On April 28, 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 left Hilo International Airport at 1:25 PM. It was supposed to be a quick 35-minute trip to Honolulu. The Boeing 737-200 had 90 passengers and five crew members on board. Captain Robert Schornstheimer was flying the plane with First Officer Madeline Tompkins. Everything seemed normal at first.
Around 20 minutes after takeoff, the plane reached 24,000 feet in the air. That’s when people heard a huge explosion. A massive piece of the plane’s roof suddenly ripped off. The section that tore away was 18 feet long. It stretched from behind the cockpit all the way to the wings. People sitting in first class could now see straight up into the sky where the ceiling used to be. Wind started blowing through the cabin at 300 miles per hour.
