Interesting reenactment of 1990 incident

[Marty_d]

British Airways incident where the left windscreen detaches and the captain is sucked out. I hadn't heard of this before.

 

 

 

[onetrack]

Yes, I recall that episode. That Capt Tim Lancaster had some guts to go back to flying again after just 5 months. He endured the episode for over 20 mins with initial temperature of -17°C - and the wind buffeting must have been unbelievable.

 

There's some images on the 'net of him recovering in hospital with his crew gathered around him. He suffered frostbite as well as fractures.

 

The FA who held onto him ended up suffering from PTSD and retired early, because he was facing the captains face, as he was bashed repeatedly against the side window, and he reckoned it was a sight he would never forget.

 

 

[Neil_S]

British Airways incident where the left windscreen detaches and the captain is sucked out. I hadn't heard of this before.

Hi Marty,

I remember it well because I was working for British Airways at Heathrow at the time.

 

The internal newsletter was full of articles about it, of course. An amazing guy!

 

Cheers,

 

Neil

 

 

[Birdseye]

IIRC, the first officer gave up flying. Although conveniently placed, Southampton was not a great place to land a jet for the first time in those days, with a narrow runway that was not that long either.

 

 

[Marty_d]

Especially considering he was putting it down with a full fuel load and missing half the windscreen...

 

 

[Birdseye]

Especially considering he was putting it down with a full fuel load and missing half the windscreen...

I had left Southampton a couple or so years before hand; fortunately the ATC involved was ex-Navy ATC and would have had a good grounding in dealing with emergency situations. I didn't watch the re-enactment, but if its not mentioned the cause of the window seperation was the use of slightly under-sized (in diameter) bolts the last time the window was replaced.