Disturbing real-life footage captures a terrifying incident where a pilot was nearly ejected from his cockpit mid-flight. On June 10, 1990, British Airways Flight 5390, a One-Eleven 528 FL aircraft, was en route from Birmingham Airport in the UK to Málaga Airport in Spain when disaster struck. The plane experienced a sudden decompression over Didcot, Oxfordshire, after an incorrectly installed windshield panel detached, partially ejecting the captain from the cockpit.
Miraculously, everyone survived as the captain was pinned against the cockpit frame for 20 minutes, with a flight attendant holding onto his legs. A simulation of the event went viral, showing how Captain Tim Lancaster was almost pulled completely from the cockpit, and highlighting the critical role of flight attendant Nigel Ogden in saving him. The incident report reveals this occurred just 13 minutes after takeoff, yet First Officer Alistair Atcheson managed to safely land the plane in Southampton 20 minutes later.
As Lancaster remained pinned against the frame, crew members held his lower body inside the aircraft as his head and upper body were exposed to 300 mph winds and freezing temperatures. Though crew members feared for his life, he miraculously survived. Archival footage from NBC News, shared by YouTube channel Retrontraio, showed that blood had stained the exterior of the plane above the broken window due to his injuries.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Lancaster sustained bruises, frostbite, a dislocated shoulder, and fractures to his right arm, left thumb, and right wrist. Flight attendant Ogden described the harrowing experience: “I turned and saw the windscreen was gone, and Tim was being sucked out. All I could see were his legs.” He quickly jumped over the control console and held onto Lancaster’s waist to keep him from being fully ejected.
Ogden added, “His shirt had been ripped off, and his body was bent upwards along the plane. His legs jammed the controls, disengaging the autopilot and sending the plane into a rapid descent at nearly 650 km/h through crowded airspace.” Lancaster later recounted in the 2005 documentary Mayday that he was conscious of being outside the aircraft but was primarily focused on struggling to breathe against the powerful airflow.