Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Aircraft Accident Report Essay

Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Aircraft Accident Report - Essay Example The main cause being the failure of an epoxy adhesive which is used to bond aluminum sheets of the fuselage together. Two sheets, not bond properly creates a gap through which water seeps in and corrosion begins, as the corrosive parts have a greater volume than the underlying metal, the two sheets are forced apart resulting in the increase of stress on the rivets (which are also used) for holding them together. Taking into account that the aircraft was 19 years old at the time of the accident it had already surpassed its takeoff-landing cycles , it should have been subjected to a full uninterrupted inspection rather than the longer and extensive â€Å"D Check† which was performed in morning installments, furthermore â€Å"eddy-current testing’ inspection on the fuselage skin was lacking. A crack was noticed by a passenger who didn’t notify anyone, as the aircraft had already surpassed its takeoff-landing cycles (compression and decompression cycles), this crack s inevitably due to metal fatigue. Matt Austin came up with another reason for the accident after studying the disintegration of the fuselage of the aircraft. This states that at first, the fuselage failed to open a 10-inch vent through which the cabin air escaped at 700mph, flight attendant C.B.Lansing got sucked into the vent instead of being thrown off the aircraft. This blockage instantly caused an increase in pressure which inadvertently acted as a fluid hammer and tore the jet apart. The structural failure of the 19year old Boeing 737 stressed on creating awareness of aging aircraft throughout the aviation industry. The multiple site fatigue was the cause of the structural damage which primarily was due to the failure and negligence of the operator maintenance program which is supposed to track and detect corrosion damage.