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aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

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  • aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

    on the national geographic station tonight (11 pm), there's a show called "hanging by a thread" about the explosive decompression in the passenger compartment of flight 243.

    i think most of us are old enough to remember this one. would be an eye opener for those who aren't familiar with this story.

    http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au...id_program=458

    it's too bad that the flight attendant didn't make it...
    525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?

  • #2
    Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

    I was in grade school when this happened, but I remember it like it was yesterday because it was all over the news and papers. CB Lansing was the aunt of one of the girls in my 3rd grade class and I remember making a card for their family.

    I remember they made a made-for-TV movie called Miracle Landing. They still show it from time to time on Lifetime.
    Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted
    We're not here to mess around
    Boston, you know we love you madly
    Hear the crowd roar to your sound
    Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
    You know we couldn't live without you
    Tessie, you are the only only only

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    • #3
      Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

      I remember this too. Shocking. I remember the made-for-TV movie, too. IIRC, not too many folks involved with the tragedy were happy with it. Of course today, there are "convertible airplanes" jokes...

      There's a decent Wikipedia article on the incident, a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder (still puts a lump in my throat), and a write-up of the NTSB report that's been online for almost ten years now.

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      • #4
        Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

        Has this been aired before? I remember watching something like this about AAH243 on either the National Geographic Channel or the Discovery Channel a couple of months ago.

        -Arturo

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        • #5
          Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

          Originally posted by arturo_h View Post
          Has this been aired before? I remember watching something like this about AAH243 on either the National Geographic Channel or the Discovery Channel a couple of months ago.

          -Arturo
          It's been aired a few times already on the channels you mentioned.
          Tessie, "Nuf Ced" McGreevey shouted
          We're not here to mess around
          Boston, you know we love you madly
          Hear the crowd roar to your sound
          Don't blame us if we ever doubt you
          You know we couldn't live without you
          Tessie, you are the only only only

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

            My brother works for the Kahului Post Office and he said he saw that plane as it landed at OGG. At first he didn't notice anything weird, and then he said he thought it looked a little funny because the top of the cabin was sheared off.

            Miulang
            "Americans believe in three freedoms. Freedom of speech; freedom of religion; and the freedom to deny the other two to folks they don`t like.” --Mark Twain

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            • #7
              Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

              There was a rather distasteful joke that spawned out of that incident to the effect of "I told the flight attendant I wanted Bud Light, not SUN light".

              In all seriousness, my mother was deeply saddened upon hearing about the loss of Clarabelle Ho (married Lansing), the flight attendant who was sucked out of the cabin, as they used to work and hang out together when she (mom) was with Aloha airlines in Hilo.

              Thanks for the heads-up on the show tonight, Shave Ice. I'll try to catch it.
              sigpic The Tasty Island

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              • #8
                Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

                I remember that clearly as well.

                I was working at Foodland at the time, and I remember this guy came in with massive bruises on his face and arm. I figured he'd been in a car accident. As I was ringing him up, I asked him what happened. Very casually, he said something like "I was in this airplane and the beverage cart hit me." I was stunned, of course, and asked him how that could happen. Again, very casually, he said the something like "oh, because the roof of the airplane came off"

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                • #9
                  Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

                  I remember that day too. What caught my attention was the fact that I had taken my mother to Kauai on the very same plane two weeks prior. At the time Aloha had the names of Hawaiian Monarchy on the fuselage. Mom had a hard time with Hawaiian names so I helped her to pronounce "Queen Liliokalani" (if memory serves me right). Fast forward two weeks and I see the news reports and close ups of the plane and yup...the name matched.

                  There but for the the grace of God go I....

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                  • #10
                    Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

                    I remember the air traffic controllers union wasn't too happy with the portrayal of the air traffic controllers in
                    Miracle Landing. I can remember it like yesterday, the spokesperson from the union was on KITV lambasting the way the air traffic controllers were shown as buffoons during this incident.

                    Also the portrayal of the FBI agent investigating the incident was a bit over dramatic. I really wonder if a G-man really
                    acted in that way in real life. It was obviously not an terrorist act ?
                    Last edited by Konaguy; November 21, 2006, 03:58 PM.
                    Check out my blog on Kona issues :
                    The Kona Blog

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                    • #11
                      Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

                      Aloha still has a flight 242 that flies in from Honolulu to Hilo. I was on it just the other day. Made me think about the next number up. Airlines usually retire flight numbers after a major accident.
                      I'm still here. Are you?

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                      • #12
                        Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

                        Originally posted by Lei Liko View Post
                        I was in grade school when this happened, but I remember it like it was yesterday because it was all over the news and papers. CB Lansing was the aunt of one of the girls in my 3rd grade class and I remember making a card for their family.

                        I remember they made a made-for-TV movie called Miracle Landing. They still show it from time to time on Lifetime.
                        I've seen it two or three times this year on uh...*cough* Lifetime Movie Network *cough*
                        Twitter: LookMaICanWrite


                        flickr

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                        • #13
                          Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

                          I had a chance to meet the first officer on that flight, Mimi Tompkins. A very petite person. Humble, too. She and Captain Robert Schornsteimer saved the day. But the NTSB cited in their final report that the aircraft touched down with excessive speed... never mind that reducing airspeed compromised controllability.

                          Others who have flown flight simulations of that incident at Boeing weren't able to succesfully land it.

                          There's a lot to be said about aircraft designed by Boeing. Even more can be said about the training a lot of these pilots go through to handle various emergencies. Now you know why some of them get paid in the six-figure range!

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                          • #14
                            Re: aloha airlines flight 243, april 1988

                            Originally posted by Composite 2992 View Post
                            I had a chance to meet the first officer on that flight, Mimi Tompkins. A very petite person. Humble, too. She and Captain Robert Schornsteimer saved the day. But the NTSB cited in their final report that the aircraft touched down with excessive speed... never mind that reducing airspeed compromised controllability....
                            wow. impressive!
                            525,600 minutes, 525,000 moments so dear. 525,600 minutes - how do you measure, measure a year?

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