موقعیت اضطراری در آسمان

Chapter 13

Emergency in the Air

On April 28, 1988 at 1:25 p.m., Flight 243 left Hilo, Hawaii. It was a 40-minute flight to Honolulu, and the weather was good. The 89 passengers were in their seats Honolulu am with their seat belts on.

At 1:40 the plane reached 24,000 feet, and the three 0 C EA N flight attendants started serving drinks. Suddenly, at 1:45 there was a loud noise. Mr. Dennin, a businessman, was in a window seat in the back of the airplane. He looked at the front of the airplane and saw a big hole. “A third of the roof was gone,” Mr. Dennin said, “I saw blue sky.” David Kupihea was in a seat in the front of the airplane. His suitcase was under the seat in front of him. Suddenly, the suitcase flew out of the airplane.

Then a piece of metal hit his arm and cut it. The passenger next to him had a large cut on his head.

“Everything was flying around—books, paper, money,” said passenger Stanford Samson.

When the pilot heard the noise, he looked back.

The cockpit door wasn’t there, and he saw blue sky above the passengers. The first 18 feet (5.5 m) of the airplane behind the cockpit were completely open. Only the floor and the passengers’ seats were still there.

The pilot decided to put the airplane into a fast descent} They were close to the airport on the island of Maui, and maybe he could land? the airplane there.

At 1:58 pm. the pilot made an emergency landing at Kahului Airport in Maui. The passengers couldn’t believe it. They were safe on the ground.

What caused the emergency? It was an old plane. It made many Culture and short flights during its life. It took off and landed many times, and this weakened the plane.