ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Pan Am Flight 214

Pan Am Flight 214 was an airplane that was flying from Tokyo, Japan to Honolulu, Hawaii on August 11, 1982. The airplane was a Boeing 747, which is a really big and heavy plane that can carry a lot of people.

But something went wrong that day, and the plane crashed into the sea near Hawaii. This made a lot of people very sad and worried, because there were 153 passengers and 15 crew members on the plane. Unfortunately, everyone on board was killed in the crash, which means they didn't make it out alive.

Now, you might be wondering why the plane crashed. Well, after a lot of investigating, they found out that there was a problem with the roof of the plane. You see, the roof had a small hole in it, kind of like a little leak. This hole got bigger and bigger when the plane was flying, and it made the top part of the plane break off. The top part of the plane is called the fuselage, and it's very important because it keeps everything inside the plane nice and safe.

When the fuselage broke off, it caused a lot of damage to the rest of the plane, and that's why it crashed into the sea. It's really sad and scary to think about, but accidents like these can sometimes happen when things go wrong with an airplane.

After the accident, they made a lot of changes to airplanes to make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. They made the roofs stronger and added more inspections to make sure everything is working properly before a plane takes off.

It's important to remember that even though accidents like this can be really sad and scary, flying on airplanes is usually very safe. There are lots of smart and trained people who work hard to make sure that planes are in good condition and that everyone stays safe while flying.