Aloha Airlines Flight 243
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Airlines_Flight_243
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.
The fuselage failure initiated in the lap joint along S-10L; the failure mechanism was a result of 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.
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.[13][4]: 71
The NTSB concluded in its final report that[4]: 73–74
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 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.
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.[4]: 78
The events of Flight 243 were featured in "Hanging by a Thread", a season-three (2005) episode of the Canadian television series Mayday[14] (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 season six (2007) Science of Disaster special titled "Ripped Apart".[15]
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.[16]
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 Daily News article about the accident.[17]
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
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
List of notable decompression accidents and incidents
^ "Aloha Airlines Flight 243, April 28, 1988". Star-Advertiser. April 27, 2018. Archived from the original on May 10, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
^ Hurley, Timothy (April 28, 2018). "Remembering Aloha Airlines Flight 243". Star-Advertiser. Archived from the original on May 10, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
^ "Article 2: Uncovering the Failures – The Investigation and Human Factors of Aloha 243". aviathrust.com.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Aircraft Accident Report, Aloha Airlines Flight 243, Boeing 737-100, N73711, Near Maui, Hawaii, April 28, 1998" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. June 14, 1989. NTSB/AAR-89/03. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved February 5, 2016. - Copy at Archived January 3, 2024, at the Wayback Machine 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 "archive of FAA website" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on April 21, 2023.
^ "Aloha Airlines Flight 243 pilot describes what happened when roof tore off plane". May 9, 2014. Archived from the original on December 12, 2021 – via YouTube.
^ MacPherson, Malcolm (1998). "27". The Black Box: All-New Cockpit Voice Recorder Accounts Of In-flight Accidents. Harper Paperbacks. pp. 157–161. ISBN 978-0-688-15892-7.
^ "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-297 N73711 Maui, HI". aviation-safety.net. Archived from the original on June 18, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
^ Cooper, Ann Lewis; Rainus, Sharon (2008). "Mimi Tompkins-Aftermath". Stars of the Sky, Legends All: Illustrated Histories of Women Aviation Pioneers. Zenith Press. pp. 138–140. ISBN 978-0-7603-3374-7.
^ The Honolulu Advertiser (2001). "Engineer fears repeat of 1988 Aloha jet accident". Archived from the original on January 31, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2008.
^ Russell, Alan; Lee, Kok Loong (2005). Structure-Property Relations in Nonferrous Metals. Wiley-Interscience. p. 70. Bibcode:2005srnm.book.....R. ISBN 978-0-471-64952-6.
^ "The Aloha incident". Archived from the original on August 22, 2006. Retrieved August 17, 2006.
^ "Cultural Gardens". Daniel K. Inouye International Airport (hawaii.gov). Archived from the original on January 26, 2024. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
^ Aloha Airlines Flight 243 incident report - AviationSafety.net Archived October 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, accessed July 5, 2014.
^ "Hanging by a Thread". Mayday. Season 3. Episode 1. 2005. Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic Channel.
^ "Ripped Apart". Mayday. Season 6. Episode 1. 2007. Discovery Channel Canada / National Geographic Channel.
^ "Cultural Gardens". airports.hawaii.gov. Archived from the original on February 18, 2022. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
^ Kelly, Tyler Damara (February 8, 2024). "Vampire Weekend announce first album in five years, Only God Was Above Us". The Line of Best Fit. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved February 18, 2024.
Pre-incident photos of N73711
Aloha Air 243, film of rescue operation, with passenger interviews – documentary clip
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