Aloha Airlines Flight 243...22 Years Later

Twenty-two years ago today, Aloha Airlines flight 243 departing Hilo (ITO) and heading to Honolulu (HNL), suffered a catastrophic decompression of the aircraft after reaching its crusing altitude of 24,000 ft. The Boeing 737 was later found to have severe corrosion with several rivets and skin joining flaps.

Seated in row 7, seat A on the left side of the aircraft was my father. Dad was coming home from a business trip. With construction businesses shut down because of the weather that day in Hilo, he decided to take an earlier flight home. The next available flight was 243. Boy did he have a story to share with all of us the next day!

Here's N73711 about 30 minutes into the evacuation. Passengers are starting to take in the magnitude of the event they were apart of.

The man standing on the left at the very end in the blue shirt is my dad. He said that he was just trying to figure out a way of telling my mom WHY he was on THIS flight and not the later flight he was scheduled to take!!

The famous photo which was seen around the world and made LIFE magazines End of the Year images of 1988 edition. Photo taken by passenger Bob Nichols

This is my dad. He left us on 24 Sept

Love and miss you!!

A Enduring Classic Cruises By

What a surprise to see this military heavy taxing past our offices. Considering that Hickam AFB (HIK) is on the complete opposite side of the airfield. On occasion, we get a "visiting crew" that is unfamiliar with HNL field and end up on the south ramp. Breaks up my routine and gives me a chance to view a classic aircraft that has been serving our country for 30 years in June.

Morning Departure

Recently, We had a patch of overcast weather covering the State of Hawaii. But on this morning, as the sun came up, I was able to grab a shot of one of our aircraft departing HNL from runway 04L just as the sun peaked out of the clouds. I especially love working our morning shifts!

Early morning arrival

On a rainy morning comes a Kalita B747-100 devoide of it's usual Kalitta colors of black gold and red. This flight is arriving from LAX.

Awaiting its fate

All alone on the south ramp infront of our hanger sits N808WP. A Dash-8-103, serial #26 and built in 1986, has come to an end of its life as the airframe has timed out. Removed of it's engines and other vital parts it awaits it's fate to come.