A Boeing 737 lost part of its fuselage mid-flight in 1988, killing one crew member and prompting major reforms in aviation safety and maintenance standards.
Key Facts
- Date of incident
- April 28, 1988
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737-297
- Fatalities
- 1 (flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing)
- Injured
- 65 passengers and crew
- Landing site
- Kahului Airport, Maui, Hawaii
- Route
- Hilo to Honolulu, Hawaii
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
The Boeing 737 had accumulated significant flight cycles, leading to metal fatigue in the fuselage skin. Combined with poor maintenance practices, this allowed fatigue cracks to develop and coalesce, weakening the aircraft's structure to the point of failure.
On April 28, 1988, while the aircraft was at cruising altitude between Hilo and Honolulu, a large section of the forward fuselage roof explosively decompressed and tore away. Flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing was ejected from the aircraft and killed; 65 others were injured. The crew managed an emergency landing at Kahului Airport on Maui.
The accident prompted sweeping changes to aviation safety regulations, including stricter inspection requirements for aging aircraft, enhanced maintenance protocols, and new policies governing high-cycle airframes. It became a landmark case study in structural fatigue and airworthiness oversight worldwide.