Dave's Blog: The Story of Clarabelle Lansing

Have a look at this blog which articulately describes the tragic incident of Aloha Airlines flight.

Dave's Blog: The Story of Clarabelle Lansing: "Lansing "

Aloha Airlines Flight 243

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a scheduled Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200 flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, the aircraft suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. One crew member was blown out of the airplane and another 65 passengers and crew were injured. The extent of the damage was only just below that which would have caused the airliner to break up, and the survival of the aircraft with such a major loss of integrity was unprecedented and remains unsurpassed.

On April 28, 1988, the aircraft (registration number N73711) took off from Hilo International Airport at 13:25 HST bound for Honolulu. There were 89 passengers and five crew members on board. No unusual occurrences were reported during the takeoff and climb.

Around 13:48, as the aircraft reached its normal flight altitude of 24,000 feet (7,300 m) about 23 nautical miles (43 km) south-southeast of Kahului, a small section on the left side of the roof ruptured. The resulting explosive decompression tore off a large section of the roof, consisting of the entire top half of the aircraft skin extending from just behind the cockpit to the fore-wing area.

Part of the design of the 737 was for stress to be alleviated by controlled area breakaway zones. The intent was to provide controlled depressurization that would maintain the integrity of the fuselage structure. The age of the plane and the condition of the fuselage (that had corroded away and stressed the rivets beyond their designed capacity) appear to have conspired to render the design a part of the problem; when that first controlled area broke away, according to the small rupture theory, the rapid sequence of events resulted in the failure sequence. This has been referred to as a "zipper effect."

First Officer Madeline "Mimi" Tompkins' head was jerked back during the explosion, and she saw cabin insulation flying around the cockpit. Captain Robert Schornsteimer looked back and saw blue sky where the first class cabin's roof had been. Tompkins immediately contacted Kahului Airport on Maui to declare an emergency.

At the time of the decompression, the chief flight attendant, Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing, was standing at seat row 5 collecting drinks cups from passengers. According to passengers' accounts, Lansing was ejected through a hole in the side of the airplane.

Flight attendant Michelle Honda, who was standing near rows #15 and #16, was thrown violently to the floor during the decompression. Despite her injuries, she was able to crawl up and down the aisle to assist and calm the terrified passengers. Flight attendant Jane Sato-Tomita, who was at the front of the plane, was seriously injured by flying debris, and was thrown to the floor. Passengers held onto her during the descent into Maui.

Before landing, passengers were instructed to don their lifejackets, in case the aircraft did not make it to Kahului. Some passengers inflated their lifejackets while the aircraft was still in flight, possibly reducing or eliminating some injuries.

Conclusion

28th of April 1988 happened the terrible incident of Aloha flight 243.
The only dead person, the chief FA Clarabelle Lansing, is considered a hero, since she blocked the "hole" of the fuselage for few seconds.
This post is in memory of this great FA, Ms.Lansing, whose body was never found. And of course, in the memory of all the survivors and the MAGNIFICENT crew that saved the entired aircraft when they landed the plane safely.
RIP to Ms Lansing.


Madhur

Spoilers in B737-800

Spoilers in B737-800
Originally uploaded by Madhur.

Here is the closeup of the spoilers being deployed on my landing to Pune Airport (VADP) on 28th October. Capt. R.K. Ahuja piloting a Boeing 737 made a smooth landing in cloudy morning with visibility of 2 miles.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Mystery of Oct 31st in Aviation History

On this day,

An EgyptAir 767-300ER crashed in the Atlantic Ocean about 60 miles (96 km) south of Nantucket Is. The aircraft, with 203 passengers and 14 crew members, crashed shortly after taking off from JFK airport early in the morning of 31 October 1999. All aboard the aircraft were killed. The accident was investigated by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), and the final report submitted in March 2002.

 

Flight 990 a Los Angeles-New York-Cairo flight operated by EgyptAir. On October 31, 1999, at around 1:50 a.m. EST, Flight 990 dove into the Atlantic Ocean, about 60 miles south of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.

 

Radar and radio contact with the Boeing 767-366ER aircraft (Registration number: SU-GAP) was lost 30 minutes after the aircraft departed JFK Airport in New York on its flight to Cairo. The flight departed from its flight level and dove to 16,000 feet, then climbed again to 24,000 then continued to dive, hitting the Atlantic Ocean within the span of 36 seconds.

 

Flight data showed that the flight controls were used to move the elevators in order to initiate and sustain the steep dive. Forces on the captain's and first officer's control columns were recorded and completely consistent with the recorded elevator deflections and a struggle for control of the aircraft. There were no other aircraft in the area. There was no indication that an explosion occurred on board. The engines operated normally for the entire flight until they shut down and the left engine was torn from the wing from the stress of the manuevers.

 

An investigation by the NTSB determined that the relief first officer, Gamil Al-Batouti, at the controls while the captain was out of the cabin, turned off the autopilot, and deliberately crashed the plane into the ocean, while calmly reciting "Tawakalt ala Allah" ("I put my trust in God") and counteracting the captain's efforts to recover from the dive. His motivation for these actions can only be guessed and are not addressed, but suicide or homicidal intentions towards some of the passengers or crew are possibilities in light of the NTSB analysis.

 

More reports:

The Enterprise Mission - The REAL Mystery of Egypt Air flight 990

http://www.welfarestate.com/flight990/

 

Difference between the FS flying and Real Flying :)

I came across at a very good article which tell us the differences involved in the

Real flying of airplane and simulator flying. Many flight simulator enthusiasts think

That they can fly the real plane with little more training after gaining proficiency in

Simulator flying. Well, this is not true at all, for details ……. Read on here :

 

http://www.homepages.mcb.net/bones/04fs/MP/Procedures.htm

 

 

Mangalore's Brand New Airport

VT-DKB First ever photo of India’s brand new International Airport and runway at Mangalore.(Inauguration on Oct 3rd, 2006) New runway is also a hilltop runway 336 feet above sea level making for interesting landing experience. Taken from Air Deccan ATR72-500 after taking off for Bangalore in severe storm conditions

Click here