I believe the relief pilot kept his career at SQ. Start saving with our jet card. Permaneci volando hasta que realiz su ltimo vuelo comercial en un Boeing 737-33A (matrcula: G-CELE) de Alicante a Mnchester el 28 de junio de 2015 cuando cumpli 65 aos. It remains a matter of debate who exactly did it but a Canadian pilot is often credited for eliminating the Baron which may have been a morale-boosting tactic. And here's where one Mr. Alastair Atchison stepped up to the goddamned plate. Chesley Sullenberger III, at the helm of US Airways Flight 1549, managed to land safely on the Hudson River after a flock of Canada geese disabled the aircraft. "It was like something from a disaster movie. However, right as the flight attendants were about to wheel out the food cart, the windshield of the plane suddenly exploded. Captain Bryce McCormick, who initially believed the plane had suffered a mid-air collision, declared an emergency, while flight attendants took oxygen to passengers (masks did not deploy because the plane was below the 14,000ft limit). This was the point at which the flight's storyline took a sudden and alarming turn. If landing an airliner on a river already sounds like trying to float a boat through an iceberg, well, the situation was actually worse than that. The bang was the result of the left window panel flying away from the aircraft. After orbiting the Earth he became something of a celebrity in his native land and got awarded with the highest honor available, the Hero of the Soviet Union award. This British Airways flight from Heathrow to Auckland was passing over Jakarta when it ran into volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Galunggung, resulting in the failure of all four engines. Luckily, at around 13,500 feet, the engines restarted successfully. For a man with the surname Doolittle, Jimmy certainly did a lot. For more on the world of piloting, check out 6 WWI Fighter Pilots Whose Balls Deserve Their Own Monument and 7 Planes Perfectly Designed (To Kill The People Flying Them). His torso was pinned to the outside of the aircraft by the force of the oncoming winds, while his legs were jammed firmly inside the cockpit. Yet, that fateful day in 1990 he more than earned his stripes among the brave, legendary pilots.When the windscreen smashed on British Airways Flight 5390, the pilot Tim Lancaster was sucked out from the cockpit by the decompressed air. Image: BBC/YouTube On June 10, 1990, British Airways Flight 5390 took off from Birmingham, England and headed towards Malaga, Spain. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. Full Disclaimer. Before the days of modern mapping systems, high quality radios, paved landing strips and advanced aviation technologies, flying over certain areas seemed to be nearly impossible. When Atchison tried to get on the radio to declare an emergency, he couldn't hear the response due to all the chaos erupting around him. When it comes to a genuinely controlled flight in a power-centric airplane, however, there is little doubt about who holds the honor. Most aircraft windscreens are fitted from the inside out, relying on something called the plug principle, where pressure inside the cabin helps to hold it in place. Astonishingly, the landing was successful and no injuries were sustained to any passengers. On the Sunday morning of June 10, 81 passengers boarded a British Airways flight from Birmingham International Airport bound for the coastal resort town of Malaga. He understood that pilots could operate planes using instruments only. Co-pilot Alastair Atchison regained control of the plane, while extra crew members entered the cockpit and attempted to pull Lancaster back in, unsuccessfully. Brace for impact. Although it was the only space flight he would ever make, this feat was a ground-breaking accomplishment that will never be forgotten. With its harsh climate, Alaska in the 1920s was definitely such an unwelcoming place for planes and pilots. Indeed, much more recently, May 14th, 2018 saw the same thing happen to a Sichuan Airlines Airbus A319 operating flight 3U8633 from China's Chongqing Jiangbei International (CKG) to Lhasa Gonggar Airport (LXA) in Tibet. As we have established, the aircraft operating flight BA5390 on June 10th, 1990 was a BAC 1-11-500. In a similar incident to BA Flight 38, this Cathay Pacific service from Surabaya Juanda International Airport in Indonesia suddenly lost the ability to change thrust as it neared Hong Kong, landing at almost twice the recommended speed. The co-pilot and four stewards were each awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, with Atchison also receiving the Polaris award for his airmanship. At just 15 years old he (unsuccessfully) tried to fly a hand-built glider. His enigmatic life came to an end peacefully in 1974. The service made an emergency landing in Chengdu, with investigators finding that the cause of the incident was moisture having damaged a seal. With shit officially getting real and the plane breaking up from the inside out, McCormick attempted a landing. Sign up for notifications from Insider! In this instance, the flight's First Officer was partially sucked from the cockpit, but also survived the ordeal with facial abrasions, a minor right eye injury, and a sprained wrist. After all four engines had ground to a halt, the flight engineer yelled, "I don't believe it, all four engines have failed! Thats unnecessary. Co-pilot Alastair Atchisonregained control of the plane, while extra crew members entered the cockpit and attempted to pull Lancaster back in, unsuccessfully. The resulting explosive decompression tore off a larger section of the roof, and a 57-year-old flight attendant called Clarabelle Lansing was swept from her seat and out of the hole in the aircraft. The incident occurred after one of the aircraft's windshield panels blew out inflight. The mechanic, however, found the bolts by comparing the oldbolts to new onesfound in the screw drawers. During the climb, Atchison handed control of the aircraft over to Captain Tim Lancaster. Before the days of modern mapping systems, high quality radios, paved landing strips and advanced aviation technologies, flying over certain areas seemed to be nearly impossible. Youre gonna have to smell them and watch YouTube videos with them. He had over 1100 hours as a co-pilot on the Bac 1-11 according to Wikipedia.On board, there were also 4 flight attendants led by chief steward . On the way, the engines started clicking off again. The guy who was really keeping it cool, however, was Lancaster, who was hanging out the window of an aircraft and exposed to the extreme cold. Many of you won't have heard of him. Co-pilot Atchison calls the control tower for help. ", Co-pilot: "Er, flight attendant's holding onto him but, er, requesting emergency facilities for the captain. The landing was hard and fast Pearson had to brake so hard he blew two tires, while the aircrafts nose fell off, starting a small fire but all 61 on board survived unharmed. Right ahead of the plane was a little obstacle called the George Washington Bridge. All rights reserved. But just 13 minutes after take-off, at 17,300 feet, a loud bang came from the cockpit as the internal door burst off its hinges. We are doing our damnedest to get them going again. Aristotle said that there is no great genius without a mixture of madness and it was probably the case with Adolphe Pegoud, a brilliant pilot who was the first to successfully execute the classic loop-the-loop technique.The aesthetically impressive loop-the-loop had always been a risky maneuver but never more so than in Adolphes time. In 1990, British Airways Flight 5390 had just taken off from London on its way to Spain. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. He specializes in history, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary. Despite the fact that he hadn't changed a windscreen in about two years, he decided to do it himself. All flights are carried out by FAA and DOT or equivalent foreign authority approved aircraft operators. Subscribe today for ourWeekly Newsletterin your inbox! ", At this point, the falling aircraft had about 23 minutes of glide time until it hit the ocean. Steve Fossett certainly was such a case.Steves list of accolades stretched to an incredible 116 world records including five back-to-back nonstop orbits of Earth. The crew knew at once that something had gone horribly wrong: 'explosive decompression'. At this point, his instruments started screeching warnings about how he was about to crash into something huge and bridge-shaped. One was still secured to the aircraft window frame. Once he got landing permission from an airport in Southampton, Atchison guided the plane down, navigating as debris flew around the cockpit and Lancaster remained on the windshield, still held by the flight attendant. The number 3 steward, who after thiswas hopefully promoted to number 1 steward, rushed in and grabbed him by the waist and held on tight. The crew of British Airways flight 5390 became highly decorated in the aftermath of the incident. With insufficient oxygen masks for those on board, co-pilot Alastair Atchison, who was also helping hold Lancaster inside the aircraft, made a rapid emergency descent and searched for the nearest airport. Way wrong. The pilots name? Hey, did we mention that at the time, no plane that lost all hydraulics ever landed safely? Perhaps the best known incident of recent times, involving the most brilliantly monikered pilot. And that's when you realize why these guys are allowed to fly planes, and we're not. About. Things became even less OK when the plane started diving and turning at the same time, doing a barrel roll heading straight down, losing 10,000 feet of altitude in less than 20 seconds. While cruising at 41,000 feet, halfway through a flight from Montreal to Edmonton, Air Canada Flight 143 ran out of juice due to, shockingly, a refuelling miscalculation caused by a recent switch to the metric system. As he dangled from the side of the aircraft at 17,300ft - cabin crew desperately clinging to his legs - co-pilot Alastair Atchison took control and steered the stricken plane to land. The pilot managed to wrestle the aircraft under control with about 20 seconds to spare before it would have splashed down. AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/ba5390-pilot-sucked-out-windscreen-the-ultimate-nightmare/101813438, Get breaking news alerts directly to your phone with our app, Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article, The mystery of the world's only unsolved hijacking, Supplied: UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch, Child abuser superannuation loophole to be closed by federal government, 'Starved' national galleries and museums hopeful of May budget cash lifeline, Ukraine's interior minister among 14 dead after helicopter crashes near kindergarten outside Kyiv, Teenage boys in custody after reports of gun shots in Queensland's Western Downs spark emergency declaration, Passengers heard 'bang' as Qantas flight crossed the Pacific, pilot issued mayday call, Unheralded Aussie steals the show with freakish moment at Australian Open, Thanasi Kokkinakis sets up clash with Andy Murray after marathon delay, Church of England bishops refuse to allow same-sex marriages after years of debate, Days after deadly Yeti Airlines crash, grieving families wait for Nepalese authorities to return the bodies, a growing number even resorting to private charters to avoid the chaos, computer system outage grounded all domestic flights across the US, took off without any of the passengers' luggage on board, accidentally flew someone's pet dog to Saudi Arabia instead of the US, something had gone horribly wrong: 'explosive decompression', issues with his tools meant the maintenance manager had to reach across the nose of the plane with both hands, In their final report, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch concluded, a symptom of a culture that prioritised sticking to the schedule, This teenager fell 3km to Earth and lived. 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