Pilot sucked out of cockpit window mid-flight and lived because of colleague's quick-thinking
Lucy Devine
Featured Image Credit: National Geographic
A pilot who was sucked out of a cockpit window mid-flight managed to survive thanks to his colleague's quick thinking.
Back in 1990, Captain Tim Lancaster and co-pilot Alistair Atchison had been in the air for a matter of minutes, while flying a British Airways flight from Birmingham in the UK, to Malaga, in Spain.
At first, everything seemed perfectly normal, but 13 minutes into the flight and disaster struck.
Advert
Without warning, two windows in the cockpit cracked and completely shattered.
Lancaster was sucked from his seat immediately, with his head and torso hanging out of the window.
Flight attendant Nigel Ogden managed to save Lancaster's life, after his quick thinking led him to grab Lancaster's legs.
The move stopped him from completely disappearing out of the plane window.
Ogden later told The Sydney Morning Herald: "I whipped round and saw the front windscreen had disappeared and Tim, the pilot, was going out through it - he had been sucked out of his seatbelt, and all I could see were his legs.
"I jumped over the control column and grabbed him round his waist to avoid him going out completely.
"His shirt had been pulled off his back and his body was bent upwards, doubled over round the top of the aircraft.
"His legs were jammed forward, disconnecting the autopilot, and the flight door was resting on the controls, sending the plane hurtling down at nearly 650 kmh through some of the most congested skies in the world."
Ogden managed to hold on to Lancaster while the plane landed, but it was incredibly difficult, with the flight attendant explaining in a British Channel 5 documentary, Terror at 30,000 Feet, that he almost ended up being sucked out, too.
"I was holding on for grim death but I could feel myself being sucked out, too. John Howard (another steward) rushed in behind me and saw me disappearing, so he grabbed my trouser belt to stop me slipping further, then wrapped the captain's shoulder strap around me," he explained.
"I was still holding Tim, but my arms were getting weaker, and then he slipped. I thought I was going to lose him, but he ended up bent in a U-shape around the windows. His face was banging against the window with blood coming out of his nose and the side of his head, his arms were flailing and seemed about six feet long.
"Most terrifyingly, his eyes were wide open. I'll never forget that sight as long as I live."
in 1990 the window of a plane fell off and one of the pilots got sucked out so they just held onto his legs while the plane landed pic.twitter.com/dp4mINhWy9
— David Farrier (@davidfarrier) November 13, 2020
The flight ended up landing at Southampton Airport, with both Lancaster and Ogden having sustained only minor injuries.