There’s a lot of scary things that happen to planes, and it doesn’t matter which stage of the flight it’s during.
There have been planes that have crashed while on the tarmac, planes that have lost their ability to tell what’s up and what’s down and have nosedived into the sea, and others that have spiralled out of control and crashed.
But what about a roof flying off?
That’s not something you hear about often.
It might be hard to imagine, but a YouTube video has shown exactly what happened during the fateful flight.
It was on 28 April, 1988, that a routine 35-minute flight from Hilo to Honolulu via Aloha Airlines turned into a nightmare.
The short flight was catapulted into mayhem when an 18-foot-long section of the upper fuselage tore off, leaving some of the 95 passengers exposed.
According to reports, the roof flew off due to the airline’s maintenance crew not detecting the significant fatigue and disbanding of the plane’s skin lap splice.
The routine flight turned into a nightmare (FAA)
A National Transportation Safety Board investigation managed to find this out, which then led to the US Congress passing the Aviation Research Act, which would allow the FAA more power.
In the simulation, you can see passengers sitting in their seats when suddenly the roof blows off, taking a person onboard with it.
While the sudden decompression meant that passengers were struggling to breathe and were left freezing due to the icy winds battering the first five rows, flight attendant Clarabelle ‘C.B.’ Lansing was swept out of the aircraft and into the sky.
According to reports, the missing roof meant there was no oxygen tubing for those sitting in the affected area, leading to them becoming incapacitated by hypoxia.
Passenger William Flanigan told The Washington Post that Lansing had made a last announcement before she was ripped out of the plane while tending to passengers.
The plane was landed successfully (YouTube/SimpliHowww)
He said: “She was just handing my wife a drink.
“And then, whoosh! She was gone. Their hands just touched when it happened.”
Surprisingly, Lansing was the only fatality of the incident as Captain Robert Schornstheimer managed to make an emergency landing in Maui.
As this happened around 20 minutes into the flight, it meant that the 95 passengers and crew had to suffer through fifteen minutes of being exposed to the 300 miles per hour elements at 24,000 feet.
“There were wires hanging all around, wrapped around me,” said Flanigan.
“I remember yelling ‘I’m being electrocuted.’ I really thought I was being burned alive.”
People online who watched the video were stunned by the real-life events.
One person wrote: “Oh boy I feel so bad for that 1 person that passed away, rest in piece. [sic]”
Another said: “dang the least you could do is acknowledge Clarabelle Lansing. The flight attendant who passed away on this flight during tragic event.”
