Flight 5390: 22 Minutes of Terror

Imagine with me for a moment: you’re a passenger flying on a British airliner over England. The fight seems to be going quite well, and at the moment, you’re four miles above the ground. Suddenly, you hear what sounds like an explosion. You look up, and the plane’s captain, who just seconds before was seated in his chair flying the plane, is now hanging half-way out the front window, with only his legs (which are being held onto by a crew member) still in the cabin. How would you feel at that moment? I don’t know about you, but I would be pretty terrified, not only for the pilot, but also for myself. What will become of us passengers, now that this has occurred?

            This exact situation did indeed occur, on Sunday, June 10, 1990. Thankfully, this story has a very happy ending, but in the twenty-two minutes during which this series of events was unfolding, it was terrifying for all involved.

            The story begins two days earlier. The British airliner underwent routine preventive maintenance, and the plane’s windshields were replaced. However, as was later discovered, the individual that bolted the windows in used bolts that were more than half a millimeter too small. This would be the cause of the terrifying ordeal.

A reconstruction of the moment Lancaster was sucked out of the cabin.

            Two days later, on June 10, flight 5390 took off from Birmingham, England with 81 passengers and six crew members aboard. The destination was Madrid, Spain. Takeoff went without issue. The plane climbed in altitude and within 15 minutes, it had reached 17,300 feet. It was at this point that the faulty bolts could no longer stand the pressure difference between the cabin of the plane and that of the atmosphere. The portion of the windscreen directly in front of the captain ripped off the plane and began descending toward the ground. Immediately, the plane depressurized with a great roar. Passengers reported that the sound of it was like that of an explosion. As the hole in the plane was directly in front of the captain, Tim Lancaster, he got pulled into the stream of air exiting the plane. He was forcibly pulled toward the opening and his body began to be sucked out of the plane. Miraculously, the captain’s feet became tangled up in the flight controls, giving his crew a moment to react in an attempt to save him. Immediately, flight attendant Nigel Ogden rushed to him and grabbed his belt. A couple other crew members rushed over and held on to the captain, who was being beaten around on the exterior of the plane by 300 mile per hour winds and frigid cold. They presumed him to be dead, but kept holding onto him in fear that his body would be sucked into the plane’s engine. Jumping into action, co-pilot Alistair Atchison took over the controls, and began deciding where to land. The closest airport to their location was in Southampton, which was about 15-20 minutes away. Thus, the crew continued holding on to their captain, taking turns when it became too exhausting to hold on any longer, until Atchison safely landed the plane in Southampton.

            Upon coming to the shocking realization that Lancaster was still alive, medical help was called for immediately, and firefighters came and removed him from the plane. He was transported to the hospital, and miraculously, the only injuries he sustained included a broken hand and frostbite. He did, however, also experience shock and PTSD in the following weeks.

           

Shockingly, when all was said and done, nobody aboard had died. The quick thinking and heroics of the crew members averted great tragedy that day, and the passengers were able to continue their journeys safely.