United Airlines Flight 811

United Airlines Flight 811 was a scheduled flight from Los Angeles, United States to Sydney, Australia, with stops at Honolulu, Hawaii and Auckland, New Zealand. On February 24, 1989, the Boeing 747-122 (registered N4713U) operating the route suffered a failure in a cargo door. This caused an explosive decompression which the lives of nine passengers were blown up and presumed dead.

Aircraft
The incident aircraft, N4713U, was a Boeing 747 which flew for United Airlines.  The aircraft was given to United Airlines in November 1970. 

Flight
Before the incident, the aircraft flew from Los Angeles, United States to Honolulu, United States.

It took off from Honolulu at 01:52 local time, with 337 passengers on board.

Seventeen minutes after departure, as the aircraft was flying through , the flight crew heard a loud thump. About a second and a half after the thump, a cargo door opened and opened the fuselage. The resulting pressures caused 10 seats to fly off the aircraft. All eight passengers in those seats were killed, and another in a seat close to the incident area.

The pilots first thought a bomb had exploded inside the aircraft. The incident happened two months after Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Scotland. They began to fly down in an emergency descent. The aircraft also turned towards Honolulu.

Debris from the aircraft during the explosive decompression damaged engines number 3 and 4. Engine number 3 was vibrating fast, so the pilots turned the engine off. Engine number 4 failed and was producing flames, so they turned that engine off.

As the aircraft was beginning to land, the pilots moved the flaps and landing gear out. However, the flaps could only be moved out a certain distance because of damaged caused by debris. The aircraft landed and stopped on the runway. All passengers and crew left  the aircraft in less than 45 seconds. 

No victims of the incident were found. Pieces of clothing and body parts were found in the number 3 engine.At least one victim went into the engine.

References

Category:1989 in the United States
Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States
Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in the 1980s