What Happens if Your Plane Is Exposed to the Elements? | Last Moments

this is the remains of Aloha Airlines flight 243 about 20 minutes into its Journey a large chunk of the fuselage tore off subjecting the passengers and crew to explosive decompression and exposure to the elements at 24 000 feet so what happened to them below 243 can you give me your bills on board and if you're on board [Music] Roger how many do you think are injured juicy Aloha Airlines was an American airline company headquartered in Hawaii USA on April 28 1988 they had scheduled flight 243 taking passengers from Hilo on Hawaii island to Honolulu on Oahu the flight would be the sixth that day for the assigned Boeing 737 and it would also be its last flight 243 never made it to Oahu the captain was 44 year old Robert schornsteiner the first officer 36 year old Madeleine Tompkins with three flight attendants on board the crew totaled five there were 90 passengers as they were boarding one passenger noted a crack on the outside of the fuselage to the right of the entry door she assumed that if it were visible to her then the qualified technicians and Engineers would have been well aware of it and thus it wasn't a problem this passenger was mistaken as the later turned out Aloha Airlines had a whole Fleet of planes that were in desperate need thorough maintenance and repair this was despite the fact that their Engineers conducted inspections more frequently than Boeing recommended in relation to the plane's flight hours Boeing recommended what's known as a d-check every 20 000 flight hours but Aloha Airlines performed one every 15 000 hours so how then did the planes fall into such disrepair this is because the number of flight hours aren't necessarily what wears down an aircraft the cabin of a plane like the 737 is essentially a large pressure vessel it's pressurized during ascent and depressurized during descent this pressurization cycle causes stress and fatigue to the construction of an aircraft as the components expand and contract with each cycle eventually resulting in pieces needing repair and replacement this was a problem for Aloha Airlines as their flights between the Hawaiian Islands were very short meaning they racked up pressurization Cycles at an incredible rate when compared to their flight hours in fact at this point in time Aloha Airlines operated the two highest pressurization cycle 737s in the world this aircraft was number two in just 35 000 hours of flight This Plane racked up nearly 90 000 pressurization Cycles more than double than it's designed for flight 243 departed Hilo at 1 25 PM about 20 minutes later the aircraft is southeast of the island of Maui at an altitude of about 24 000 feet although the fastened seatbelt light was still on the flight attendants were already serving drinks a usual occurrence because the flights were so short lead flight attendant clarabel Lansing was handing a drink to a passenger at roll 5 In First Class when suddenly there was an explosion and she was gone an 18.5 foot section of the fuselage had torn off sending debris everywhere and explosively decompress pressing the cabin everything on board was now being sucked towards the gaping hole this force would literally take the air out of your lungs claraba Lansing was standing right beneath the now open roof and had been dragged out to her Doom flight attendant Jane saido to meet her had been hit by flying debris and knocked unconscious luckily her limp body became trapped in debris and she remained on board the flight flight attendant Michelle Honda managed to survive by holding onto the supports for the seats explosive decompression can only last for so long though and once the air from the cabin had escaped the air from outside the plane started to come in passengers that were suspended in place only by their seat belts were now slammed back into place a thunderous Roar of freezing winds battered them at hundreds of miles an hour trying to breathe at this altitude was a big problem and one with no solution as the delivery system for the oxygen masks had been taken out in the explosion Michelle Honda tried her best to console passengers some were injured by debris all were panicked over the noise of the air rushing into the cabin she heard someone ask if the pilots were still in control of the plane she didn't know if they were in fact she didn't even know if they were still in the plane she ran for the crew phone at the back of the plane but couldn't get in touch with the cockpit because the line had been severed Panic now overwhelming her she began to ask passengers if they knew how to fly a plane Captain Sean Steiner and first officer Tompkins were indeed still on board they looked behind them to see the cockpit door was missing and beyond that they saw part of the roof had been replaced with Sky although they couldn't see just how extensive the damage was they decided to make an emergency landing on Maui emergency below 243 third position Runway two and I'll keep advice on any wind change okay understand you're going to need an ambulance to decorate below 243 can you give me your toes on board and your fuel on board Roger how many do you think are injured we have no idea okay we'll have ambulance on the way okay the captain began to rapidly descend trying to get everyone to a more hospitable altitude as quickly as possible this had two unintended consequences many passengers thought the plane was now falling out of the sky and more importantly an incredible amount of stress was now being placed on what remained of the first class section seansteiner was unaware that the cockpit was connected to the rest of the plane by 18 feet of floor passengers watched on in horror as the floor sagged and buckled as the captain came to the Final Approach for the emergency landing a number of things compounded his already loose control of the aircraft firstly the light for the gnaw's landing gear wasn't coming on whether this was a fault with the nose gear itself or just the light was a mystery but if there was no nose gear there was no chance schornsteiner or Tompkins would survive this Landing second the left engine had failed having eaten debris from the initial explosion but with the runway in sight seansteiner had bigger worries like the flaps on the plane Tompkins had put them to landing position but had to put them back when it made the plane near uncontrollable without the flaps they were coming into land at very high speed as the plane came into view of the airport onlookers dropped to the ground upon seeing the state it was in the air traffic controller was able to visually confirm to the crew that the nose gear was down and then plane landed safely the ordeal had lasted 13 minutes 65 were injured some seriously although Maui was unprepared for an emergency of this nature the island had just two ambulances and the air traffic controller had actually forgotten to call one instead a tour company provided its tour Vance to evacuate the injured and some of its drivers who were former paramedics established a triage on the runway the crew wondered where flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing had gone although a blood stain on the outside of the craft gave a bleak indication the 58 year old was a veteran flight attendant of 37 years she was pronounced dead although her body would never be found the detached piece of the plane's fuselage would also evade detection this gave experts called in to investigate some trepidation if the section was missing it would be impossible to tell how it failed however after seeing the craft the entire thing was in such a shocking state that it was easy to see how any of it could break if this plane hadn't had this accident it would still have required a Year's worth of repairs now it was only fit for the scrap yard Aloha Airlines was criticized for their poor maintenance protocols and inspection of the rest of their Fleet revealed more planes had to be scrapped or repaired they overhauled their maintenance program and the FAA adopted much stricter protocols to ensure no other Airline would have such a disaster under their watch although it would never fly again it's amazing this aircraft made a safe landing a picture alone is enough to tell you how proud the crew should be for being able to land it and how terrifying the whole ordeal must have been for everyone on board all but one of whom survived they were thrashed around showered in debris exposed to the elements at an altitude where the air is thin and they all would be forgiven for believing they were doomed because rightfully there were really what seansteiner and Tompkins did was conquer reality they brought them back from the brink and ultimately saved them their lives well it sounded like an explosion but probably more like rapidly I saw that the plane was disintegrating uh I saw that it was absolutely no hope that that we were going to land the pilot did something that was unbelievable in bringing that airplane down and a plane like that should not fly

Channel: Qxir

Views: 1,375,418

Keywords: aloha airlines flight 243, footage, recording, animation, explained, documentary, scariest, plane, accidents, roof, fuselage, hawaii, irish

Id: lNKKnX4aBEM

Length: 10min 58sec (658 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 31 2023