Objectives of Aloha Boeing 737:

The Boeing 737 is an American short- to medium-range twinjet narrow-body airliner developed
and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 737 was originally envisioned in 1964.
The initial 737-100 made its first flight in April 1967 and entered airline service in February
1968 with Lufthansa. [1][2] Next, the lengthened 737-200 entered service in April 1968. In the
1980s Boeing launched the longer 737-300, -400, and -500 variants (referred to as the Boeing
737 Classic series) featuring CFM56 turbofan engines and wing improvements. Aloha Airlines
Flight 243 (IATA: AQ243, ICAO: AAH243) was a scheduled Aloha Airlines flight between
Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii.
On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737-297 airliner, FAA registration
N73711, named Queen Liliuokalani, was en route from Hilo International Airport (IPO) to
Honolulu International Airport (HNL) with a crew of 5 and 89 passengers. The aircraft commander
was Captain Robert L. Schornstheimer, an Airline Transport Pilot with 8,500 flight hours, of which
6,700 hours were in the Boeing 737. First Officer Madeline Lynn Tompkins also held an Airline
Transport certificate. She had flown 8,000 hours with 3,500 in the B-737 [6]. A Federal Aviation
Administration air traffic controller was on the flight deck as an observer. First Officer Tompkins
made the takeoff at 1:25 p.m. and climbed in visual conditions to Flight Level 240 (24,000
feet/7,315 meters), reaching that altitude at about 1:48 p.m.

Failure Reasons of Aloha Boeing 737:

Aloha Flight 243 was the 152nd Boeing 737 airframe. It was built in 1969 and delivered to
Aloha Airlines as a new aircraft. Its registration was N73711 [3] and it was named Queen
Liliuokalani after Lili'uokalani. While the airframe had accumulated 35,496 flight hours prior to
the accident, those hours included over 89,680 flight cycles (takeoffs and landings), owing to its
use on short flights [4]. This amounted to more than twice the number of flight cycles it was
designed for [5]. On April 28, 1988, at 1346, a Boeing 737-200, N73711, operated by Aloha
Airlines Inc., as flight 243, experienced an explosive decompression and structural failure at
24,000 feet, while en route from Hilo to Honolulu, Hawaii. Approximately 18 feet from the
cabin skin and structure aft of the cabin entrance door and above the passenger floor line
separated from the airplane during flight. There were 89 passengers and 6 crewmembers on
board. One flight attendant was swept overboard during the decompression and is presumed to
have been fatally injured; 7 passengers and 1 flight attendant received serious injuries. The flight
crew performed an emergency descent and landing at Kahului Airport on the Island of Maui.

The investigation determined that the quality of inspection and maintenance programs were
deficient. As fuselage examinations were scheduled during the night, this made it more difficult
to carry out an adequate inspection of the aircraft's outer skin. Also, the fuselage failure initiated
in the lap joint along S-10L;[4] 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. Finally, 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[5].
The NTSB concluded in its final report on the accident:[5]

“The National Transportation Safety Board determines that 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 the 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
evaluate properly the Aloha Airlines maintenance program and to assess the airline's inspection
and quality control deficiencies; 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.”

The accident was attributed to two reasons, mainly that the aircraft was operating at a coastal
environment with high humidity and many repressurizations of the cabin during a day (island
hopping between Hawaiian islands) caused big pressure to the fuselage and finally corrosion of
the metal bindings, secondly the aircraft's age at the time (19 years old) and the 89,090 takeoff-
landing cycles it had completed well-beyond the 75,000 trips it was designed to sustain were also
a contributing factor combined with infrequent and not very thorough inspection for such an old
plane at that time.Judging by the images and the amount of damage it is a miracle that the pilot
even managed to land the plane and that there was only one fatality that of the flight attendant
C.B. Lansing who was literally sucked out of the airplane when the depressurization occurred[7].
One board member dissented, arguing that the fatigue cracking was clearly the probable cause,
but that Aloha Airlines maintenance should not be singled out because failures by the FAA,
Boeing, and Aloha Airlines Maintenance each were contributing factors to the disaster[5].
The aircraft was damaged beyond repair and was dismantled on site. 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 aircraft's vertical stabilizer, causing
slight damage. The leading edges of both wings and both engine cowlings had also sustained
damage[5]. The piece of the fuselage blown off the aircraft was never found[8]. An
investigation by the United States 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 [10][11].
Pressure vessel engineer Matt Austin has proposed an additional hypothesis to explain the scale
of the damage to Flight 243[8][9]. This explanation postulates that initially the fuselage failed as
intended and opened a ten-inch square vent. As the cabin air escaped at over 700 mph, flight
attendant Lansing became wedged in the vent instead of being immediately thrown clear of the
aircraft. The blockage would have immediately created a pressure spike in the escaping air,
producing a fluid hammer (or "water hammer") effect, which tore the jet apart. The NTSB
recognizes this hypothesis, but the board does not share the conclusion. Former NTSB
investigator Brian Richardson, who led the NTSB study of Flight 243, believes the fluid hammer
explanation deserves further study[8].

References
1.Kingsley-Jones, Max. Flight International, Reed Business Information(April 22, 2009).
Retrieved:June 20, 2019.
https://web.archive.org/web/20090425153957/http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2009/04/22/3
25472/pictures-6000-and-counting-for-boeings-popular-little-twinjet.html
2.The Boeing 737-100/200. Airliners.net, Demand Media, Inc.Retrieved: June 20, 2019.
http://www.airliners.net/aircraft-data/boeing-737-100200/91
3.FAA Registry (N73711). Federal Aviation Administration(PDF).Retrieved: June 20, 2019.
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
4.Aloha Airlines Flight 243 incident report.Retrieved: June 20, 2019.
https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19880428-0
5.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. Retrieved: June 20, 2019.
https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/AAR8903.pdf
6. Aloha Airlines Flight 243 pilot describes what happened when the roof tore off the plane(May
9, 2014)– via YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2gku5KqqcQ&t=9&ab_channel=KHON2News
7.Aviation accidents and incidents(April 3, 2011).Retrieved 10:51, June 18, 2019
http://aviationaccidents1.blogspot.com/2011/04/aloha-airlines-flight-243-cabrio.html
8.The Honolulu Advertiser (2001) from the original on January 31, 2008. Retrieved February 6,
2008.
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/2001/Jan/18/118localnews1.html
9."Hanging By a Thread". Mayday. Season 3. 2005. Discovery Channel Canada / National
Geographic.
10.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.
11.Corrosion doctors(August 22, 2006). Retrieved June 15, 2019
http://www.corrosion-doctors.org/Aircraft/Aloha.htm.