Footage from an NBC News report from the time revealed something chilling about the plane’s appearance
Real-life footage of the plane that had its pilot sucked out of its cockpit mid-flight is as chilling to see as you’d think.
Back on 10 June, 1990, a British Airways Flight 5390, a One-Eleven 528 FL aircraft, was travelling from Birmingham Airport in the UK to Málaga Airport in Spain when disaster struck.
The aircraft suffered an explosive decompression while flying over Didcot, Oxfordshire as a poorly installed windscreen panel broke free from the plane, causing its captain to be partly blown out of the aircraft.
Luckily, there was no loss of life as the captain was pinned against the window frame for 20 minutes, with a flight attendant holding on to his legs.
Lancaster somehow survived the freak incident (YouTube/Retrontario/NBC News)
A simulation of the incident has previously gone viral, showcasing how Captain Tim Lancaster would have been blown out of the cockpit, and how important flight attendant Nigel Ogden was in saving his life.
According to the official incident report, the shocking incident took place just 13 minutes after take-off, though First Officer Alistair Atcheson took just 20 minutes to manually complete an emergency landing at Southampton Airport.
Lancaster was pinned against the window frame as more cabin crew came to help keep the lower half of his body in the plane, while his head continuously hit the roof of the plane, facing wind speeds of up to 300mph, and freezing temperatures.
They believed he wouldn’t survive, but he miraculously lived to tell the tale.
Old NBC News footage from the time, shared by YouTube channel Retrontraio, revealed something horrific about the plane, as it was revealed that just above the window that flew off, on the exterior of the plane, was the pilot’s blood.
The continuous banging of his head against the plane caused severe injuries.
It was said that the pilot suffered from bruising, frostbite, a dislocated shoulder, and fractures to his right arm, left thumb and right wrist, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
Flight attendant Ogden also revealed how terrifying the situation was to the publication, explaining: “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.”
You can see the blood above and to the right of the window (YouTube/Retrontario/NBC News)
He added: “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 explained.
Lancaster later admitted he was ‘aware of being outside of the airplane, but that really didn’t bother me a great deal’.
“What I remember most clearly was the fact that I couldn’t breathe because I was facing into the airflow,” he admitted in 2005 documentary Mayday.
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/Zack D Films / YouTube/Retrontario
