Photo: The aircraft joined fellow German airline Hapag-Lloyd Flug in 1979, before moving on in 1981. Alastair Atchison British Airways flight 5290 had taken off from London on its way to Spain on 10 June 1990 when part of the plane's windshield came loose and sucked Captain Tim Lancaster out. Pilot Min-Yuan Ho, drawing from his years of experience, determined that commercial airliners don't normally do this and disengaged the autopilot. With wheels up right on schedule at 7:20am and the aircraft steadily approaching its cruising altitude, captain Tim Lancaster and co-pilot Alastair Atchison released their shoulder harnesses and . Almost as soon as the aircraft came to a stop, Ogden and Gibbins instructed the passengers to disembark as usual off the forward and rear stairs. This had a maximum capacity of 119 passengers seated five abreast. In short, they now had no control of the plane whatsoever. As it happens, British Airways flight BA5390 is not the only flight to have lost its windshield inflight. But he made a series of errors and lapses in judgement that would prove disastrous. But Noel Wien saw it differently. However, right as the flight attendants were about to wheel out the food cart, the windshield of the plane suddenly exploded. Journalist - A graduate in German, Jake has a passion for aviation history, and enjoys sampling new carriers and aircraft even if doing so demands an unorthodox itinerary. The two men tried with all their might to pull Lancaster back through the hole, but the slipstream was immense. But Noel Wien saw it differently.He took it upon himself to brave the difficult weather and, in spite of Alaska's conditions, introduced the state to air travel. Luckily, at around 13,500 feet, the engines restarted successfully. Aviation safety advances helped stave off BA plane fire disaster, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. Between cancellations, delays, lost luggage and booking errors, travellers arefed up, witha growing number even resorting to private charters to avoid the chaos. But the shift maintenance manager had taken shortcuts and missed several cues that should have alerted him to the initial problem and his own subsequent errors: There was still one last chance to catch the mistakes. MaxyM / Shutterstock.com / David Farrier / Twitter. He had over 1100 hours as a co-pilot on the Bac 1-11 according to Wikipedia. The service made an emergency landing in Chengdu, with investigators finding that the cause of the incident was moisture having damaged a seal. He understood that pilots could operate planes using instruments only. Saving the flight fell to Atchison, the co-pilot, who tried to get on the radio to declare an emergency, but couldnt hear the response because of the noises surrounding him. On that day, the pilot Tim Lancaster and the first officer on board Alistair Atchinson were. Luckily, he caught his legs on the flight controls, which prevented him from being sucked out altogether. The other stewards kept their cool, secured all the other loose items, and reassured the passengers while telling them to brace. They had been installed the night before the incident, when engineers changed the windscreen panel during maintenance. Instead, it was their creativity, ambition, and perseverance that guaranteed their memorable place in history books. Top editors give you the stories you want delivered right to your inbox each weekday. Before each flight, the technical department will check twice. Passengers reportedly scribbled notes to loved ones, while Greaves calculated how far the plane might be able to glide before reaching sea level (91 miles he deduced). Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Let us know your thoughts in the comments. 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. The plane continued to lose altitude and the oxygen masks dropped in the passenger compartment. When the windscreen smashed on British Airways Flight 5390, the pilot Tim Lancaster was sucked out from the cockpit by the decompressed air. He brought down six enemy planes en route and became the first-ever flying ace. (PA Images via Getty Images: Adam Butler) 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. Despite the fact that he hadn't changed a windscreen in about two years, he decided to do it himself. Pilot Bryce McCormick, known for having the most piloty name in history, thought he'd just been in a mid-air collision. Atchison had made a distress call to nearby airports, but could barely make out the response over the roar of 630-kilometre-per-hour winds. 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. The mechanic saw on a list of maintenance jobs for theaircraft that the cockpit windows needed replacing. For most of the trip, the pilot is there to make sure nothing goes wrong. It turned out someone had forgotten to seal the cargo door, and the force of the takeoff had ripped it straight off and tossed it into the tail of the plane, disrupting the engine and the flaps in the back. Co-pilot Alastair Atchison made an emergency descent and as he was new to the type, he had to land the plane on his own, from memory. In 1988, a 737, flown by Aloha Airlines with 90 people on board was en route to Honolulu, cruising at an altitude of 24,000 feet, when a small section of the roof ruptured. Image: BBC/YouTube On June 10, 1990, British Airways Flight 5390 took off from Birmingham, England and headed towards Malaga, Spain. 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 . And even worse, the windshield was so fogged up that they had to rely on the lights on the tarmac they could only see through a small, clear part of the windshield. His head and torso was outdoors - at 17,300 feet and being battered by 300mph winds - while his legs remained inside, with flight attendants gripping him tightly. Unfortunately, there were only five of the correct screws, meaning he'd have to go to a different area to collect more. This took it from Germany to the UK, where it joined British Caledonian, as seen above. Chuck Yeager took the phrase faster than the speed of sound quite literally. The bang was the result of the left window panel flying away from the aircraft. Investigators recommended sweeping reviews to quality assurance and training. But on this particular plane, a BAC 1-11 series 528FL, the windscreens were designed to be fitted from the outside, fixed with 90 individual countersunk bolts. Alastair has amassed over 18 years of professional experience in a variety of international practices in 4 different countries over 3 continents. And even they'll tell you that airliners pretty much fly themselves. Hey, did we mention that at the time, no plane that lost all hydraulics ever landed safely? This is when Ogden and First Officer Alastair Atchison stepped up. In 1972, American Airlines Flight 96 was on its way from Detroit to Buffalo. With the plane's flight attendants holding Captain Lancaster in place, First Officer Atchison was able to regain full control of the aircraft, and set about initiating the process of an emergency landing. The question of who was the first-ever man to take a flight is a hot debate among aviation enthusiasts. The crew was finally able to cut off some fuel to the engine to get it to slow down, at which point they discovered that the yoke wasn't working either. 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. His enigmatic life came to an end peacefully in 1974. This was in the middle of the night, so when he got to the carousel that contained the bolts, it was poorly lit, meaning he'd have to compare the bolts by sight in the dark rather than read the labels. Working with a crew that was down two engineers, the manager opted to carry out the windscreen change himself. It took several minutes to get emergency landing permission from an airport in Southampton, all the while with the pilot still outside the windshield from the knees up, being crushed against the plane at 500 miles per hour, suffering from frostbite and about to lose consciousness due to the thin air. Here are five other pilots who managed remarkable emergency landings. Luckily, Captain Bob Pearson was an experienced glider pilot, guiding the 767 to RCAF Station Gimli. Eilmer of Malmesbury, Abbas Ibn Firnas and, of course, Jean-Francois Pilatre de Rozier all threw their hat in the ring of this ambiguous triumph. Photo: The interior of a preserved British Airways BAC 1-11. (HD) CAPTAIN ALASTAIR ATCHISON LAST RETIREMENT ATC TRANSMISSION FOR JET2 ON THE 28-JUNE-2015Thank you for watching Please don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT, AND . Undeterred by the messy ending, Jimmy rallied and persevered with his dream of becoming a top pilot.Lieutenant Doolittle is perhaps best known for his famous Doolittle Raid on Japan at a pivotal point in World War II. He went missing flying over the Nevada desert in 2007 and his body was found the following year. The amazing photos of the pilot hanging out of the window are from a re-enactment. As a co-pilot, Alastair Atchison may not be the most famous name on this list. Co-pilot Alastair Atchison regained control of the plane, while extra crew members entered the cockpit and attempted to pull Lancaster back in, unsuccessfully. Pilots Malcolm Waters and David Hayhoe were given the Polaris Award from the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations for their heroism. 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. By clicking Sign up, you agree to receive marketing emails from Insider Jet2 G-CELE 28-6-2015 Enda Burke 383. He briefly glanced at the maintenance manual to "refresh his memory," according to the Air Accidents Investigations Branch official report into the incident. According to data from ATDB.aero, British Airways operated 35 of these rear-engined planes from 1974 to 1993. American Airlines Flight 96 from LA to New York ran into trouble soon after a stopover in Detroit, when the rear cargo door suddenly broke off. The Aircraft was a BAC 1-11. Chuck went on to break the record again six years later when he reached the incredible speed of 1,650 mph. While this falls outside typical British school holiday dates, the flight was still reasonably well loaded, with 81 passengers (and six crew). 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