Now you’ve probably seen Hollywood movies where a hole in the side of a plane causes utter chaos food trays and bags flying seat belts unable to keep passengers in place. Luckily in reality, small damage to the fuselage won’t have such dramatic consequences. But a big opening and a plain side will so would you believe me if I told you a pilot managed to land a plane with much of its roof was torn completely off buckle up at 1:25 p.m. on April 28th, 1988 a 19 year old Boeing 737 that belonged to Aloha Airlines left Hilo International Airport.
And headed for Honolulu the plane was named after Queen Liliuokalani who was the last sovereign monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii. On that day the aircraft already had three short flights from Honolulu to Hilo Maui and Kauai all of the trips were regular. And uneventful the weather was calm and it seemed like nothing could go wrong. The captain was experienced pilot Robert shorn steamer 44 years old who had 6700 flight hours in the Boeing 737. As for the first officer, it was Madeline Tompkins 36 years old who had flown more than 3,500 miles in the very same Boeing model early in the morning still in Honolulu.
The first officer had conducted the regular pre-flight inspection and announced that the plane was ready for the flight at 11:00 a.m. The plane left Honolulu and was headed for Maui and then to Hilo. When the plane arrived at this destination the pilots didn’t leave the cockpit or inspect the aircraft from the outside. After all, it wasn’t a requirement and they didn’t have to do it following schedule. The plane started the last leg of the routine round-trip at 1:25 p.m.
There were 95 people on board the aircraft 89 passengers two pilots three flight attendants and an FAA traffic controller. Who stayed in the observer seat in the cockpit after a normal takeoff and ascent the plane got to the usual cruising altitude of 24,000 feet and then at about 148 p.m. 26 miles away from Kahului Maui.
The unexpected happened those who were in the cockpit heard a loud whooshing sound. And a crack following by the deafening sound of wind seconds later. Apparently, a small part of the roof on the left side tore loose which led to the explosive decompression of the plane. But the worst thing was that the decompression caused a huge section of the roof of the airplane to tear off completely. The length of the missing part was eighteen and a half feet long. And that was the aircraft skin that covered the plane from the cockpit back to the fore wing area at first the pilots didn’t realize what had happened.
The first officer who was in control of the aircraft at that moment felt her head jerked backward. And she noticed debris and gray pieces of insulation flying chaotically around the cockpit. When the captain turned his hat he saw that the cockpit door had disappeared and instead of the first-class ceiling he was staring at the clear blue sky.
Then the plane started to roll from side to side and it was becoming increasingly harder to control. Everybody who was in the cockpit immediately put on their oxygen masks and the captain took over the aircraft. He brought the speedbrakes into action and began an urgent descent toward the nearest airport which was on Maui Island.
Luckily all the passengers were in their seats at the moment when the accident happened. And since the seatbelt sign was still on everyone had their seat belts fastened. However, all three flight attendants were standing along the aircraft aisle the one who was closest to the front of the plane was swept out through the hole in the roof. The other two were thrown to the floor by a forceful jerk.
But while one of them really hard and lost consciousness. The other started to crawl along the aisle in an attempt to help passengers and calm them down. At the same time the pilots were trying to contact air traffic control and signal an emergency to make matters worse they couldn’t hear each other. And had to use gestures to communicate they also didn’t know whether their radio work and whether they had managed to deliver the message.
The flight controls were sluggish and loose and the captain had difficulty controlling the play. Meanwhile, the first officer was dealing with communication and assisting the captain. It turned out that the controller hadn’t been receiving the cruise messages until the aircraft descended to an altitude of 14,000 feet. Only then the signal got through and Maui tower started urgent preparations for an emergency landing.
What the problem was at that time in case of emergency the airport control tower had to dial 911. Else on top of that, the controller didn’t catch that passengers and crew members would need medical help. After all, the crew only announced that they had experienced a rapid decompression which didn’t reveal the entire horror of the situation. In the meantime, the plane had already dropped to a height of 10,000 feet above sea level.
The captain removed his oxygen mask and withdrew the speed breaks. The plane was moving toward runway 2 of Kahului Airport. Following the captain’s command, the first officer lowered the landing gear. But the indicator light didn’t come on that could mean either they had a bad life or they had serious problems with the nose gear.
But that wasn’t the only problem as the plane was approaching the runway the left engine failed. And the aircraft started rocking and shaking the captain made an attempt to restart the engine. But didn’t succeed and still at 1:58 p.m. just 10 minutes after the emergency and 35 minutes after the takeoff Aloha Airlines flight 243 managed to touch down on the runway of Kahului Airport.
Landing a plane with such a huge loss of integrity was an unprecedented. Feat to stop the plane the crew used the reverse thrust of the second. Still working engine as soon as the plane stopped the evacuation began. Everyone on the plane except for the flight attendant. Who had been pulled out of the plane was alive although 65 people were injured.
Most people had been hurt by flying debris and torn pieces of fuselage. Unfortunately, since nobody on the ground had known how serious the situation was no ambulances were waiting for the injured. The first one arrives seven minutes after the plane landed. And there were only two ambulances on the island which obviously couldn’t fit all the people. That’s why the passengers had to be transported to the hospital in several 15-passenger tour events that belong to the company Akamai tours luckily.
Akamai drivers used to be paramedics and they started to help the injured right on the runway. Meanwhile, Airport mechanics, as well as office staff, drove the vans to the hospital. Which was three miles away luckily there were only eight serious injuries. And all of these people later recovered as for the plane it was damaged beyond repair and later dismantled right at the airport. The missing part of the roof disappeared without a trace but what could cause such a terrible accident the problem wasn’t the age of the aircraft.
After all, nineteen years isn’t that all neither had it accumulated too many flight hours before the accident happened. But the 35,500 flight hours the plane had traveled included 89,680 takeoffs and landings which are also called flight cycles.
The reason for such a huge number was that the plane performed mostly short domestic flights between the islands and this number exceeded the number of flight cycles.
The plane was designed for by two times besides the airplane traveled in a salty and humid environment. Which also added to the wear and tear.
Interestingly during one interview that followed the accident passenger, Gayle Yamamoto remembered that she had spotted a crack in the fuselage when she was boarding, unfortunately, she was the only one who had seen this damage. And the woman hadn’t thought that the crack was important enough to inform the crew.