Horrifying moment roof of plane blasted off at 24,000ft

One flight attendant was sucked out of the plane, and another was left in a pool of blood. The horrific incident changed flying forever.

WARNING: Disturbing content.

On April 28, 1988, nearly 100 people boarded an Aloha Airlines jet for what they thought was just another routine inter-island flight.

But the 55-minute journey would end up transforming the aviation industry forever after the cabin exploded at 24,000 feet.

Nearly 35 years on from the air disaster, the extraordinary chain of events in Hawaii remains a stark reminder of the need for safety in the skies, reports The Sun.

On that day, the Boeing 737 made an uneventful takeoff from Hilo International Airport for the short jaunt to Honolulu with five crew members and 90 passengers.

Around 20 minutes later, Flight 243 had climbed to 24,000ft and was cruising through the clouds when suddenly an explosion erupted.

The heavily damaged Aloha Airlines jet shortly after landing. Picture: Robert Nichols

Crew members were serving drinks and snacks to plane passengers when the blast occurred as the cabin pressure plummeted.

The ceiling of the Boeing 737 was torn off, and a large section of its fuselage then followed, leaving dozens of passengers exposed to the elements.

Flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing, 58, was tending to passengers in the fifth row when she was sucked out into the void.

Ms Lansing had worked in the industry for 37 years. Her body has never been found.

As passengers screamed in horror, Captain Robert Schornstheime, 44, was battling to keep control of the plane as it rolled from side to side.

He and First Officer Madeline Tompkins said the cockpit was engulfed by a deafening “whooshing” sound while their controls went loose.

In a chilling interview later, they said they could see “blue sky where the first-class ceiling had been”.

Crew member Michelle Honda had been thrown to the ground by the debris flying through the air, while a “smoke-like vapour” filled the cabin.

She later said: “Paper, fibreglass, asbestos. It was kind of white. That’s why I say blizzard, although it wasn’t cold.”

The fuselage of the Aloha Airlines flight after exploding while in the air. Picture: National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)

Fellow crew member Jane Sato-Tomita was lying unconscious in a pool of blood after also being struck by fragments of the wreckage.

Ms Honda told the Washington Post she thought her colleague “was dead” when she spotted her as she dragged herself along the aisle.

“She was just on the borderline of the hole. Her head was split open in the back. She was under debris.

“I remember being on the floor, crawling up the aisle rung by rung, telling people to put on life vests. I remember looking up at people on my back and calling up and helping them take out the vests.”

‘Like the movies’

But the ferocious wind ripping into the aircraft proved a major obstacle for the passengers and conscious crew members.

People were forced to cling on to one another as they tried to resist being dragged through the hole.

They were also trying to dodge the whirlwind of debris in the cabin, while two huge ceiling panels landed on the heads of tourists.

“The wind was thunderous, like a storm,” Ms Honda said. “Like a bad storm. Like the movies, when they had bad storms in those old black-and-white horror movies.”

Each time she frantically tried to shout instructions such as “heads down”, the flight attendant ended up with a mouthful of debris.

One flight attendant was never found while 65 passengers were injured. Picture: NTSB

Incredibly in the cockpit, the captain and first officer were still managing to retain what little control they had left of the Aloha Airlines jet.

The rest of the Boeing 737 had miraculously managed to remain together, despite the blast tearing an 18ft hole in it.

Captain Schornstheime began an emergency descent to Maui.

But the left engine then failed – causing the plane to hurtle even faster towards the ground as they approached Kahului Airport.

Somehow, the Aloha Airlines flight was able to land without further incident – just 13 minutes after the ordeal began.

What went wrong?

A makeshift hospital was set up on the runway to treat the 65 injured passengers, with eight seriously wounded.

Passengers also suffered electric-shock burns from open wiring as well as broken bones, fractures, cerebral concussions and lacerations across their bodies.

Investigators quickly began trying to determine the cause of the air disaster, as the pre-flight inspection had gone without a hitch.

It later emerged that a passenger, Gayle Yamamoto, had noticed a crack in the fuselage upon boarding – but didn’t notify anyone.

It was ruled the incident was caused due to a failure of the airline’s maintenance program.

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that the accident was caused due to a failure of the airline’s maintenance program.

Designed to detect the presence of damage to the plane, the lack of thoroughness of the inspection – that was conducted in darkness – meant a crack in a lap joint was missed.

Airline management was also found to have failed to have adequately supervised its maintenance force.

In response, the Federal Aviation Administration launched the National Ageing Aircraft Research Program in 1991, to tighten inspection and maintenance requirements for high-use and high-cycle aircraft.

The safe landing was praised as “exemplary” by industry bosses, who were stunned that there was only one fatality.

A memorial garden was opened in 1995 at Honolulu International Airport in honour of the sole victim, Clarabelle Lansing.

The lessons learned from the horror incident that rocked Hawaii still have a significant impact on plane safety procedures today.

Ahead of the 35th anniversary of the Aloha Airlines disaster later this month, the tale remains as tragic as it did over three decades ago.

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

Originally published as Horrifying moment roof of plane blasted off at 24,000ft