![]() He incorrectly believed it had been a bomb exploding that caused the damage. The flight engineer went down to advise the cabin crew and to try to determine what had happened. The intercom system failed which prevented the cockpit and cabin crew from communicating. Preparation was made for an emergency landing back at Honolulu. Preparation for emergency landing at HNL. One of the wings was also dented and damaged. Both of those had to be shut down as a result. Two of the four engines and more were damaged in the explosive decompression.įlying parts of the plane damaged two of the four engines. Because of the location of the explosion, emergency oxygen was not working. Emergency descent and preparation for landing.Ī rapid descent to achieve breathable air was initiated as the plane turned back to land at Honolulu. It was thought at the time that a bomb may have exploded inside the 747, as had happened to Pan Am’s flight 103 just prior to flight 811. The flight crew suspected a bomb due to the current events. She did, however, suffer significant injury. Passengers and crew on the UAL 747 came to the flight attendant’s rescue and were able to pull her back inside the plane. One flight attendant was nearly sucked out of the cabin, as happened on Aloha Airlines Flight 243 when it suffered an explosive decompression just months earlier. Two of those seats were unoccupied, but the remaining seat occupants were killed. ![]() Then the plane’s cabin floor caved in, and 10 seats were ejected from the 747. The design of the door was that swung out, rather than in, and its force tore a large hole in the plane’s fuselage. Firest thought to have been caused by a bomb, the forward cargo door of the plane had actually been ripped off. As the flight climbed out of HNL, at 23k feet, a loud noise followed by strong vibration occurred. The flight took to the air just before 2 AM in Hawaii, with 355 total passengers and crew onboard. The flight was under the control of Captain David Cronin, and it was to be his last flight before reaching the then-mandatory retirement age. ![]() The aircraft had flown nearly 60k flight hours on 15k flights without incident prior to that day.Īfter the Flight 811 accident, the plane was repaired and returned to service at UAL for another 8 years before going to another airline where it flew until 1998. The plane was later repaired and returned to service at United. ![]() Miraculously, the heavily damaged aircraft was able to return to Honolulu and land safely. The event occurred on February 24, 1989, when the Boeing 747-100 cargo door failed shortly after takeoff from HNL. Nothing was reported as being amiss by the flight crew. The flight started in Los Angeles and landed in Honolulu uneventfully, on its regular daily route to Sydney with intermediate stops. A massive explosive decompression expelled several rows of seats from the plane, and nine passengers were killed whose bodies were never recovered. But we were just reminded by a video of when United Airlines Flight 811 from Honolulu was torn apart mid-air soon after takeoff. Sometimes we take airline safety for granted. ![]()
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