Explosion in sky sucked cabin crew attendant out at 24,000ft before making miracle landing
This month marks 35 years since the Aloha Airlines Flight 243 disaster, which saw the cabin explode and a flight attendant being sucked out at 24,000ft before the plane made a miracle landing.
The Boeing 737 departed from Hilo International Airport on 28 April, 1988, for the short hop, skip and jump to Honolulu with five crew members and 90 passengers on the flight.
After an uneventful takeoff, those onboard were unaware of the horrifying scenes that would unfold 20 minutes later and change the face of air travel forever.
After reaching 24,000ft, an explosion suddenly tore through the cabin of Aloha Airlines Flight 243 and the pressure plummeted as crew were serving drinks and snacks.
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The ceiling and a huge chunk out of the plane were torn off with a large section of its fuselage following, leaving dozens of passengers exposed.
Tragically, flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing, 58, was sucked out of the plane and into the sky and her body was never found.
Amid the chaos, Captain Robert Schornstheimer, 44, fought to keep control of the aircraft as it rolled from side to side.
He and First Officer Madeline Tompkins explained that the cockpit was engulfed by a deafening 'whooshing' as their controls went slack and they could see 'blue sky where the first-class ceiling had been'.
Crew member Michelle Honda, who had been forced to the ground by flying debris and smoke, said: "Paper, fibreglass, asbestos. It was kind of white. That's why I say blizzard, although it wasn't cold."
Meanwhile, fellow flight attendant Jane Sato-Tomita was lying unconscious in a pool of blood after being struck by shrapnel.
Honda thought her crew mate was dead and told the Washington Post: "She was just on the borderline of the hole. Her head was split open in the back. She was under debris.
"I remember being on the floor, crawling up the aisle rung by rung, telling people to put on life vests. I remember looking up at people on my back and calling up and helping them take out the vests."
But the ferocious elements whipping into the aircraft proved a major obstacle for the passengers and conscious crew members as they were forced to cling onto one another to avoid being dragged through the hole.
"The wind was thunderous, like a storm," Honda said. "Like a bad storm. Like the movies, when they had bad storms in those old black-and-white horror movies."
Captain Schornstheimer was unbelievably able to steer the aircraft into an emergency descent to Maui, but the left engine then failed, causing the plane to hurtle even faster towards Kahului Airport.
The Aloha Airlines flight was able to land without further incident just thirteen minutes after the ordeal started.
Of the 90 passengers onboard, 65 were injured, with eight seriously wounded and a makeshift hospital was set up on the runway to treat them.
Injuries ranged from electrical shock burns from open wiring, to broken bones and fractures, to cerebral concussions and lacerations.
The pre-flight inspection had gone without a hitch but it later emerged that a passenger noticed a crack in the fuselage upon boarding but didn't say anything.
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the accident was caused due to a failure of the airline's maintenance programme and its management.
The Federal Aviation Administration launched the National Aging Aircraft Research Program in 1991, to tighten inspection and maintenance requirements for high-use and high-cycle aircraft.
A memorial garden was opened in 1995 at Honolulu International Airport in honour of Clarabelle Lansing.
Amelia Jones