The story of the commercial pilot who was sucked out of plane mid-flight and lived to tell the tale
- A commercial pilot was sucked out of a cockpit window mid-flight
- He dangled from the plane for 20 minutes
- The flight crew had to hold his ankles and – amazingly – he survived
Published on Jan 16, 2024 at 9:16 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Jan 18, 2024 at 2:55 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Adam Gray
A commercial pilot was sucked out of a cockpit window mid-flight and survived the terrifying ordeal.
After being dragged from his seatbelt, he spent 20 minutes dangling from the hole where the windscreen had been with the flight crew holding his ankles.
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British Airways Flight 5390 on June 10, 1990, was traveling from Birmingham in England to Malaga, Spain.
However, just 13 minutes after takeoff something went badly wrong.
Before anyone knew what was happening, a windscreen panel blew out of the BAC 1-11 aircraft at an altitude of 17,300 feet.
If that wasn’t enough, explosive decompression ripped Captain Tim Lancaster from his seat belt.
He was sucked head-first out of the hole where the windscreen had been.
His upper body was pinned against the exterior of the cockpit with his legs caught in the controls.
While every pilot, from those flying private jets to Concorde, are highly trained – there was no way Lancaster could have expected this.
Pressing the controls forward, the jetliner, whose autopilot had been turned off in the explosion, was hurled into a nosedive at 644 km/h (400 mph).
However, Lancaster’s quick-thinking crew were there to save him – and the 81 passengers on board.
Like the ill-fated crew of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, these kind of stories often don’t have a happy ending.
They grabbed the pilot by the legs, preventing him from being thrown from the craft entirely.
“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,” flight attendant, Nigel Ogden, told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“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.”
As Ogden clung on “for grim death”, he felt the pressure begin to drag him out of the plane, too.
Other flight attendants rushed to help.
In fact, the pressure made Lancaster weigh “the equivalent of 500 pounds,” according to Ogden.
The brave flight attendant also had a narrow escape, suffering from frostbite and a dislocated shoulder during the incident.
Co-pilot Alistair Atcheson was able to execute an emergency landing at England’s Southampton Airport and everyone on board, including the Captain, lived to tell the amazing tale.
Thankfully, Atcheson was still wearing his safety harness from take-off, Ogden told the publication – or he may have been dragged from the aircraft with his colleagues and been unable to take control of the craft.
After re-engaging the plane’s auto-pilot, Atcheson flew the aircraft to an altitude with more oxygen.
Unbelievably Lancaster was still alive.
“His face was banging against the window with blood coming out of his nose and the side of his head, his arms were flailing,” Ogden said.
“Most terrifyingly, his eyes were wide open. I’ll never forget that sight as long as I live.”
Lancaster said that he was “aware of being outside of the airplane, but that really didn’t bother me a great deal.”
He shared his experience on 2005 episode of the documentary series Mayday.
“What I remember most clearly was the fact that I couldn’t breathe because I was facing into the airflow,” he said.
Crew members thought he’d died during the horror and were simply trying to hang onto his body.
He suffered frostbite, a fractured elbow, thumb, and wrist, bruising and shock.
A UK government investigation into the incident later revealed the wrong bolts were used to install the blown-out windshield.
It was swapped 27 hours before the flight during routine maintenance.
The flight crew received the civilian honor of the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air.
Lancaster was flying again just months later before retiring in 2008.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”
