Flight attendant's horror death as she was sucked out of plane mid-flight

An air hostess faced the most terrifying of deaths when she was the only one on the flight to lose her life in a rare plane accident. 

On a flight from Hilo to Honolulu in Hawaii, Flight 243 of Aloha Airlines suffered one of the worst tragedies imaginable in air travel. The Boeing 737-297 plane suffered extensive damage mid-flight and gave its terrified passengers an experience they would never be able to shake off. 

It was April 28, 1988, when those travelling in Hawaii suffered after an explosive decompression mid-flight, caused by part of the fuselage breaking, which is thought to be down to poor maintenance and metal fatigue. While the plane was able to eventually land safely in Maui, it did not return in one piece, and not with all of ithose on board.

The shocking moment the roof blew open saw one brutal fatality, as a flight attendant named Clarabelle Lansing was suddenly ejected from the aeroplane. Lansing was 58 with more than 37 years experience in the industry when she was swept out of the aeroplane while standing by the fifth row of seats,. Her body has never been found. 

While eight other people, including another member of the cabin crew, were left seriously injured, Lansing remains the only person on board to have lost their life. Meanwhile, 57 other passengers were injured from the unexpected damage, despite being seated with seat belts during the intense depressurisation.

After the flight underwent a standard routine takeoffand ascent, the moment it reached its usual altitude of 24,000 feet, a section of the roof ruptured. As a result, the captain felt the aircraft roll and the controls loosen, while the first officer noted seeing grey insulation 'floating in the cockpit'. 

As it turns out, the entirety of the cockpit door had broken away, and the captain recalled after the events seeing blue sky where the ceiling of first class once was. It was then they realised an alarming amount of the roof had been torn off mid-air. 

This shock accident went down as a significant event in aviation history and went on to affect policies and procedures moving forward. After investigation, led by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, it was concluded that the surprising accident was in fact caused by metal fatigue exacerbated by crevice corrosion.

At the time of the accident, the plane was 19 years old and had plenty of exposure to coastal environments with salt and humidity. After the disaster, the aircraft was declared damaged beyond repair and went on to be dismantled and written off. 

In the aftermath of the incident, a passenger named Gayle Yamamoto confessed to investigators they had noticed a crack in the fuselage at the time of boarding the flight but chose to ignore it and not inform anyone.

Numerous films and TV shows have taken on the events of that day for dramatisation, most notably the film Miracle Landing.

A few years later, in 1995, Honolulu International Airport introduced a garden to their terminal one, named in honour of the flight attendant who lost her life. The garden borders the airport's other calming outdoor spaces for passengers looking for a moment of reflection.