On this day, April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was on its way from Hilo to Honolulu.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Tue Apr 28, 2020: On this day, April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was on its way from Hilo to Honolulu.

Aloha Airlines Flight 243

Coordinates: 20°53.919′N 156°25.827′W


Fuselage remains after the emergency landing

Incident
Date: April 28, 1988
Summary: Explosive decompression caused by metal fatigue and maintenance error[1][2]
Site: Kahului, Hawaii


Route of Aloha Airlines Flight 243. In blue, the original route, and in red, the detour after the incident.

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 (IATA: AQ243, ICAO: AAH243) was a scheduled Aloha Airlines flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737-297 serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. There was one fatality, flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing, who was ejected from the airplane. Another 65 passengers and crew were injured. Despite the substantial damage inflicted by the decompression, and the loss of one cabin crew member, the safe landing of the aircraft established the incident as a significant event in the history of aviation, with far-reaching effects on aviation safety policies and procedures.

{snip}

Aviation Accident Database -- Aloha Airlines – Boeing – B737-200 (N-73711) flight AQ243

FAA Lessons Learned From Civil Aviation Accidents


Photo of the fuselage damage on Aloha Airlines flight 243

[Submariner]

1. I sent my parents to Maui on a First Class flight

on United airlines, and of all the gawd damn days picked to travel, they caught a flight that ended up diverted to Honolulu for a day, because the Maui was closed due to the emergency landing.

I'm not rich, but sending your parents to Hawaii free was an easy thing in the 1980s. United used to give coupons for free air travel, free hotel, and free rental cars to its frequent flyer club members, so it didn't cost anyone a dime, United paid for it all. They don't have that program anymore lol...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. "When I asked for a window seat, I didn't mean ..." NT

[Rustyeye77]

3. Oh cmon... they had upgrade on air conditioning .

And more headroom.

What’s to complain about ?


Sarcasm

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Yeah, but they wouldn't want use to use their seat cushions as flotation devices. NT

[PortTack]

5. I remember well! I went to Hawaii for my first time a month later, and the plane was still sitting

At the Honolulu airport. Made us all uneasy knowing we were getting on one of their planes in 3 days to go to Maui!!

[bahboo]

6. good reason to keep your seatbelts fastened....jesus....

[appalachiablue]

7. 'The convertible' as some jokers called it.