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!
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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!!
That was one heck of an accident! I remember you telling me about it at work.
ReplyDeleteJust watched this on air crash investigation. What an ordeal and glad that so many survived... shame for that flight attendant though.
ReplyDeleteDLPB@hotmail.co.uk
I just found your article, for some reason I was trying to remember the details of it, because it was so tragic and not so tragic. I was living in Kona at the time (I was 11)and remember watching it on the news and seeing the plane in the newspaper(Frontpage of course). The sad loss of the flight attendant, but the incredible survival of the rest of the passengers and crew....a miracle. Your dad was there because he needed to be. Just think, one change in the flight, and uniqueness of their survival might not have happened. Everyone on board were right where they needed to be. I am so happy there was a happy ending for you, and sounds like such a wonderful life and grand story to tell.
ReplyDeleteOh my God at least your dad lived to tell that amazing, err, tragic story! I'm not sure that airline lived to fly another day though, I have not heard of that ever.
ReplyDeleteThat aircraft went on to the recycle bin after the NTSB finished their investigation in Maui. I have a small piece of the twisted skin from the aircraft that I got after the investigation was done. To me it's priceless.
DeleteAs far as Aloha, we all know how that story played out in 2008. Many friends of mine lost jobs when the went bankrupt.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog.
Hello, I just wanted to let you know that I am the photographer for all of these photos, i was not a passenger on the flight, i was flying a private plane that day, i was there to get fuel, when 243 landed, i rushed over and took these pictures, the photo where you have a circle around your dad, well, the gentleman that is half inside the circle you drew, with the bushy beard and curly hair was with me, we were co piloting the small private plane that day, his name is actually Craig Nichols, i see where you credited a Bob Nichols in some of the photos, but that is in correct,
ReplyDeleteAloha!
DeleteWOW!!! What a day that was for you! Here you are, on a simple refuel stop over in OGG and then you find yourself recording history!!! It's great to hear a bit of the back story regarding the photo's you took.
Thank you for letting me know about the photo's.
In regards to Bob Nichols, my reference was regarding Mr. Robert "Bob" Nichols, of Kailua-Kona, HI. He was a passenger on that flight and became friends with my dad after the accident. He gave my father copies of a series of photo's he took immediately after wheel stopped. Bob was sitting towards the back of the aircraft and ran off to snap pictures. He ran towards the front of and took the iconic photo of dazed passengers still in their seats with Capt. Robert Schornstheimer and co-pilot Mimi Tompkins helping with passengers.
My apologies if I implied that Mr. Robert Nichols was the sole photographer of the photos. I will make an amendment to my site indicating such. If you wish to be credited in my blog for the photo's, please send me a private email (it's listed in the profile page) or if you wish to remain anonymous, I understand.
Again, thank you for sharing and for stopping to read my blog
That was crazy
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