Friday, April 22, 1988 began as a normal day in Honolulu for Aloha Airlines and its pilots
(FAA, 2016). The Boeing 737-200, operated by Aloha Airlines, was expected to )y multiple
routes throughout the day to di+erent major ci*es throughout the Hawaiian Islands (FAA,
2016). In the early morning before the .rst )ight from Honolulu, the .rst o/cer conducted the
pre-)ight inspection and was unable to iden*fy anything unusual (FAA, 2016). A0er the .rst
three morning )ights, the .rst o/cer was replaced and the Boeing 737-200 con*nued to
resume normal opera*ons (FAA, 2016).
Shortly a0er 1:00 pm local *me, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 set o+ over the Paci.c Ocean
with six crew members and eighty-nine passengers en route for Hilo, Hawaii (Hawaiian Steam
Engineering, 1997). The aircra0 climbed to twenty-four thousand feet and once the aircra0
leveled o+, an explosion forced portion of the fuselage to be blown away (FAA, 2016). A0er
