Flight 243: Disaster in the Air
Group #8
Ryan Moore
Adam Fink
Michael Alonzi
Marlborough High School
STEM ECHS
April, 2, 2014
Group #8 |1
Step 1: Identify the Problem
On April of 1988, approximately 24,000 feet in the air, the front section of the fuselage of Aloha
airlines 243 flies off resulting in one death and eight injures.
Step 2: Research the Problem
This airline had to overcome many significant problems that the small islands brought to
each aircraft. By 1988 a major accident on flight 243 had taken place. The flight was
approximately 24,000 feet in the air headed to Honolulu when the front roof section of the
fuselage tore right off, causing one death.
Most aircrafts including the 747-200 have thick other shells to support the plane and keep
passengers comfortable. The outer shell of the plane is made with sheets of aluminum 1mm
thick, 4 meters long, and 2 meters wide. The sheets of aluminum come together using rivets
which make the skin of the plane weaker. To try and reinforce the rivets, engineers used epoxy
adhesive which did not properly attach to the sheets of aluminum as well as allowing
condensation between the rivet and the aluminum. The adhesive was placed in a fridge before
applying, allowing it to spread easily. When the adhesive is warmed by surrounding air after
applied on, it would begin to crack to crack the thin layer of aluminum as well as the rivet itself.
Boeing later became aware of this problem and urged airlines for inspection. The F.A.A (Federal
Aviation Administration) then made it mandatory to inspect old B737 skin rivets. The F.A.A did
not want massive costs of inspection so they only made it mandatory to check the two most
important rivets. Boeing later had a meeting knowing Aloha Airlines was in trouble but did not
warn the F.A.A of this problem ("LESSONS FROM ALOHA", n.d.).
Group #8 |2
The plane itself was 19 years of age with over 35,000 hours and 86,680 cycles each cycle
the plane was pushed to its maximum air pressure capacity. By pushing the plane to its max over
86,000 times with bad rivets this caused a crack in the aluminum to increase in not only one but
two places in the outer shell. These two cracks began to increase over time due to lots of use.
Once it reached the frame of the fuselage it would become triangular shaped and tear open. This
tear in the skin caused de-pressurization in the cabin to slowly decline and eventually causing the
front section of the roof to tear off ("The Plane Was Disintegrating" - TIME", n.d.).
The history of human air travel is vast, and dates back to 200 BC, in China. The first
confirmed form of man-made flight was kite, which was used by a Chinese Military commander
to measure the distance of the battle field from a distance. Over 700 years later in 559, the first
kite glide and first human flight took place (Crouch, 2003). The idea of a glider spread to
Europe, where they improved the flight capacity, but made it more dangerous. Many Europeans
made attempts at flying with gliders, but most failed and were injured in the process. Even the
ones that succeeded were injured. They realized it was unsafe, and abandoned the idea, until the
late 1400’s where Leonardo Di Vinci came up with many different ideas. He never made or
tested any of the ideas, but most of them were ridiculous and would never work anyway. The
year 1783 was very important in the history of air travel, specifically balloon travel, because 5
new breakthroughs were made in that year. Balloons became very popular in Europe in the late
1700’s. The design of the balloon kept improving throughout the 1800’s. In 1852, the first
powered, controlled, sustained lighter-than-air flight is believed to have taken place. In 1884, the
first fully controllable free-flight electric-powered airship was made and flown. In 1903, the
Wright brothers manned the first sustained human flight with a powered craft. The airplane was
improved through World War 1, were they were used in combat. During World War II, airplanes
Group #8 |3
were being mass produced and being used more in combat, and the first jet plane was made.
After WW2, some planes were used for commercial use. Then in 1957, the Russians sent the first
object into space, which started the space race. America started making rocket ships and space
shuttles to compete with Russia. In 1969, we set foot on the moon. Also in that year, the Boeing
747 was made, which are still being used for commercial flight. Today, humans have planes that
can effortless go supersonic and stealth bombers (Smithsonian Institution, 1990).
Step 3: Develop Possible Solutions
The group itself has three possible solutions. Ryan’s best possible redesign for this failure
consists of using the 1 mm thick aluminum but instead of using rivets, like Boeing uses, the
aluminum is folded downwards in the front to allow air to pass over with more ease as well as
weld it. Not only would it be welded and folded downwards, every sheet of aluminum that
follows should be placed under the end of the next, then welded to allow better aerodynamics
and strength. This design would end up looking like a row of fish scales. Fishes scales are placed
underneath one another for the best water dynamics and protection from predators (“Fish
Anatomy", n.d.). By doing this the disaster from flight 243 would be completely avoided.
Group #8 |4
Michael’s redesign was to add steel rings around certain points on the aircraft. This
would add strength to the airplane. The rings would go in-between on layer of aluminum and
another piece of aluminum. The rings would go around dividers inside the plane so it wouldn’t
block the view of the passengers. Their world be 3 dividers in the in the passenger section and
one connecting the cockpit and one connecting the tail section.
Adam’s redesign was to make the plane out of stronger material. Steel is light, so it
wouldn’t add much weight to the plane and slow it down. It is also inexpensive, so plane
companies are more willing to use it.
Group #8 |5
Step 4: Select the Best Possible Solution
The group decided to mostly combined all of the ideas by adding glue to represent rivets,
double the layers of aluminum for strength, and add different layers to represent the rings around
the inside of the fuselage. The different layers were used by sticks going length ways down the
fuselage. After the sticks were placed we used Ceram wrap to use as the inside of th two outer
layers. The second layer is tin foil was used to represent the aluminum on the outside of the 747200. After applying the wrap and foil the glue was applied to represent the welds in Ryan’s
solution. The welds helped keep the foil together better than the rivets as well as allow better air
flow.
Group #8 |6
Step 5: Construct a Prototype

Materials used for construction of prototype:

10 Pieces of balsa wood

20 pieces of hair tin foil

2 1.8 diameter foam discs

Ceram wrap

2 10” long 2” diameter cardboard tubes

Hot glue

3’ of tape

A saw
Procedure:
1. Cut the cardboard tubes to make two 10” tubes with a diameter of 2”
2. Cut a 2.5” long piece of cardboard from the front of one of the tubes. Only cut
halfway down the tube.
3. Place 6 of the pieces of balsa down the side of the uncut cardboard tube evenly
spread apart and glue them down
4. Construct two cockpits by creating a cone with the balsa wood and gluing it to the
prototypes
5. Wrap ceram wrap around only the redesign
6. Wrap and glue the tin foil down over the ceram wrap
7. Wrap tin foil around the failing prototype and use small strips of tape to put
them together
8. Test with fan, only the prototype with the cut roof should have problems
Group #8 |7
(Front)
Step 6: Test and Evaluate the Solution
To test the prototype group 8 used an air compressor to concentrate most of the air in one
area. The air used by the air compressor was concentrated enough to go around the plane but yet
catch the cracks in the prototype causing the roof to fly off, same as the Aloha Airlines flight.
The other prototype was glued down better and worked better than the tape used in the other. The
glue had better aerodynamics and strength than the tape. During the test the redesigned
prototype passed by not breaking or allowing any air inside. On the other hand the prototype
with the crack and flap in the top had major problems. The roof from the prototype flew off and
air went through the entire plane.
Step 7: Communicate the Solution
The solution is communicated through this written design plan and via the group
presentation on Thursday, April 4 or Friday, April 5.
Group #8 |8
Step 8: Redesign
Even though Group 8’s experiment was successful, the accuracy of the prototypes could
have been improved. The materials used for the prototype were not proportionately accurate to
an actual plane. The prototype was made out of cardboard tubes, balsa wood, glue, and tin foil.
Group 8 should have used materials that had the same proportional strength to a Boeing 747-200,
but this would be extremely difficult and Group 8 was unable to obtain the resources to do this.
Another thing that could have been changed was the scale of the prototype. The prototype wasn’t
scaled down with the exact measurements of a Boeing 747-200 in mind. Group 8 only based the
prototype on general estimates, and this size change could have made the results less accurate.
Overall the group had many human error difficulties but worked well together. The group
redesign was a success and the other failed like planned.
Group #8 |9
References
Aloha Airlines Flight 243 - Aircraft Accident - Maui Hawaii. (1997). Retrieved from
http://www.aloha.net/~icarus/
Boeing: 747 Commercial Transport. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.boeing.com/boeing/history/boeing/747.page
Crouch, T. D. (2003). Wings: A history of aviation from kites to the space age. Washington,
D.C: Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
2012 was safest year ever to travel by plane, figures show - Telegraph. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9769959/2012-was-safest-year-ever-to-travelby-plane-figures-show.html
History of Chinese Kites - from muyuan in 500 BC to modern freestyle. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.my-best-kite.com/history-of-chinese-kites.html
NASA - Title... (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.grc.nasa.gov
Timeline of Flight: The Dream of Flight (A Library of Congress Special Presentation
Commemorating the Centennial of Flight). (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/wb-timeline.html
Fish Anatomy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.versaquatics.com/fishanatomy.htm
LESSONS FROM ALOHA. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://avstop.com/stories/aloha.htm
Inflight passenger announcements | airodyssey.net. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://airodyssey.net/reference/inflight/
G r o u p # 8 | 10
"The Plane Was Disintegrating" - TIME. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,149181,00.html
Pre-flight safety demonstration - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Retrieved March 18,
2014, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-flight_safety_demonstration