History[]
Delivered to United Airlines on 3 November 1970,[1] the aircraft was flown as Flight 811 on 24th February 1989, when it experienced a cargo door failure in flight after its stopover at Honolulu International Airport, Hawaii. The resulting decompression blew out several rows of seats, resulting in the deaths of 9 out of 337 passengers.
The door failure was attributed to a fault in the door control system, combined with a deficiency in the design of the cargo door locking mechanisms, which made them susceptible to deformation, allowing the door to become unlatched after being properly latched and locked. Also contributing to the accident was a lack of timely corrective actions by Boeing and the FAA following a 1987 cargo door opening incident on a Pan Am Boeing 747-100.[2]
Following a change of registration by United Airlines to N4724U on 1 September 1989, the aircraft joined the fleet of Air Dabia as C5-FBS on 18 March 1997.[1] After being placed in storage in 2000, the airframe was broken for spares at Plattsburg, NY in 2004.[3]