When the roof of the plane broke at an altitude of 24,000 feet and the air hostess flew into the air
‘Aloha’ is the word used to greet people in the Hawaiian language. In addition, the word is also used to say ‘welcome’ to people, but in 1988, the passengers and crew of Aloha Airlines Flight 243 had a terrifying experience that not only left a profound impact on their lives, but It changed the safety standards of air travel, the standard of maintenance of aircrafts forever.
On the afternoon of April 28, 1988, an Aloha Airlines passenger plane with 96 passengers and crew on a short flight between the two Hawaiian Islands was at an altitude of 24,000 feet when suddenly part of the plane’s roof collapsed during takeoff. Kar became separated and meanwhile the air hostess who was serving drinks on the plane at that time flew in the air and fell down from the plane in front of the passengers.
At 24,000 feet, the only thing between life and death was the seat belt and the Pacific Ocean below. Before more casualties could occur, the plane’s pilot made a miraculous emergency landing and landed the plane.
This incident led to many changes in the world of aircraft manufacturing, testing and operation and made air travel safer than ever before.
No roof above and sea below
On April 28, 1988, an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737 took off from Hawaii Airport to Honolulu International Airport at 1:25 p.m. In case of any emergency, the plane had to land at Maui Airport, which was its ‘alternate airport’.
It was about a 35-minute flight between the two islands, with most of the time spent in take-offs and landings. For a very short time the aircraft had to fly at its ideal altitude.
The weather that day was normal and pleasant. For some tourists, it was a new and beautiful sight, while for business travelers in the Hawaiian Islands, it was a routine flight.
The plane’s chief pilot, Captain Robert Schoernstimmer, was 44 years old, had been with the company for 11 years and had a total of 8,000 hours of flight experience, 6,700 of which were spent flying the Boeing 737.
The first officer in the cockpit was Madeleine Topkins. The 37-year-old co-pilot was known to his close circle as ‘Mimi’. He also had a total of 8,000 hours of flight experience, of which 3,500 hours were spent flying Boeing 737 aircraft.
The day was normal and the weather was clear, so First Officer Mamie took over the take-off and handling of the aircraft while Captain Robert handled communication with the air traffic controller and other routine tasks.
Because the flight time was so short, as soon as the plane reached its ideal altitude, air hostess Clarible Lansing began serving drinks to the passengers.
A USNTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) report on the accident was released in June 1989, detailing what happened during the flight.
The air hosts began to fly in the atmosphere
Aerospace engineer William Flanigan and his wife Joy were flying to Hawaii to celebrate their 21st wedding anniversary. Joy was sitting in the second row near the window.
Air hostess Clarabelle Lansing, 58, had been with the airline for 37 years. She was known as ‘CB’ in her close circle.
Clara was serving drinks to passengers in the front row while two other air hostesses were on duty at the back of the plane. He tells Joy that the plane will land soon and she is serving drinks for the last time.
Meanwhile, the top of the ship suddenly exploded and Clara fell out of the ship.
At that time, the passengers sitting on the plane began to see certain death because there was an open sky above and the sea below. They could not understand whether the plane broke or something else happened.
The five rows on either side of the plane were open-top like a convertible car as the plane was flying at its normal speed at the time of the crash and passengers were exposed to hurricane-force winds.
The captain and the first officer of the plane heard noises and screams of passengers from behind them and looked back, they could not see the cockpit door and the sky was visible from the back. The oxygen masks in the plane started hanging down.
Seat belt between life and death
However, luckily the passengers remained in their seats at the time of the accident as they were wearing seat belts and the captain of the plane did not instruct them to remove them. Although they were facing strong winds, they were still in the plane.
The roof of the plane’s section collapsed, sending iron wires and other debris flying into the air. Some of the passengers suffered facial and head injuries after being hit by the front tray.
This thin seat belt stood as a protector between life and death for the passengers. One air hostess suffered serious head injuries while the third air hostess was instructing passengers to fasten their seat belts and be patient.
Oxygen masks were hanging but there was no oxygen supply. At this altitude, the passengers were suffering from extreme cold and without oxygen they were nearing death.
They could not see the pilot’s position in the cockpit and the plane was slowly descending. They believed that something had happened to the pilot or that he had lost control of the situation and the plane was going to crash into the sea.
Suddenly the plane stabilized at a height in the air where it was possible for the passengers to breathe. The plane came under control and started to turn. After which the passengers were convinced that the pilot had not lost control of the plane.
Heroes and heroines of the ship
Meanwhile, the pilot Robert and the first officer Mamie were facing a different kind of problem and that was that the wind in the plane was so strong that they could not hear each other’s conversation.
So the captain and the first officer communicated with each other in the cockpit in signs and Captain Robert took control of the aircraft while Mamie handled communications and other matters. Fortunately, the oxygen supply in his mask was still on.
The pilot of the plane sent a signal to the Honolulu airport that the plane was in an emergency, but the message did not reach them. The two decided to land at the Maui airport, contacted the air traffic controller there and asked for permission to land.
With the reduction in altitude and speed, Robert and Mamie were now able to better communicate and communicate with each other.
Amid the chaos, commotion and disorganized communications, the message barely got through to ATC. The aircraft had to make an emergency landing on runway number two. Firefighters were immediately alerted to the potential disaster. When passengers and crew members could not be reached through the intercom or public announcement system, the co-pilot contacted ATC again and instructed them to ‘assist as much as possible’.
As no ambulance or medical services were available at the airport, ATC notified community services to arrive immediately given the gravity of the situation.
It was a challenge to land the plane on the runway with strong winds and between two mountains of 3000 meters. There was a sea below for dire consequences for any mistake.
The speed of the aircraft at the time of landing depends on the wind, aircraft weight, fuel, cargo weight, number of passengers etc.
Co-pilot Mimi explained to pilot Robert the manual of the aircraft’s speed in strong winds, from complex trim to landing time.
Safe landing
As soon as the pilot came into sight of the runway, the pilot immediately pressed the buttons to lower the front landing gears. The pilot noticed that the left and right side wheels had opened but the front wheel had not.
Under normal circumstances the aircraft would circle around the air traffic control and the air traffic control below would observe the aircraft’s landing gears and inform the pilot whether the front wheels were open or not but for this flight this was not the case. It was not possible.
In these conditions, if the aircraft fell, there was a risk of its front part hitting the ground and due to this there was a risk of fire in the aircraft.
The lives of the pilot, flight attendants, passengers, ATC crew, fire fighters and people at the airport were at risk, but because the plane’s communication system had been disrupted, the pilot could not get any signal to open the front wheels. However, the front wheel was open.
Meanwhile, the aircraft had descended considerably and the air pressure at the airport was also stable.
Mimi and Robert successfully land the plane. As they landed, passengers and ATC surrounded and congratulated them.
In this accident, eight passengers were seriously injured and 57 were slightly injured while 29 passengers were safe.
Clarabel’s body was never found
Clara Bell Lansing, who spent most of her life between the Hawaiian Islands and the ocean, drowned somewhere in the Pacific Ocean in this accident.
The US Coast Guard, helicopters and other aircraft tried to search for him, but his body was never found. A garden was built in his memory at the airport.
Due to the non-recovery of the wreckage, no definitive cause of the accident could be given, but efforts were made to determine the cause of the accident from circumstantial evidence and information.
What was the cause of the shipwreck?
After the crash, the $5 million plane was beyond repair and was sold for scrap. This aircraft was purchased in 1969. It was the 152nd aircraft of the 737 series produced by Boeing.
An investigation into the accident said the plane was old and that frequent take-offs and landings due to frequent trips between the Hawaiian Islands had put pressure on its exterior, causing the special connecting parts to fail. The screws (rivets) had come loose. On the day of the accident, the plane was scheduled for three rounds.
The aircraft has flown 35,500 hours and completed 89,680 flight cycles. It was concluded that the outer parts of the ship were highly stressed.
Hawaii’s humid and salty climate caused fine cracks around the rivets on the ship’s exterior, but since ship maintenance and repairs were mostly done at night or in the early morning under artificial light, Hence these cracks were not noticeable. Apart from this, the special seal connecting the parts of the ship was also gone.
Just as a car needs a periodic ‘bumper to bumper’ inspection, an aircraft also requires a thorough ‘top to bottom’ inspection from time to time but due to continuous and regular flights, Only critical parts of Aloha Airlines’ Boeing 737 were inspected periodically and the entire structure was not observed.
After the accident, the US Federal Aviation Administration established a new workshop in New Jersey for the inspection of old aircraft and the testing of airframes. Which checks for corrosion, aircraft use, etc., due to which airlines not only in the United States but around the world have become safer.
Before the global recession hit in 2008, Aloha Airlines filed for bankruptcy in March and bid farewell to passengers.