Aloha Airlines Flight 243

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a scheduled Aloha Airlines flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. On April 28, 1988, a Boeing 737-297 serving the flight suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. There was one fatality, flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing, who was ejected from the airplane. Another 65 passengers and crew were injured. Despite the substantial damage inflicted by the decompression, and the loss of one cabin crew member, the safe landing of the aircraft established the incident as a significant event in the history of aviation, with far-reaching effects on aviation safety policies and procedures.
The aircraft involved was the 152nd Boeing 737 airframe. It was built in 1969 and delivered to Aloha Airlines as a new aircraft. Its registration was N73711 and it was named Queen Liliuokalani after Lili'uokalani. While the airframe had accumulated 35,496 flight hours prior to the accident, those hours included over 89,680 flight cycles , owing to its use on short flights. This amounted to more than twice the number of flight cycles it was designed for.

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