Inside Aloha Airlines disaster where cabin exploded sucking attendant out at 24,000ft before miracle landing 35yrs on | The Sun
NEARLY one hundred people climbed on board an Aloha Airlines jet for what they thought was just another routine interisland flight.
But the 55-minute journey would end up transforming the aviation industry forever after the cabin exploded at 24,000ft.
Nearly 35 years on from the air disaster, the extraordinary chain of events in Hawaii remains a stark reminder of safety in the skies.
On April 28, 1988, the Boeing 737 departed from Hilo International Airport for the short jaunt to Honolulu with five crew members and 90 passengers.
Despite an uneventful takeoff, those onboard were unaware of the movie-like scenes that would unfold just over 20 minutes later.
The Aloha Airlines Flight 243 had climbed to a cool 24,000ft and was cruising through the clouds when an explosion suddenly erupted.
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Crew members were serving drinks and snacks to plane passengers when the blast occurred as the cabin pressure plummeted.
The ceiling of the Boeing 737 was blasted off, tearing a huge chunk out of the plane in the process.
A large section of its fuselage followed, leaving dozens of passengers exposed to the elements.
Flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing, 58, was tending to passengers in the fifth row when she was sucked out into the void.
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The tragic Aloha Airlines employee, who had worked in the industry for 37 years, tumbled out of the damaged cabin into the abyss – and her body was never found.
As passengers recoiled in horror, Captain Robert Schornstheime, 44, was battling to keep control of the plane as it rolled from side to side.
He and First Officer Madeline Tompkins said the cockpit was engulfed by a deafening "whooshing" sound while their controls went loose.
They chillingly explained how they could see "blue sky where the first-class ceiling had been."
Crew member Michelle Honda had been hit to the ground by the debris flying through the air, while a "smoke-like vapour" filled the cabin.
She recalled: "Paper, fibreglass, asbestos. It was kind of white. That's why I say blizzard, although it wasn't cold."
Fellow crew member Jane Sato-Tomita was lying unconscious in a pool of blood after also being struck by fragments of the wreckage.
Honda told the Washington Post she thought her colleague "was dead" when she spotted her as she dragged herself along the aisle.
She continued: "She was just on the borderline of the hole. Her head was split open in the back. She was under debris.
"I remember being on the floor, crawling up the aisle rung by rung, telling people to put on life vests. I remember looking up at people on my back and calling up and helping them take out the vests."
'LIKE THE MOVIES'
But the ferocious wind ripping into the aircraft proved a major obstacle for the passengers and conscious crew members.
People were forced to cling onto one another as they tried to resist being dragged through the hole, well aware of their possible fates.
They were also trying to dodge the whirlwind of debris in the cabin, while two huge ceiling panels landed on the heads of tourists.
"The wind was "thunderous, like a storm," Honda said. "Like a bad storm. Like the movies, when they had bad storms in those old black-and-white horror movies."
Each time she frantically tried to shout instructions such as "heads down", the flight attendant ended up with a mouthful of debris.
Incredibly, Captain Schornstheime was still clinging onto what little control they had left of the Aloha Airlines jet.
The rest of the Boeing 737 had miraculously managed to remain welded together, despite the blast tearing an 18ft hole in it.
Schornstheime took over the cockpit and began to steer the aircraft to begin an emergency descent to Maui, unaware that they would land minus one crew member.
But the left engine then failed – causing the plane to hurtle even faster toward the ground as they approached Kahului Airport.
Somehow, the Aloha Airlines flight was able to land without incident – just thirteen minutes after the ordeal began.
WHAT WENT WRONG?
A makeshift hospital was set up on the runway to treat the 65 injured passengers – eight of whom were seriously wounded.
Passengers also suffered electrical shock burns from open wiring as well as broken bones, fractures, cerebral concussions and lacerations across their bodies.
Investigators quickly began trying to determine the cause of the air disaster, as the pre-flight inspection had gone without a hitch.
It later emerged that a passenger, Gayle Yamamoto, had noticed a crack in the fuselage upon boarding – but didn't notify anyone.
The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the accident was caused due to a failure of the airline's maintenance programme.
Designed to detect the presence of damage to the plane, the lack of thoroughness of the inspection that was conducted in the darkness meant a crack in a lap joint was missed.
Airline management was also found to have failed to have adequately supervised its maintenance force.
In response, the Federal Aviation Administration launched the National Aging Aircraft Research Program in 1991, to tighten inspection and maintenance requirements for high-use and high-cycle aircraft.
The safe landing was praised as "exemplary" by industry bosses, who were stunned that there was only one fatality.
A memorial garden was opened in 1995 at Honolulu International Airport in honour of the sole victim, Clarabelle Lansing.
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The lessons learned from the horror incident that rocked Hawaii still have a significant impact on plane safety procedures today.
Ahead of the 35th anniversary of the Aloha Airlines disaster later this month, the tale remains as tragic as it did over three decades ago.
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