Tag Archives: Honolulu International Airport

28 April 1988

Aloha Airlines’ Boeing 737-297, N73711.

28 April 1988: Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737-297 airliner, FAA registration N73711, named Queen Liliuokalani, was enroute from Hilo International Airport (IPO) to Honolulu International Airport (HNL) with a crew of 5 and 89 passengers.

Captain Robert Schornstheimer in the cockpit of an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737. (Honolulu Star Bulletin)

The aircraft commander was Captain Robert L. Schornstheimer, an Airline Transport Pilot with 8,500 flight hours, of which 6,700 hours was 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. 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.

First Officer Madeline Tompkins, Hawaiian Airlines, was th efirst officer aboard Aloha Flight 243. This photograph, taken in 2010, was at an Airl Line Pilots' Association (ALPA) award ceremony.
Captain Madeline Lynn Tompkins, Hawaiian Airlines, was the first officer aboard Aloha Flight 243. She was awarded the Air Line Pilots Association 2010 Pilot Assistance Award for her exceptional leadership in supporting airline pilots who experience serious psychological trauma. (ALPA)

As the airliner leveled at FL240, a portion of the fuselage tore loose and caused an explosive decompression of the aircraft. The flight deck door blew away and Captain Schornstheimer could see “blue sky where the first-class ceiling had been.” The captain took the controls, deployed the speed brakes and began an immediate descent at 280–290 knots (322–334 miles per hour/519–537 kilometers per hour), with a rate of descent as high as 4,100 feet per minute (20.83 meters per second). He turned toward the nearest airport, Kahalui Airport (OGG) on the island of Maui. First Officer Tompkins handled all communications as well as assisting the captain flying the airplane. Captain Schornstheimer described the flight controls as loose and sluggish.

Descending through 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) he began to slow the airliner, but below 170 knots (195.6 miles per hour/314.8 kilometers per hour), it became less controllable so he maintained that speed for the approach to the runway. At the normal point in the approach, the crew lowered the landing gear but the green light for the nose gear did not illuminate. The manual system was activated. The green light did not come on, but neither did the red light. Captain Schornstheimer felt that it was imperative to get the airliner on the ground, so there was no time to troubleshoot the landing gear.

At this time Flight 243 began to yaw and roll. The number one engine had failed. (Both engines were damaged from ingested debris.) An unsuccessful attempt was made to restart.

The Boeing 737 landed on Runaway 02 at Kahalui Airport at 13:58:45, just over ten minutes since the emergency began. The thrust reverser of the number two engine was used to slow the airplane and when it rolled to a stop, the emergency evacuation was begun.

Passengers and crew of Flight 243 begin to evacuate the damaged airliner at Kahalui Airport, Maui. (Unattributed)
Passengers and crew of Flight 243 begin to evacuate the damaged airliner at Kahalui Airport, Maui. (Unattributed)
Clarabelle "C.B." Lansing had been a flight attendant for 37 years.
Chief Flight Attendant Clarabelle Ho Lansing. “C.B.” had been a flight attendant with Aloha Airlines for 37 years.

When the fuselage decompressed, Chief Flight Attendant Clarabelle Ho Lansing had been standing in the aisle at Row 5. She was thrown out of the airplane and fell to the ocean, 24,000 feet (7,315 meters) below. The U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Cape Corwin coordinated a three-day search along with Coast Guard and Marine Corps helicopters, airplanes and other ships. Her body was never recovered.

Flight Attendant Jane Sato-Tomita sustained serious head injuries and was unconscious. Flight Attendant Michelle Honda and many passengers were also injured by flying debris and the effects of decompression.

Boeing 737-297 N73711 was damaged beyond repair. It was scrapped in place. At the time of the accident, the airframe had accumulated 35,496 hours (TTAF) with 89,680 cycles. The cause of the fuselage failure was fatigue cracking around rivets as a result of the vast number of pressurization/depressurization cycles it had experienced, as well as operation in a salty coastal environment. During the NTSB investigation, a passenger reported having seen a crack in the fuselage when boarding the flight, but did not say anything about it to the crew.

Captain Schornstheimer remained with Aloha Airlines until he retired in 2005. Mimi Tompkins also stayed with Aloha and rose to the rank of captain. When Aloha Airlines ceased operations in 2008 she went to Hawaiian Airlines.

Aloha Airlines' Boeing 737, N73711 at Maui. (Unattributed)
Queen Liliuokalani, Aloha Airlines’ Boeing 737-297 N73711, at Kahalui Airport (OGG), Maui, Hawaii. (Unattributed)

The Boeing 737-200 series was a short-to-medium range narrow body twin-engine civil transport. The -200 first flew 8 August 1967. It had a flight crew of two and could carry a maximum of 136 passengers.

The 737-200 is 100 feet, 2 inches (30.531 meters) long with a wingspan of 93 feet, 0 inches (28.346 meters) and overall height of 36 feet, 10 inches (11.227 meters). The wing is swept 25.00° at ¼ chord, and there are 6° dihedral. Its empty weight is 69,700 pounds (31,615 kilograms). Flight 243’s actual takeoff weight was 93,133 pounds (42,224 kilograms). (Its maximum certificated takeoff weight was 100,000 pounds (45,359 kilograms).

Boeing 737-200 three-view illustration with dimensions.

The airliner is powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A low-bypass axial-flow turbofan engines, each producing 14,500 pounds of thrust (64.499 kilonewtons) at Sea Level. JT8D-9A was a two-spool engine with a 2-stage fan section, 11-stage compressor (4 low- and 7 high-pressure stages), nine combustion chambers and a 4-stage turbine (1 high- and 3 low-pressure stages). The JT8D-9A was 42.5 inches (1.080 meters) in diameter, 123.5 inches (3.137 meters) long, and weighed 3,196 pounds (1,450 kilograms).

Maximum speed is 0.82 Mach (544 miles per hour/780 kilometers per hour) and the service ceiling is 35,000 feet (10,700 meters).

The 737-200 first flew 8 August 1967. 1,095 –200s were built. The last one in service with an American airline, Aloha Airlines, was retired 21 March 2008.

Aloha Airlines’ Boeing 737-297, N73712, King Kamehameha, c/n 20210. (NASM-9A 10180)

© 2017, Bryan R. Swopes

13 December 1955

DH.106 Comet 3 G-ANLO is decorated with a flower lei on its arrival at Honolulu International Airport, 13 December 1955. (Zoggavia)
De Havilland DH.106 Comet 3 G-ANLO is decorated with a flower lei on its arrival at Honolulu International Airport, 13 December 1955. (Zoggavia)

13 December 1955: The first landing of a commercial jet airliner on United States territory took place when a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 3, G-ANLO, flown by de Havilland’s chief test pilot, John Cunningham, with co-pilot Per Buggé, arrived at Honolulu International Airport, on the Island of Oahu, Territory of Hawaii.

The Comet 3 was on an around-the-world tour. The 3,212 mile (5,169 kilometer) flight from Nadi, Fiji (NAN) to Honolulu (HNL) took 6 hours, 41 minutes. The Comet remained at Hawaii for two days and gave a series of demonstration flights before continuing on its journey. The next leg, to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a distance of 2,771 miles (4,460 kilometers), took 5 hours, 40 minutes.

De Havilland DH.106 Comet 3 G-ANLO ay the Farnborough Airshow, September 1954. (RuthAS via Wikipedia)
De Havilland DH.106 Comet 3 G-ANLO at the Farnborough Airshow, September 1954. (RuthAS via Wikipedia)

The de Havilland DH.106 Comet 3 was a further development of the Comet 2 series. It was 15 feet (4.572 meters) longer with a length of 111 feet, 6 inches (33.985 meters), a wingspan of 115 feet (35.052 meters) and overall height of 29 feet, 6 inches (8.992. The area of the wings and tail surfaces had been increased. It was powered by four Rolls Royce Avon 521 turbojet engines, rated at 10,000 pounds of thrust, each.

The airliner was designed to carry 58–76 passengers on flights ranging to 2,600 miles (4,184 kilometers). In addition to the increased length, visual differences from the previous Comets were the circular passenger windows, and wing tanks extending forward from the wings’ leading edges.

De Havilland DH.106 Comet 3 G-ANLO, left quarter, at Entebbe Airport, Uganda, 1955. (Dphne Seager)
De Havilland DH.106 Comet 3 G-ANLO, left quarter, at Entebbe Airport, Uganda, 1955. (Daphne Seager)

Only two Comet 3s were built and one was used as a static test article. Production continued with the Comet 4, which had even greater improvements. G-ANLO remained a development prototype and was modified several times. It was turned over to the Ministry of Supply and re-registered XP915. The airplane was used in instrument landing tests and later converted to a mockup of the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod MR1 maritime patrol aircraft. It was taken out of service in 1973.

Group Captain John Cunningham C.B.E., D.S.O. and Two Bars, D.F.C. and Bar, A.E., was the highest scoring Royal Air Force night fighter pilot of World War II, credited with shooting down 20 enemy airplanes. He was responsible for the myth that eating carrots would improve night vision.

Group Captain John Cunningham, Royal Air Force. (Daily Mail)
Group Captain John Cunningham, Royal Air Force, 1917–2002. (Daily Mail)

© 2015, Bryan R. Swopes