It’s June 10, 1990, and after an hour delay, British Airways Flight 5390 is finally about to take off.
Captain Timothy Lancaster, co pilot Alastair Aitchison, four flight attendants and 81 passengers are expecting a smooth flight from the U.K. to Spain.
After takeoff, things are going well. The autopilot is engaged. Both pilots release their shoulder straps, and Captain Lancaster loosens his lap strap. Then, all hell breaks loose.
Just 13 minutes into the flight, with the aircraft over 17,000 ft (5,182 m), an unsettling noise catches the attention of one of the flight attendants, Nigel Ogden, who had just checked on the two pilots.
The plane’s windshield violently blows out, the cockpit door explodes off its hinges, and the entire fuselage feels like a wind tunnel.
Captain Lancaster is ripped out of his seat and is now pinned against the front of the plane. His legs are still hanging inside the cockpit, and Ogden rushes in to grab them, while co pilot Aitchison does whatever he can to regain control as the plane nosedives.
Aitchison contacts air traffic control, but he can’t hear them due to the strong winds. Captain Lancaster’s feet are also lodged against some of the aircraft’s instruments, making it even more difficult for Aitchison to regain control.
The other crew members urge all the passengers to fasten their seatbelts and remain calm. No one knows what is going on, but at such high altitudes, there isn’t enough oxygen in the plane to last very long.
And while all of this is going down, Captain Lancaster is dealing with winds of 390 mph (628 km/h) and freezing temperatures.
“We thought, you know, either Tim’s gonna die, or we’re gonna die. That was going through me mind.”
The pressure from the wind makes the weight of the captain feel like 500 lb (227 kg), and Ogden starts to lose his grip. Fortunately, another flight attendant, Simon Rogers, comes to help.
At this point, they see blood on the side window, and Lancaster hanging through the cockpit. For all they know, he could be dead. But the crew also knows that if they let go, and his body flies into one of the plane’s engines, things would go from bad to worse.
Eventually, Aitchison re engages the aircraft’s autopilot and brings it down to a breathable altitude. Now he’s tasked with landing the plane.
In what some would call a miracle, the plane touches down smoothly, and the passengers emerge unharmed. But the same can’t be said for its captain.
“British Airways Captain Timothy Lancaster is recovering tonight from a fractured elbow, frostbite and the scare of his life.”
It turns out the windshield was replaced just 27 hours before the flight, and the replacement screws were slightly smaller than the originals. I mean, are you serious? This isn’t Ikea furniture. It’s a fricking plane!
But this didn’t stop the Captain from flying, and he was back up in the air just a few months later.
You know, after all these stories, I think I’m gonna start choosing trains and boats over planes to get around…
