight 243, believes the fluid hammer explanation deserves further study.
Aloha Airlines
Aloha Airlines was an American airline headquartered in Honolulu CDP, City and County of Honolulu, Hawaii, operating from a hub at Honolulu International Airport...
flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737-200 serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport
Kahului Airport
Kahului Airport is a regional airport in the state of Hawai'i, located east of the Kahului CDP in Maui County on the island of Maui near Haleakala. Most flights into OGG originate from Honolulu International Airport; the Honolulu–Kahului corridor is one of the busiest air routes in the US,...
on Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
. The only fatality was flight attendant C.B. Lansing who was blown out of the airplane. Another 65 passengers and crew were injured.
The safe landing of the aircraft despite the substantial damage inflicted by the decompression established Aloha Airlines Flight 243 as a significant event in the history of aviation, with far-reaching effects on aviation safety policies and procedures.
Details
The aircraft, Queen Liliuokalani (registration number N73711, named after Liliuokalani), took off from Hilo International AirportHilo International Airport
Hilo International Airport , formerly General Lyman Field, is owned and operated by the Hawaii state Department of Transportation. Located in Hilo, Hawaii County, the airport encompasses and is one of two major airports on Hawaii Island and one of five major airports in the state...
(PHTO) at 13:25 HST on 28 April 1988, bound for Honolulu (PHNL). There were 90 passengers and five crew members on board. No unusual occurrences were reported during the take-off and climb.
Around 13:48, as the aircraft reached its normal flight altitude of 24000 feet (7,315.2 m) about 23 nautical miles (42.6 km) south-southeast of Kahului, a small section on the left side of the roof ruptured. The resulting explosive decompression tore off a large section of the roof, consisting of the entire top half of the aircraft skin
Skin (aircraft)
The wings and fuselage of aircraft are covered by what is referred to as the skin. Aircraft have a protective and functional covering that is also called the skin of the flying machines. Soft single skin kite examples the use of the term for kite wings....
extending from just behind the cockpit to the fore-wing area.
As part of the design of the 737, stress may be alleviated by controlled area breakaway zones
Fault-tolerant design
In engineering, fault-tolerant design is a design that enables a system to continue operation, possibly at a reduced level , rather than failing completely, when some part of the system fails...
. The intent was to provide controlled depressurization that would maintain the integrity of the fuselage structure. The age of the plane and the condition of the fuselage (that had corroded and was stressing the rivets beyond their designed capacity) appear to have conspired to render the design a part of the problem; when that first controlled area broke away, according to the small rupture theory, the rapid sequence of events resulted in the failure sequence. This has been referred to as a zipper effect.
First Officer Madeline "Mimi" Tompkins
Madeline Tompkins
Madeline "Mimi" Tompkins is an airline pilot who gained international fame on April 28, 1988, as the First Officer on Aloha Airlines Flight 243, which landed safely after an explosive decompression in flight....
' head was jerked back during the decompression, and she saw cabin insulation flying around the cockpit. Captain Robert Schornstheimer looked back and saw blue sky where the first class cabin's roof had been. Tompkins immediately contacted Air Traffic Control on Maui to declare mayday
Mayday (distress signal)
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice procedure radio communications. It derives from the French venez m'aider, meaning "come help me"....
, switching duties with Captain Schornstheimer, who from this point on, took over control of the plane, as it is usually customary for the Captain to take over a flight that enters a state of emergency.
At the time of the decompression, the chief flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
, Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, was standing at seat row 5 collecting drink cups from passengers. According to passengers' accounts, Lansing was blown out through a hole in the side of the airplane by the greater air pressure remaining in the cabin.
Flight attendant Michelle Honda, who was standing near rows 15 and 16, was thrown violently to the floor during the decompression. Despite her injuries, she was able to crawl up and down the aisle to assist and calm the terrified passengers. Flight attendant Jane Sato-Tomita, who was at the front of the plane, was seriously injured by flying debris and was thrown to the floor. Passengers held onto her during the descent into Maui.
The explosive decompression severed the electrical wiring from the nose gear to the indicator light on the cockpit instrument panel. As a result, the light did not illuminate when the nose gear was lowered, and the pilots had no way of knowing if it had fully lowered.
Before landing, passengers were instructed to don their life jackets, in case the aircraft did not make it to Kahului.
The crew performed an emergency landing
Landing
thumb|A [[Mute Swan]] alighting. Note the ruffled feathers on top of the wings indicate that the swan is flying at the [[Stall |stall]]ing speed...
on Kahului Airport
Kahului Airport
Kahului Airport is a regional airport in the state of Hawai'i, located east of the Kahului CDP in Maui County on the island of Maui near Haleakala. Most flights into OGG originate from Honolulu International Airport; the Honolulu–Kahului corridor is one of the busiest air routes in the US,...
's runway 2 at 13:58. Upon landing, the crew deployed the aircraft's emergency evacuation slide
Evacuation slide
An evacuation slide is an inflatable slide used to evacuate an aircraft quickly. An escape slide is required on all commercial aircraft where the door sill height is such that, in the event of an evacuation, passengers would be unable to "step down" from the door uninjured An evacuation slide is...
s and evacuated passengers from the aircraft quickly. First Officer Mimi Tompkins assisted passengers down the evacuation slide. In all, 65 people were reported injured, eight seriously. At the time, Maui had no plan for a disaster of this type. The injured were taken to the hospital by the tour vans from Akamai Tours (now defunct) driven by office personnel and mechanics, since the island only had a couple of ambulances. Air traffic control radioed Akamai and requested as many of their 15 passenger vans as they could spare to go to the airport (less than a mile away) to transport the injured. Two of the Akamai drivers were former medics and established a triage
Triage
Triage or ) is the process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their condition. This rations patient treatment efficiently when resources are insufficient for all to be treated immediately. The term comes from the French verb trier, meaning to separate,...
on the runway. The aircraft was a write-off
Write-off
The term write-off describes a reduction in recognized value. In accounting terminology, it refers to recognition of the reduced or zero value of an asset. In income tax statements, it refers to a reduction of taxable income as recognition of certain expenses required to produce the income...
.
Aftermath
Investigation by the United States National Transportation Safety BoardNational Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
(NTSB) concluded that the accident was caused by metal fatigue
Metal Fatigue
Metal Fatigue , is a futuristic science fiction, real-time strategy computer game developed by Zono Incorporated and published by Psygnosis and TalonSoft .-Plot:...
exacerbated by crevice corrosion
Corrosion
Corrosion is the disintegration of an engineered material into its constituent atoms due to chemical reactions with its surroundings. In the most common use of the word, this means electrochemical oxidation of metals in reaction with an oxidant such as oxygen...
(the plane operated in a coastal environment, with exposure to salt and humidity). The root cause
Root cause
A root cause is rarely an initiating cause of a causal chain which leads to an outcome or effect of interest. Commonly, root cause is misused to describe the depth in the causal chain where an intervention could reasonably be implemented to change performance and prevent an undesirable outcome.In...
of the problem was failure of an epoxy
Epoxy
Epoxy, also known as polyepoxide, is a thermosetting polymer formed from reaction of an epoxide "resin" with polyamine "hardener". Epoxy has a wide range of applications, including fiber-reinforced plastic materials and general purpose adhesives....
adhesive used to bond the aluminum sheets of the fuselage together when the B737 was manufactured. Water was able to enter the gap where the epoxy failed to bond the two surfaces together properly, and started the corrosion process.
The age of the aircraft became a key factor in why the damage had been so severe: It was 19 years old at the time of the accident and had sustained a remarkable number of takeoff–landing cycles—89,090, the second most cycles for a plane in the world at the time, and well beyond the 75,000 trips it was designed to sustain. However, several other aircraft operating under similar environments did not exhibit the same phenomenon. A deep and thorough inspection of Aloha Airlines by NTSB revealed that the most extensive and longer "D Check" was performed in several early morning installments, instead of a full uninterrupted maintenance procedure.
According to the official NTSB report of the investigation, Gayle Yamamoto, a passenger, noticed a crack in the fuselage upon boarding the aircraft prior to the ill-fated flight but did not notify anyone. The crack was located aft of the front port side passenger door. The crack was probably due to metal fatigue related to the 89,090 compression and decompression cycles experienced in the short hop flights by Aloha.
As a direct result of this incident, the FAA instituted additional and more thorough mandatory maintenance checks for aging aircraft. In addition, the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed the Aviation Safety Research Act of 1988 in the wake of the disaster. This provided for stricter research into probable causes of future airplane disasters.
Both pilots remained with Aloha Airlines. Robert Schornstheimer retired from Aloha Airlines in August 2005. At that time, Madeline Tompkins was still a captain of the airline's Boeing 737-700
Boeing 737 Next Generation
The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as Boeing 737NG, is the name given to the -600/-700/-800/-900 series of the Boeing 737 after the introduction of the -300/-400/-500 Classic series. They are short- to medium-range, narrow-body jet airliners...
aircraft until the airline ceased passenger operations in 2008.
Alternative explanation
Pressure vessel engineer Matt Austin has proposed an alternative hypothesis to explain the disintegration of the fuselage of Flight 243. This explanation postulates that initially the fuselage failed as intended and opened a ten-inch square vent. As the cabin air escaped at over 700 mph, flight attendant C.B. Lansing became wedged in the vent instead of being immediately thrown clear of the aircraft. The blockage would have immediately created a pressure spike in the escaping air, a fluid hammerWater hammer
Water hammer is a pressure surge or wave resulting when a fluid in motion is forced to stop or change direction suddenly . Water hammer commonly occurs when a valve is closed suddenly at an end of a pipeline system, and a pressure wave propagates in the pipe...
, which tore the jet apart. The NTSB recognizes this hypothesis, but the board does not share the conclusion and maintains its original finding that the fuselage failed at multiple points at once. Former NTSB investigator Brian Richardson, who led the NTSB study of Flight 243, believes the fluid hammer explanation deserves further study.
Memorials
- In 1996, the Lansing Memorial Garden was inaugurated at Honolulu International AirportHonolulu International AirportHonolulu International Airport is the principal aviation gateway of the City & County of Honolulu and the State of Hawaii and is identified as one of the busiest airports in the United States, with traffic now exceeding 21 million passengers a year and rising.It is located in the Honolulu...
's Interisland Terminal near the gates formerly used by Aloha Airlines.
Dramatizations
- The TV movie Miracle Landing is based on the incident.
- The plot of the novel AirframeAirframe (novel)Airframe is a novel by American writer Michael Crichton, first published in hardcover in 1996 by Knopf and as a paperback in 1997 by Ballantine Books...
references the incident. - The Discovery ChannelDiscovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
/National Geographic ChannelNational Geographic ChannelNational Geographic Channel, also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo, is a subscription television channel that airs non-fiction television programs produced by the National Geographic Society. Like History and the Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual...
series MaydayMayday (TV series)Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television programme produced by Cineflix investigating air crashes, near-crashes and other disasters...
(called Air Crash Investigations in the United Kingdom and other areas, Air Emergency in the United States), a series about aircraft crashes and incidents, featured this particular flight in the episode "Hanging by a Thread." The episode contained historical footage, recreations of what happened, and interviews with investigators and survivors. - The History Channel series Secrets of the Black Box also showed historical footage, recreations of what happened, and interviews with investigators and survivors (22 December 2007).
- The Discovery Channel show MythbustersMythBustersMythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
referenced the flight in its discussion of depressurization in airplanes. - The Discovery Channel show Moments That Changed Flying aired a segment on the incident in April 2009.
- Spike TV's 1000 Ways To Die1000 Ways to Die1000 Ways to Die is a docufiction anthology television series that premiered on May 14, 2008 on Spike. The program recreates unusual supposed deaths and debunked urban legends and includes interviews with experts who describe the science behind each death...
in a segment loosely based on how the fuselage broke open and how the victim died.
See also
- Uncontrolled decompression
- List of notable decompression accidents and incidents
- List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners
- Air safetyAir safetyAir safety is a term encompassing the theory, investigation and categorization of flight failures, and the prevention of such failures through regulation, education and training. It can also be applied in the context of campaigns that inform the public as to the safety of air travel.-United...
- China Airlines Flight 611China Airlines Flight 611China Airlines Flight 611 was a regularly scheduled flight from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taoyuan to Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong...
External links
- Official accident report index page
- Pre-incident photos of N73711 – 1990 TV movie