Questão de Inglês — Forma Condicional (Inglês) — FUNDATEC 2025

A British Airways Pilot Was Sucked Out of An Airplane

Natalie Musumenci

British Airways Flight 5390 took off on June 10, 1990. But just 13 minutes into the flight from Birmingham, England, to Malaga, Spain, a windscreen panel* blew out of the aircraft, ripping the flight's veteran pilot from his seatbelt, sucking him halfway out of the cockpit* window, and sending the plane into a nosedive. Thanks to the quick thinking of the flight crew who grabbed the pilot by his legs and held him for 20 minutes as they landed the plane, everyone — including the captain — survived.

The panel blew as the plane carrying 81 passengers was flying at an altitude of 17,300 feet.

The explosive decompression forced Captain Tim Lancaster out of the cockpit, leaving his upper body pinned against the exterior of the plane and his legs caught in the controls, causing the plane to lose altitude. Flight attendant Nigel Ogden quickly jumped into action as Lancaster was launched out of the cockpit window. "I jumped over the control and grabbed him around his waist to avoid him going out completely." Ogden said in a 2005 piece published in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Ogden said he was holding on to Lancaster "for grim death, but I could feel myself being sucked out." Other flight attendants rushed to help. The pressure made Lancaster weigh "the equivalent of 500 pounds," according to Ogden, who got frostbite and a dislocated shoulder during the incident. Co-pilot Alistair Atcheson probably would have been sucked out of the plane too if he hadn't been still wearing his safety harness from take-off.

The force of the explosion had thrown Lancaster's legs forward and turned off the autopilot.

The plane headed toward the ground through some of the most congested skies in the world at more than 400 miles per hour. Amid the chaos, Atcheson managed to re-engage the plane's autopilot and get the aircraft down to an altitude where there would be more oxygen.

The pilot described what it was like hanging out of the airplane. For Lancaster, then 42 years old, the situation was "completely surreal." Years later, the pilot would share his experience on a 2005 episode of the documentary series "Mayday." Lancaster said that he was "aware of being outside of the airplane, but that really didn't bother me a great deal." "What I remember most clearly was the fact that I couldn't breathe because I was facing into the airflow," he said. He remembers trying to position his body so he could breathe better, but he doesn't remember much else after that.

Lancaster spent the next 20 minutes hanging outside of the plane as crew members desperately held onto his ankles. Finally, Atcheson safely pulled off an emergency landing at England's Southampton Airport. Against all odds, the pilot survived the horrifying situation. The flight's captain only had frostbite from the extreme cold, a fractured elbow, thumb, and wrist, as well as some bruising and shock.

A UK government investigation into the incident later revealed that the wrong bolts were used to install the blown-out windshield, which was swapped during routine maintenance 27 hours before the flight took off. The flight crew who saved Lancaster's life and the lives of everyone on board were awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air, a civilian honor in the UK. The British Airways Flight 5390 incident remains one of the most astonishing in the history of aviation. Perhaps even more amazingly, Lancaster was back flying just months later. He retired in 2008.

(Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/british-airways-pilot-sucked-out-

plane-mid-flight-survived- 2024-1 – text specially adapted for this test).

*Windscreen panel: it is the glass window at the front of the plane through which the pilots look.

*Cockpit: the front part of the plane where the pilot sits. (Available at: www.collinsdictionary.com).