Our Airplanes Are Aging

The event perhaps most demonstrative of what can happen as an aircraft ages occurred on April 28, 1988, over Hawaii. Thats when an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200 operating in scheduled passenger service as Flight 243 between Hilo and Honolulu lost part of its cabin roof while in cruise at FL240. The crew successfully landed the airplane after diverting to Maui. Of the 89 passengers and six crewmembers aboard, there was one fatality-a flight attendant who was swept overboard during the decompression event.

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Saturday, August 31, 2019 at 12:00 AM ET

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Expectation bias is the belief that you know what is going to happen without preparing for changes that might occur. dani3315/Shutterstock

Key Takeaways:

Aging aircraft, from commercial jets to general aviation planes, are prone to structural failures due to corrosion, cracking, and metal fatigue, with several examples provided.
Contributing factors to these failures include environmental conditions like salt air, specific operational stresses (e.g., high pressurization cycles, training, specialized commercial use), and inadequate maintenance or inspection.
Ensuring safety in aging aircraft requires increased inspection frequency, targeted corrosion control, meticulous examination of critical components (e.g., wing spars, control cable turnbuckles), and considering adjusted operational practices.

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The event perhaps most demonstrative of what can happen as an aircraft ages occurred on April 28, 1988, over Hawaii. That’s when an Aloha Airlines Boeing 737-200 operating in scheduled passenger service as Flight 243 between Hilo and Honolulu lost part of its cabin roof while in cruise at FL240. The crew successfully landed the airplane after diverting to Maui. Of the 89 passengers and six crewmembers aboard, there was one fatality—a flight attendant who was swept overboard during the decompression event.

Seven passengers and another flight attendant sustained serious injuries. The photo below, taken shortly after the 737 landed in Maui, shows the damage to the airplane and the passengers’ exposure. According to the NTSB, “Approximately 18 feet from the cabin skin and structure aft of the cabin entrance door and above the passenger floor line separated from the airplane during flight.”