A Brief History
On February 24, 1989, 9 of the 337 passengers on United Flight 811 exited the flight early to their untimely deaths.
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find the giant Boeing 747 airliner heading for Sydney, Australia, having originated in San Francisco.
The giant airplane was only about 16 minutes into its flight after takeoff from its stopover in Honolulu and at about 22,000 feet when a cargo door suddenly and violently popped open!
The door was of the kind that swings outward when opened and was secured with electronic latches, possibly the source of the failure. As the door slammed the side of the jet, the impact caused severe damage to the flight deck, and 10 seats broke their mooring and were sucked out of the plane, taking 9 passengers with them. Obviously, all 9 passengers died.
Other passengers and crew experienced the terror of the violent catastrophe through the rapid decompression of the cabin and the miserable feeling of riding in an airplane that has a big hole in the side! Luckily, the passengers were still buckled up and so were not sucked from their seats, although a couple of flight attendants nearly ended up skydiving without parachutes! Through their own efforts of hanging on and other people helping pull them in, the two flight attendants were brought back into the relative safety of the cabin, although injured.
The pilots thought the plane had been bombed and rapidly descended to a lower altitude to get to breathable air and immediately turned back for Honolulu.
Additional damage was done to the engines on the right side of the jet (the 747 has four engines, two on each side), which had to be shut down as they had caught on fire. The flaps that slow the plane for landing were also damaged, so when the plane landed 14 minutes later, it was still going over 200 mph!
Incredibly, the landing was otherwise safe. 38 people had injuries though.
An investigation revealed that problems with airplane doors that open outward instead of into the airplane were well known. It was also discovered, however, that nothing had been done to redesign the doors to reduce the risk.
Despite the door’s design flaw, Boeing engineers must get some credit for giving the plane a robust frame, for although the 747 suffered massive damage that included outer skin peeling off the fuselage, the internal structure of the stringers remained intact, and the giant jet was able to land safely.
Unfortunately for Flight 811, the skies were not too friendly on that day. Question for students (and subscribers): Please feel free to share your air travel adventure stories in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information on this tragedy, please see…
Peterson, Shari. The View from 13F: One Woman’s Story of Surviving Flight 811. Good Egg Publishing Network, 2019.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1272 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1272">33 Comments
What a wild plane ride that would be! I can imagine the fear and panic that would have occurred. The airlines probably had to pay out a lot of money for this senseless traqgedy.
That would be a crazy experience and very frightening. I can just feel the terror of the passengers as all this was occurring.
What a scary ride and experience flying on a plane. I can’t believe that actually happened. I wouldn’t know what to do in that kind of situation. When I ride a plane and there is really bad wind terbuence it freaks me out and I couldn’t even imagine this happening. I don’t think they should’ve called them The Friendly Skies, in my opinion.
I have never been on an airplane; however, I think it is safe to say that would be horrifying!
That is scary that the plane flew open like that and they are lucky they landed it. I am glad there has been so many updates to planes since then or i would never fly in one.
That is horrible that 9 people died, but also a good thing that the other passengers were not killed. It would be so scary to be on that flight, but they are lucky that they were able to safely land it and save the rest of the people.
This might sound bad, but luckily there weren’t any snakes on the plane.
Its awful to hear that nine people died, but it could have been a case where everyone on the plane died. I never liked flying, and this doesn’t help with my fear. I know flying is pretty safe but I would rather keep my feet safely on the ground, definitely after reading this article.
Although it was tragic, its pretty incredible that only 9 people died and 38 were injured. I also think it is crazy that the door just fell off, and why did it fall off? Was it not properly latched after the layover? The survivors are lucky that they were able to land safely.
It was incredible that only 9 passengers died! i found that very surprising. I would think that a mishap like that would be worked out when the plane was designed before put to use.
What a frightening ride this would have been! I have never had a plane ride in my life, however, after reading this horrifying story it makes it quite frightening. I am glad that the majority of the people landed safely, nevertheless, it is indeed sad that nine lives were taken so suddenly in life.
I’m surprised that only 9 people died in this whole thing. This seems terrifying and I can’t even imagine how the passengers felt.
I am very surprised that only 9 passengers lost their lives in this accident. I am surprised that a design fail in the door was known but not fixed! Personally, I have never flown before and I believe that everyone should take cation when flying because just like this story, anything can happen.
It was fortunate that there was not a huge loss of lives, but the proper inspections and safety features should’ve been in place prior to the flight to prevent such a tragedy. i can’t imagine how terrifying it must’ve been for the other passengers on board.
I’m kind of shocked they put so much effort into the rest of the plane and decided that the doors weren’t worth their time. Funny that they ended up causing the most problems.
Wow, how scary! I could not imagine how terrifying that would be! They were lucky only 9 people died though.
This article points out that Boeing produces planes that are durable and able to receive an excess amount of damage but still be able to land safely. I would not want to be a passenger on that plane ride though.
I’m surprised that only 9 passengers died. It pretty amazing that they were able to land the plane safely with 2 out their 4 engines gone.
I don’t like hearing about these kids of accidents, especially since I will be going on a plane next week. The others were lucky to come out alive.
Accidents like these are so scary. It is amazing though that only 9 people lost their lives!
I’ve never been afraid of flying, but obviously this would have been terrifying to experience. I don’t think the death of 9 people should be discredited though, especially if people were informed that doors opening out have been an issue. I don’t think air safety should be taken lightly, so they should have looked into the issue of doors much sooner.
I cannot imagine how frightening that would have been to be on that plane. It is scary to think about the possibility of that happening again.
Very shocking story, and even more so knowing it could have been avoided.
It’s pretty crazy that majority of the people got out alive but still unfortunate that 9 people were sucked out. It’s also cool to think that people can act and react during such a hectic time. I’m glad that the plane landed safely due to the bravery of the pilots. Kudos to them.
I always hear people saying how safe it is to fly! This makes me think twice about that, crazy how these attacks occur.
i feel so bad for the people that did get hurt and die but its great thinking by the pilot on bringing the plain down so that the people could breath. but i could not imagine being on that plain with the big hole in it flying back to Hawaii.
It’s sad that 9 people died, but thankfully the pilots were able to act quickly and save everyone else. I’m going to be on a plane Friday, and I’m very nervous!
I have to fly at least twice a year and i’m so thankful nothing bad has happened while i’m on that plane!!!!.I’m shocked only 9 people died from this accident. You think they would of put more work into the plane doors; well thats what I thought.
I can’t imagine being one of the passengers who was lucky enough to survive but have to witness this catastrophe. It is always unfortunate when planes have malfunctions that result in deaths. I’m glad they were able to turn around quickly and safely to help other injured passengers and prevent further injuries.
I’ve always loved flying. I moved from Florida to Ohio a few years back. I was on track, in Florida, to getting my PPL (pilot license) but, that is yet to happen since my move.
I love skydiving, learned how to jump in Colorado. I love the Air Force. Most recently, I road in the boom of a KC-135.
The risk of crashing is always there. One of the first things we learn is how to recover from a stall. As Superman would say, “Statistically speaking, it’s still the safest way to travel.”
Nevertheless, flying is still the safest form of transportation today.
Where can I find better pictures of the open area of where the door blew off? I still can’t believe anyone could survive that!!
Even though my experiences flying have been limited, i have been on a few plane rides with rough landings. I would not want to be aboard a plane attempting to land at 200-250 mph !