AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT REPORT: ALOHA AIRLINES, FLIGHT 243 BOEING 737-200, N73711, NEAR MAUI, HAWAII, APRIL 28, 1988

On April 28, 1988, 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 of the cabin skin and structure aft of the cabin entrance door and above the passenger floorline 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 flightcrew performed an emergency descent and landing at Kahului Airport on the Island of Maui. The safety issues raised in the report include: the quality of the air carrier maintenance programs and the FAA surveillance of those programs, the engineering airworthiness of the B-737 with particular emphasis on multiple site fatigue cracking of the fuselage lap joints.

• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Bureau of Accident Investigation, 800 Independence Avenue, SW
  Washington, DC  United States  20594
• Publication Date: 1989-6-14

Media Info

• Pagination: n.p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aircraft; Crash reports; Decompression; Equipment maintenance; Failure; Fatigue (Physiological condition); Fracture mechanics; Maintenance; Standards; Structural mechanics
• Uncontrolled Terms: Structural failures
• Old TRIS Terms: Maintenance standards
• Subject Areas: Aviation; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00494075
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: National Technical Information Service
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB/AAR-89/03
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Apr 30 1990 12:00AM