View source for Aloha Airlines Flight 243

{{Short description|1988 Hawaii aviation accident}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2016}}
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| occurrence_type = Accident
| name            = Aloha Airlines Flight 243
| image           = The aftermath of N73711.jpg
| alt             = 
| caption         = The ruptured fuselage after landing
| date            = April 28, 1988
| type            = [[Emergency landing]] following in-flight structural failure and [[Uncontrolled decompression#explosive decompression|explosive decompression]]<ref name=StarAdvertiserPhotos>{{cite news |title=Aloha Airlines Flight 243, April 28, 1988 |url=https://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/04/27/photo-galleries/aloha-airlines-flight-243-april-28-1988/ |newspaper=Star-Advertiser |date=April 27, 2018 |access-date=May 9, 2018 |archive-date=May 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510184417/http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/04/27/photo-galleries/aloha-airlines-flight-243-april-28-1988/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=StarAdvertiserFlight243>{{cite news |last=Hurley |first=Timothy |title=Remembering Aloha Airlines Flight 243 |url=https://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/04/28/hawaii-news/remembering-aloha-airlines-flight-243/ |newspaper=Star-Advertiser |date=April 28, 2018 |access-date=May 9, 2018 |archive-date=May 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180510183818/http://www.staradvertiser.com/2018/04/28/hawaii-news/remembering-aloha-airlines-flight-243/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| site            = near [[Kahului]], [[Hawaii]], US
| coordinates     = {{Wikidatacoord|Q665566|region:US-HI_type:event|display=inline,title}}
| plane1_image    = N73711 Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-297, Kahului Airport February 1988.jpg
| plane1_caption  = N73711 in February 1988, two months before the accident
| occupants       = 95
| passengers      = 90
| crew            = 5
| fatalities      = 1
| injuries        = 65
| survivors       = 94
| aircraft_type   = [[Boeing 737-200|Boeing 737-297]]
| aircraft_name   = ''[[Liliuokalani|Queen Liliuokalani]]''
| origin          = [[Hilo International Airport]]
| destination     = [[Honolulu International Airport]]
| operator        = [[Aloha Airlines]]
| IATA            = AQ243
| ICAO            = AAH243
| callsign        = ALOHA 243
| tail_number     = N73711
}}
'''Aloha Airlines Flight 243''' (IATA: AQ243, ICAO: AAH243) was a scheduled [[Aloha Airlines]] flight between [[Hilo International Airport|Hilo]] and [[Honolulu International Airport|Honolulu]] in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988,<!--Use the American date format--> a [[Boeing 737-209|Boeing 737-297]] serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an [[Uncontrolled decompression#Explosive decompression|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.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report">{{cite web |url= https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR8903.pdf |title=Aircraft Accident Report, Aloha Airlines Flight 243, Boeing 737-100, N73711, Near Maui, Hawaii, April 28, 1998 |date=June 14, 1989 |publisher=[[National Transportation Safety Board]] |id=NTSB/AAR-89/03 |access-date=February 5, 2016 |archive-date=January 20, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210120112357/https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR8903.pdf |url-status=live }} - [https://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR89-03.pdf Copy at] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240103085633/http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR89-03.pdf |date=January 3, 2024 }} [[Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University]]. These are large PDFs of low-quality image-only scans of the original paper report; a searchable text version is available at the {{cite web |url= https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/maintenance_hf/library/documents/media/human_factors_maintenance/aircraft_accident_report--aloha_airlines.flight_243.boeing_737-200.n73711.near_maui.hawaii.april_28.1988.pdf |title= archive of FAA website |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230421010606/https://www.faa.gov/about/initiatives/maintenance_hf/library/documents/media/human_factors_maintenance/aircraft_accident_report--aloha_airlines.flight_243.boeing_737-200.n73711.near_maui.hawaii.april_28.1988.pdf |archive-date=21 April 2023}}</ref>

== Background ==

=== Aircraft ===
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.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{Rp|12}} 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);<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{Rp|35}} however this did not consider effects of corrosion in real practice.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{Rp|71–2}} 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.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{Rp|12}}

=== Crew ===
In command was 44-year-old [[Pilot in command|Captain]] Robert Schornstheimer, an experienced pilot with 8,500 flight hours, 6,700 of which in Boeing 737s.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|11}} The [[First officer (aeronautics)|first officer]] was 36-year-old Madeline "Mimi" Tompkins,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2gku5KqqcQ&t=9 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211212/u2gku5KqqcQ |archive-date=2021-12-12 |url-status=live |title=Aloha Airlines Flight 243 pilot describes what happened when roof tore off plane |date=May 9, 2014 |via=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> who also had significant experience flying the 737, having logged 3,500 of her total 8,000 flight hours in that model.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|11}}

==Accident==
[[File:Ruta243aloha.jpg|thumb|Flight 243 route: red – actually flown, incl. the emergency landing on Maui; blue – rest of original flight plan]]
Flight 243 departed from Hilo International Airport at 13:25 [[Hawaii–Aleutian Standard Time|HST]] on April 28, 1988, with 5 crew members and 90 passengers on board (which includes an air traffic controller travelling on the cockpit jumpseat), bound for Honolulu.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report"/>{{rp|2}} Nothing unusual was noted during the pre-departure inspection of the aircraft, which had already completed three round-trip flights from Honolulu to Hilo, Maui, and Kauai earlier that day, all uneventful. Meteorological conditions were checked, but no advisories for weather phenomena were reported along the air route, per [[AIRMET]]s or [[SIGMET]]s.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|2}}

After a routine takeoff and ascent, just as the aircraft had reached its normal flight altitude of {{convert|24000|ft|m}}, at 13:46, about {{convert|23|nmi|km mi}} south-southeast of [[Kahului]] on Maui, a section on the left side of the roof ruptured with a "whooshing" sound.<ref name=" AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|2}} The captain felt the aircraft roll to the left and right, and the controls went loose; the first officer noticed pieces of grey 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."<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|2}} A large section of the roof had torn off, consisting of the entire top half of the [[Skin (aircraft)|aircraft skin]] extending from just behind the cockpit to the fore-wing area,<ref>{{cite book |last=MacPherson |first=Malcolm |title=The Black Box: All-New Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts Of In-flight Accidents |year=1998 |publisher=Harper Paperbacks |isbn=978-0-688-15892-7 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/blackboxallnewco00macp/page/157 157–161] |chapter=27 |chapter-url-access=registration |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/blackboxallnewco00macp/page/157}}</ref> a length of about {{convert|18|ft}}.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />

[[File:Aloha Airlines Flight 243 after accident.jpg|thumb|Left view of the torn fuselage]]

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.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|5}} Eight other people incl. one flight attendant suffered serious injuries, 57 passengers minor ones.<ref name=" AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|5}} All of the passengers had been seated and wearing their seat belts during the depressurization.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19880428-0 |title=ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-297 N73711 Maui, HI |website=aviation-safety.net |access-date=June 2, 2017 |archive-date=June 18, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170618003517/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19880428-0 |url-status=live }}</ref>

First Officer Tompkins was the pilot flying at the time of the accident; Captain Schornstheimer took over controls and performed an immediate emergency descent.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|2}} 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 was lowered correctly. Nevertheless, they were able to land normally on Runway 2, thirteen minutes after the accident. Upon landing, the aircraft's emergency [[evacuation slide]]s were deployed and passengers quickly evacuated from the aircraft.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cooper |first=Ann Lewis |title=Stars of the Sky, Legends All: Illustrated Histories of Women Aviation Pioneers |year=2008 |publisher=Zenith Press |isbn=978-0-7603-3374-7 |pages=138–140 |author2=Rainus, Sharon |chapter=Mimi Tompkins-Aftermath}}</ref> Sixty-five people were reported injured, eight of them with serious injuries. At the time, Maui had no plan in place for an emergency of this type. 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 {{Convert|3|mi|km}} from their base) to transport the injured. Two of the Akamai drivers were former paramedics and established a [[triage]] on the runway.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report"/>

==Aftermath==
[[File:Aloha Airlines Flight 243 fuselage.png|thumb|Fig. 2b of the investigation report: arrow marks fragments of S-4B section lodged in the leading edge flap]]

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 [[Hull loss|written off]].<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />

The piece of the fuselage blown off the aircraft was never found.<ref name="fluidhammer">{{cite web |author=The Honolulu Advertiser |year=2001 |url=http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/2001/Jan/18/118localnews1.html |title=Engineer fears repeat of 1988 Aloha jet accident |access-date=February 6, 2008 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080131222930/http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/2001/Jan/18/118localnews1.html |archive-date=January 31, 2008 |url-status=live}}</ref> Investigation by the U. S. [[National Transportation Safety Board]] (NTSB) concluded that the accident was caused by [[metal fatigue]] exacerbated by [[crevice corrosion]]. The aircraft was 19 years old and operated in a coastal environment, with exposure to salt and humidity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Alan |title=Structure-Property Relations in Nonferrous Metals |year=2005 |publisher=Wiley-Interscience |isbn=978-0-471-64952-6 |author2=Lee, Kok Loong |page=70 |bibcode=2005srnm.book.....R}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Aircraft/Aloha.htm |title=The Aloha incident |access-date=August 17, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060822193924/http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Aircraft/Aloha.htm |archive-date=August 22, 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref>

During an interview, passenger Gayle Yamamoto told investigators that she had noticed a crack in the fuselage upon boarding, but did not notify anyone.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|5}}

In 1995, a garden in Terminal 1 of Honolulu International Airport was named in honor of flight attendant Lansing.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://airports.hawaii.gov/hnl/shop-dine/cultural-gardens/ |title=Cultural Gardens |newspaper=Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (hawaii.gov) |access-date=2024-01-08 |archive-date=January 26, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240126101316/https://airports.hawaii.gov/hnl/shop-dine/cultural-gardens/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Construction ==
The accident aircraft was line number 152. All 737s starting with line number 292 included an additional outer layer of skin or doubler sheet at the [[lap joint]] of the fuselage,<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|16–17}} giving an additional thickness of {{cvt|0.91|mm|inch|order=flip}} at the lap joint. Up to line number 291, i. e. also in the accident aircraft, cold bonding had been used, with fasteners used to maintain surface contact in the joint, allowing bonding adhesive to transfer load within the joint. This cold-bonded joint used an epoxy-impregnated woven scrim cloth to join the edges of {{cvt|0.9|mm|in|thick|adj=mid|order=flip}} skin panels. These epoxy cloths were reactive at room temperature, so they were stored at dry ice temperatures until used. The bond cured at room temperature after assembly. The cold-bonding process reduced the overall weight and manufacturing cost. Fuselage hoop loads (circumferential loads within the skins due to pressurization of the cabin) were intended to be transferred through the bonded joint, rather than through the rivets, allowing the use of lighter, thinner fuselage skin panels with no degradation in fatigue life.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|13–21}}

The additional outer layer construction improved the joint by:
*Eliminating the knife-edge fatigue detail, which resulted from the countersinking of the panels for flush rivets in a disbonded upper skin, and
*Eliminating the corrosion concern associated with the scrim cloth, which could wick moisture into the lap joint<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />

== Conclusion ==

The NTSB investigation determined that the quality of inspection and maintenance programs was deficient. Fuselage examinations were scheduled during the night, which made carrying out an adequate inspection of the aircraft's outer skin more difficult.

<blockquote>The fuselage failure initiated in the lap joint along S-10L; the failure mechanism was a result of [[widespread fatigue damage|multiple-site fatigue cracking]] of the skin adjacent to rivet holes along the lap joint upper rivet row and tear strap disbond, which negated the fail-safe characteristics of the fuselage. <br>
The fatigue cracking initiated from the knife edge associated with the countersunk lap joint rivet holes; the knife edge concentrated stresses that were transferred through the rivets because of lap joint disbonding.<ref name=ASN>[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19880428-0 Aloha Airlines Flight 243 incident report - AviationSafety.net] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151015182530/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19880428-0 |date=October 15, 2015 }}, accessed July 5, 2014.</ref><ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report"/>{{rp|71}}</blockquote>

The NTSB concluded in its final report that<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|73–74}}

<blockquote>the probable cause of this accident was the failure of the Aloha Airlines maintenance program to detect the presence of significant disbonding and fatigue damage which ultimately led to failure of the lap joint at S-10L and the separation of the fuselage upper lobe. Contributing to the accident were the failure of Aloha Airlines management to supervise properly its maintenance force; the failure of the [[Federal Aviation Administration|FAA]] to require Airworthiness Directive 87-21-08 inspection of all the lap joints proposed by Boeing Alert Service Bulletin SB 737-53A1039; and the lack of a complete terminating action (neither generated by Boeing nor required by the FAA) after the discovery of early production difficulties in the B-737 cold-bond lap joint, which resulted in low bond durability, corrosion, and premature fatigue cracking.</blockquote>

One of five board members dissented, arguing that "undetected fatigue cracking" was clearly the probable cause, but that Aloha Airlines maintenance should not be singled out within it because the accident could not be "reasonably foreseen" and a "system failure" by the FAA, Boeing, and Aloha each were merely contributing factors.<ref name="AAR-89-03 Final Report" />{{rp|78}}

== In popular culture ==
* The events of Flight 243 were featured in "Hanging by a Thread", a [[List of Mayday episodes#Season 3 (2005)|season-three (2005)]] episode of the Canadian television series ''[[Mayday (Canadian TV series)|Mayday]]''<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Hanging by a Thread |series=[[Mayday (Canadian TV series)|Mayday]] |network=[[Discovery Channel Canada]] / [[National Geographic Channel]] |season=3 |number=1 |year=2005}}</ref> (called ''Air Emergency'' and ''Air Disasters'' in the U.S. and ''Air Crash Investigation'' in the UK and elsewhere around the world). The flight was also included in ''Mayday'' [[List of Mayday episodes#Season 6 (2007) Special|season six (2007) ''Science of Disaster'' special]] titled "Ripped Apart".<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Ripped Apart |series=[[Mayday (Canadian TV series)|Mayday]] |network=[[Discovery Channel Canada]] / [[National Geographic Channel]] |season=6 |number=1 |year=2007}}</ref>
* The story of Flight 243 was the subject of the 1990 made-for-television movie called ''[[Miracle Landing]]''.
* A memorial garden was opened in 1995 to honor Lansing at Honolulu International Airport.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://airports.hawaii.gov/hnl/shop-dine/cultural-gardens/ |title=Cultural Gardens |website=airports.hawaii.gov |access-date=February 18, 2022 |archive-date=February 18, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218103824/http://airports.hawaii.gov/hnl/shop-dine/cultural-gardens/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* It is featured in season 1, episode 2, of the television show ''[[Why Planes Crash]]'', in an episode called "Breaking Point".
* The [[Vampire Weekend]] album ''[[Only God Was Above Us]]'' is named after a New York ''[[New York Daily News|Daily News]]'' article about the accident.<ref name="Kelly 2024 l789">{{cite web |last=Kelly |first=Tyler Damara |title=Vampire Weekend announce first album in five years, Only God Was Above Us |website=The Line of Best Fit |date=2024-02-08 |url=https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/vampire-weekend-announce-first-album-in-five-years-only-god-was-above-us |access-date=2024-02-18 |archive-date=February 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218222947/https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/vampire-weekend-announce-first-album-in-five-years-only-god-was-above-us |url-status=live }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Hawaii|Aviation|1980s}}
* [[United Airlines Flight 811]], also in Hawaii, an accident in which a cargo door failure caused explosive decompression and nine passengers were ejected from the aircraft and killed, but the crew was able to perform a safe landing, 1989<!-- Why is this listed here? This was a cargo door failure, not a fuselage failure, and metal fatigue was not an identified factor (as far as I notice). Other door-related incidents and accidents are not listed here. -->
* [[Far Eastern Air Transport Flight 103]], an identical aircraft type, immediately adjacent on the production line, with line number 151, which disintegrated in midair due to metal fatigue cracking and severe corrosion, killing all 110 on board, 1981
* [[China Airlines Flight 611]], a [[Boeing 747-200]] that suffered a structural failure after a maintenance error was made in fixing fatigue cracking from a [[tail strike]] 22 years earlier, resulting in death of all 225 aboard, 2002
* [[Japan Air Lines Flight 123]], a flight that suffered a structural failure also caused by a poor repair after encountering a tail strike seven years earlier, 520 killed and 4 injured, 1985
* [[Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101]], a flight that suffered a structural failure and separation of a wing from the fuselage due to metal fatigue, resulting in death of all 20 aboard, 2005
* [[Uncontrolled decompression#Notable decompression accidents and incidents|List of notable decompression accidents and incidents]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==External links==
* [http://www.airliners.net/search?registrationActual=N73711&display=detail Pre-incident photos of N73711]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_jhXxvqy14&t=43 Aloha Air 243, film of rescue operation, with passenger interviews] – documentary clip

{{Aviation incidents and accidents in 1988}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in the 1980s}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Aloha Airlines accidents and incidents]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1988]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents in Hawaii]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents caused by in-flight structural failure]]
[[Category:Airliner accidents and incidents involving in-flight depressurization]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 737 Original]]
[[Category:April 1988 in the United States]]
[[Category:1988 in Hawaii]]