They Did It--but How?

The more that is learned about the damage suffered by Aloha Airlines Flight 243 last Thursday afternoon, the more remarkable its eventual safe landing seems. By rights the apparent structural collapse that carried away most of an 18-foot section of fuselage as the plane cruised at 24,000 feet above the Hawaiian Islands almost certainly should have proved fatal, to the aircraft and probably to most or all of its passengers and crew members. As it happens, there was only a single tragic death--that of cabin attendant Clarabelle Lansing, who was carried away in the first seconds of explosive decompression. Whatever else may have kept things from being worse, the primary credit must go to pilot Robert Schornstheimer and co-pilot Mimi Tompkins, who against all odds managed to bring the plane in for a safe landing. The aerodynamics of the plane after its crippling accident were not things that pilots can train for. No one, as an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board put it, has ever test-flown a plane in that configuration. So Schornstheimer and Tompkins became pioneers. For 15 minutes, as they maneuvered toward the closest landing site, they somehow maintained control of the wounded 737-200, even as one of its two engines failed, even as the weakened body swayed and rippled violently. Because of their extraordinary coolness and skill, more than 90 people are alive today. If airline passengers could pick their crews, it’s a safe bet now that Robert Schornstheimer and Mimi Tompkins would be in the cockpit every time.