European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 26, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday february 26, 1989 the stars and stripes Page a passenger aboard flight 81 1 gives the Victory sign while breathing emergency oxygen after a Hole opened in the fuselage of the new zealand bound United airlines plane. A i could see Honolulu a some passengers looked up to see rows of seats and people near them suddenly gone. One Man saw sky. A woman s earrings were ripped off by the wind. Moments after a huge Hole opened in the fuselage of a United airlines Boeing 747 Jet Friday nine people were missing debris was flying oxygen masks were released and a loud Roar filled the Cabin. But remarkably passengers on flight 811 stayed Calm Many aboard said. All of a sudden it was like a dream a Section of the plane was t there any longer Gary Garber said in a Telephone interview from the emergency room of Honolulu Hospital. We heard a hissing noise and then noise from the explosion if you want to Call it that. Then we put our Heads Down. A moment later we put our Heads up and i could see where the seats used to be and the people weren t there said Garber of Tarzana Calif. Passenger Lynor Birrell of Wellington new Zea land said she was about 6 to 8 feet from the Hole. She looked up and saw that three rows of seats were gone. There were seats just gone. There were people sit Ting there she said. At least 27 passengers were taken to hospitals authorities said. It was not immediately known what caused the Hole to blow open. The plane left Honolulu International Airport with s36 passengers and 18 Crew members at 1 34 . For Auckland new zealand and Sydney Australia. It re turned 59 minutes later with a 10-by-40-foot vertical Hole in the Forward baggage area on the right Side of the Airliner. Some of the passengers who survived said they planned to take a special United flight to new zealand on Friday night. I m a bit jumpy about hopping Back on but there s no other Way to get Home said Leanne Devlin 23, of Sydney Australia. Garber and his wife were seated in the business class Section of the plane. Some of his fingers were broken but his wife was uninjured. The aisle seats right adjacent to us Are what got  were about 18 inches from flying out the plane ourselves Garber said. Rochelle Perel 48, of Beverly Hills Calif., also was the people weren t there sitting next to the seats that blew away. They were just starting cocktail service and there was kind of a hissing sound like air and then a tearing away of the plane. It did t sound like an explosion Perel said. It sounded More like the plane coming apart and a Large Section of the aircraft on the right Side just blew away with the passengers in those seat with  John Morgan of Eugene ore., in a Telephone inter View with Eugene radio station Kuhn described the noise As kind of a big bang kind of like a Cyclone going through this mad Rushing of  Morgan said of course everything was flying around the Cabin from books to papers to glasses you passenger Laura Falci of Chicago. With Cross she Clung to aboard Jet name it. Stewardesses were hanging on to everything they could get their hands on just to keep from blowing from one end of the Cabin to the  Newton belts of Lake Oswego ore., told Portland television station Kate that he and his wife dec Clung to each other. They were sitting in the upper passenger deck above the Hole on the lower deck. My immediate reaction was. If the seat Structure did t hold we d be out in the Ocean and our chances for survival would be next to none Betts said. Koji Yamamoto 23, of Osaka Japan said he saw the sky and could feel the wind. The roof was break ing. Something was blowing toward  Yamamoto was travelling with three friends and was seated in the Middle of the plane. He said he put his head Between his Knees after he heard the noise. Beverley Nisbet 50, of Hastings new zealand was returning Home from a trip to Britain and Hawaii. The hostesses had announced they would be bring ing drinks around and at that moment i heard a muffled explosion and the Wall blew away she said. Debris was everywhere. My initial reaction was this was it. I m not going Home i thought it might be a bomb and i was waiting fora second one to finish us  she said everyone put on life jackets. A girl became Hysten Cal but other passengers were remarkably Calm Nisbet said. Passenger Bruce Lampert of Denver said there was explosive decompression. The masks came Down. There was a lot of debris flowing through the Cabin. I heard a Large Rushing of noise. The plane made a rapid descent. I can Tell you that was a Long flight  when passengers saw land there was a Roar of applause he said. He said he saw one woman bleeding with a severe neck Cut. Max Thompson of Denver said his wife Sherry Peterson was in the plane s business Section but was t Hurt. She talked to him by Telephone he said. He said his wife told him that she was in an aisle seat just a Row or two from where the Hole was blown in the fuselage. She said it was like a very loud pop like you would pop a paper bag Thompson said adding it even sucked her earrings