United Airlines Flight 811

United Airlines Flight 811 experienced a cargo door failure in flight on Friday, February 24, 1989,<!--Use US date format--> after its stopover at Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. The resulting decompression blew out several rows of seats, killing 9 passengers.

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-122 (c/n 19875/89, reg N4713U), delivered to United Airlines on October 20, 1970.

Incident

Flight 811 took off from Honolulu International Airport bound for Auckland, New Zealand with 3 flight crew, 15 flight attendants, and 337&nbsp;passengers at approximately 01:52 HST. NTSB report Its flight crew consisted of Captain David Cronin, First Officer Al Slater and Flight Engineer Mark Thomas.

During the climb, the crew made preparations to detour around thunderstorms along the aircraft's track; anticipating turbulence, the captain kept the seat-belt sign lit. Around this time (02:08) the plane had been flying for approximately 16&nbsp;minutes and was passing between 22,000 and 23,000&nbsp;feet (6,700–7,000&nbsp;m). In the business-class section, a grinding noise was heard, followed by a loud thud which rattled the whole aircraft — 1½&nbsp;seconds later the forward cargo-door blew out abruptly. The pressure differential caved in the main cabin floor above the door, causing ten seats (8G&H through 12G&H) and an individual seated in 9F to be ejected from the cabin, resulting in nine fatalities...
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