A pilot who was sucked out of a plane window on a flight to Spain miraculously survived the ordeal and even returned to work just months later.
British Airways pilot Captain Tim Lancaster was pulled out of the cockpit window after the glass windowpanes shattered, and a brave cabin crew member held onto him by the ankles until the plane landed safely.
The terrifying incident happened on June 20, 1990, 13 minutes into a flight from Birmingham to Malaga in Spain at 17,300ft.
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A report concluded it happened due to the wrong bolts being used to fit the windscreen of the plane.
Cabin crew member Nigel Ogden was in the cockpit when Tim was sucked up from his seat and out through the window. The flight attendant managed to grasp the captain’s legs, Mirror UK reports.
In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald, Nigel said: “There was an enormous explosion. 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 seat belt 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.”
Nigel described Tim’s body as being "bent upwards" and "doubled over round the top of the aircraft", "‘in a U-shape around the windows".
The force weakened Nigel’s arms while he began to get frostbite. Believing he was going to lose his grip of Tim, a second flight attendant, John Heward, arrived at the scene and grabbed on to Tim’s belt.
Nigel continued: "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.”
Co-pilot Alistair Atchison had taken over control of the plane while he instructed his colleagues not to let go of Tim. If they lost him through the window, the captain would have died and his body would have caused serious damage to the plane.
Alistair conducted an emergency descent and guided the plane to an altitude where the crew and passengers were able to breathe.
The first officer then prepared to make an emergency landing, with his colleagues still holding on to the captain out of the window.
The plane safely landed at Southampton Airport and Tim was rushed to hospital.
He survived the ordeal, sustaining a number of fractures and bruising, as well as frostbite. All passengers on the flight were unharmed.
A report by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch found that a fitter had used the wrong bolts to secure the windscreen 27 hours before the flight.
The full crew returned to work within weeks of the incident, with Tim flying just five months later. He stayed with British Airways until 2003.
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