Thirty years ago, a regular flight of British Airways to Spain almost ended with a disaster: the liner lost the windshield, the commander almost fell behind - only his feet remained in the cabin, which clinched the instrument panel. The pilot spent outside the aircraft about 20 minutes and the miracle survived. He was saved by flight attendants, who all the time kept the commander for the belt and risen themselves. And the cause of the incident, as in most of all incidents, was the human factor.
Glass simply flew out
British Airways 5390 flight went on June 10, 1990 from Birmingham to Sunny Malaga, which in southern Spain. 81 passengers and 6 crew members rose on board: Timothy Lancaster commander, the second pilot Alastar atchinson and four flight attendants. Pilots in the amount flew more than 18 thousand hours and recently switched to the medium-haul BAC 1-11 - the English development jet with two engines in the tail part. The liner broke away from Birmingham Airport band at 07:20 and began to gain height.
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After 13 minutes, the plane has already risen around 5300 meters. Under the liner was Didkot - a small town in the County of Oxfordshire. The commander dismissed the shoulder straps, leaving only the belt. After a moment, one of the sections of the windshield on the left side flew out, as if she was squeezed. It happened with such noise that the flight attendant Nigel Ogden first thought about the bomb explosion.
All loose things flew through the resulting hole. Even a closed metal door between the cabin and passenger compartment disrupted with the loops, her debris fell into the control panel between pilot chairs. But worse there was a situation with Timothy Lancaster: the commander fell almost entirely from the salon. Saved His randomness: the legs of the man hooked behind the steering wheel and the dashboard. At the same time, the torso was already outside. The liner flew at a speed of about 650 km / h, the temperature overboard was approximately -17 Celsius. Lancaster was lucky if it could be said about his situation: the flight attendant Ogden, who was in the cockpit of pilots, immediately grabbed the commander in the belt area. At the same time, he himself risked himself strongly: the flight attendant could easily fly after Lancaster. For the reliability, John Houaard, who came to the cabboard, wrapped the belt of the seat belt from the pilot's chair.
Reconstruction of events. Picture:
How does the pressure in the cabin work
Why things and people pulled out from the cab outside, if the plane moved ahead and the air flow seems to be made everything to the wall of the cabin? The case in sealing jet liners. Usually they fly at altitudes about 10-11 thousand meters, where the air is too resolved - a person practically cannot breathe them and remain in consciousness. Therefore, there are more comfortable pressure on airplanes, which corresponds to an altitude of about 4 thousand meters above sea level, and in Boeing 787 Dreamliner with composite fuselage pressure even stronger: new materials allow you to "pump" the aircraft.
If you simplify, it turns out that the air in the cabin strongly presses on the inner walls of the fuselage. Just for this reason, in many aircraft, the doors to land-disembarking passengers opens inwards - the door naturally turns out to be tightly pressed against the impact. And that is why the heroic attempts to have discharged the door to open the door in flight will lead only to serious problems with the police.
And with the explosive decompression, everything seeks outside, and this is what happened in the BAC 1-11 cab, when he flew over Didkot. The second pilot, sitting in the chair on the right, remained in his place and immediately intercepted the control: the autopilot turned off when Lancaster moved his steering wheel. Atchinson passed on the radio of the disaster signal, but the Communication arose difficulties - because of the strong noise, the second pilot did not hear what they were responsible for him.
I slipped the thought: "Let go"
The pressure difference made the weight of the commander equivalent to about 200 kilograms, and to hold Lancaster to one person was too hard. For the help of flight attendants Ogden and Houaard, another steward came, Simon Rogers. To drag the Lancaster in the cabin even threesome they could not, it remained only to keep a man behind your feet. The main problem was not the weight, but cold. Because of the ice wind, the hands of the flight attendants began to no longer.
Spray in the area of glazing is the blood of Lancaster. Picture:
The second pilot dropped to 3300 meters and drove the speed almost to the minimum permissible - 300 km / h. At about the same time, the crew almost lost the commander: the legs almost slipped out of the onmight hands of the flight attendants, but at the last moment it was able to keep it. According to the memories of Ogden, he was almost sure that Lancaster died: a broken face, his head hits the fuselage, the blood flows out of the nose and from somewhere on the side, the hands are limpless from the winds of the wind. "The most terrifying - his eyes were widely disclosed. I will not forget this look until the end of life, "said Ogden later. In the negotiations with the dispatcher, the second pilot also said several times that the commander was most likely not survived.
Huden's forces ended, and he changed with Simon Rogers. Someone from those who were in the cockpit, being in confidence that Lancaster is dead, said: "We'll have to let him go." But it threatened only aggravation of the emergency. BAC 1-11 engines are in the tail part, and Lancaster's body could get into one of the turbines. This is likely to lead to the engine failure.
Deciding and slowing the speed, the second pilot was able to talk to the dispatcher. Atchinson requested the airport with a strip of 2500 meters: it feared the landing with overload due to the large fuel reserve. But the nearest airport of Southampton had only a strip of 1,800 meters long. I had to agree. The entire decline and landing procedure fully carried out the second pilot without third-party assistance. First, the commander's chair was not to be taught, and secondly, the benefit would still be enough: the documentation on actions in emergency cases flew overboard, and the stewards are not trained by piloting, and even in non-standard situations. Oddly enough, landing passed without problems - BAC 1-11 stopped within the strip.
Finally, the Lancaster commander was drawn into the cabin, where he began to inspect the doctors. "He lay all in the blood and, to my amazement, said:" I want to eat, "then I remembered Ogden. Only at that moment it became clear that the commander was alive. Perhaps, it can be said that Timothy Lancaster was easily separated: doctors diagnosed a shock condition, frostbite, bruises, several fractures of the right hand and finger. Also got a nigeon Ogden - his hands and face were frostable. Nobody suffered from passengers and other crew members, even the emergency evacuation did not hold.
Timothy Lancaster with flight crew 5390. Image:
Negligence
A similar incident with BAC 1-11, as with other aircraft, did not happen at that time. Glass is usually damaged from external influences - admit, when colliding with birds. It also remained whole and why suddenly flew out, remained incomprehensible. The randral is discouraging: 87 people almost died due to the negligence of masters, which, when replacing windshield, used inappropriate bolts. The glass fastened the bolts that were too small in diameter. The worker selected them on the eye, comparing with the old one. Visually he did not notice the difference. And according to the instructions, the specialist was to handle the documentation and take the details of a certain size. Moreover, as it turns out, the storekeeper even suggested the correct type of bolts, but the repairman ignored it.
Left and right - suitable bolts, in the center - the one that was used when replacing the glass. It is slightly smaller required. Picture:
A similar incident occurred three years ago with Airbus A319 Airlines Sichuan Airlines. Glass flew due to damaged moisture of the seal at an altitude of 9100 meters. The second pilot also almost threw out of the aircraft, but the liner succeeded safely to plant. As in the case of British Airways flight, the disaster managed to avoid. After just a year after the incident, the Art Film "Chinese pilot" was released, telling about this incident.
After such a case, some people obviously flatly refused to raise the aircraft. But Timothy Lancaster five months after the incident returned to work. The second pilot Alastar Atchinson, as well as the flight attendant, Nigel Ogden and the flight attendant Susan Gibbinis presented the signs of the difference between the Queen for valuable merits in the air. " Ogden and Atchinson also continued his career in aviation: the first worked until 2001, having left the sky due to health problems, and the second resigned only in 2015.
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