Don’t open the window!
Captain Tim Lancaster was the pilot of British Airways Flight 5390 was a flight from Birmingham Airport in England for Málaga Airport in Spain. The day was clear and air was warm. After going through the takeoff check list Captain Lancaster got the plane up to about 17,000 feet and leveled off. One of the flight attendants had entered the cabin when the windshield in front of the captain exploded outward and sucked the pilot right out of his seat. Fortunately, the steward was quick enough to realize what was happening and grabbed Tim’s feet and hung on, draping Tim over the cockpit roof as the plane flew on auto pilot.
“He had been sucked out of his seatbelt and all I could see were his legs. I jumped over the control column and grabbed him round his waist to avoid him going out completely.” Nigel described Tim’s body as being “bent upwards” and “doubled over round the top of the aircraft, in a U-shape around the windows. Everything was being sucked out of the aircraft: even an oxygen bottle that had been bolted down went flying and nearly knocked my head off. I was holding on for grim death, but I could feel myself being sucked out, too.” Steward John Heward rushed in behind me and saw me disappearing, so he grabbed my trouser belt to stop me slipping further, then wrapped the captain’s shoulder strap around me. Luckily, the co-pilot, was still wearing his safety harness from take-off, otherwise he would have gone, too.’
‘I was still holding on to Tim but the pressure made him weigh the equivalent of 500 pounds. It was a good thing I’d had so much training at rugby tackles, but my arms were getting colder and colder and I could feel them being pulled out of their sockets. I knew I wouldn’t be able to face his family, handing them a matchbox and saying: This is what is left of your husband.” They held on to Tim while the co-pilot got the plane down low enough to breath regular air. The first officer Atchison put on his oxygen mask and managed to land the plane 22 minutes later at Southampton Airport. Everyone survived, including Lancaster, 81 passengers and four crew.
“The paramedics had Tim in the cockpit on a stretcher and I went in to see him. I went out onto the front steps and shouted at the others ‘He’s alive!’ and then I cried my eyes out.” Tim Lancaster had frostbite from exposure to the extreme cold and several fractures. Lancaster was exposed to the equivalent of 345 mph winds and 1.5 F (-17 C) temperatures. Ogden also suffered frostbite and had a dislocated shoulder. Within five months Lancaster was flying again and he became a pilot for “EasyJet.”
Funny view outside
Checking in for a flight, I was asked, “Window or Aisle?”
I asked, “Window or you’ll do what?”
Got my dream job today. I get my own 200 thousand dollar company car and a corner window with a view of the city.
Being a city bus driver is a dream come true.
A policeman spots a blond driving a car and knitting at the same time.
He gets her to roll down her window.
“Pull over,” he yells. “No silly,” she yells back, “it’s a scarf.”
A vacationer telephoned a seaside hotel to ask where it was located. “Only a stone’s throw from the beach,” he was told. “How will I recognize it?” asked the visitor. Back came the reply, “it’s the one with all the broken windows.”
April 26th Birthdays
1971 – Melania Trump, 2000 – Keara Graves, 1933 – Carol Burnett, 1983 – Jessica Lynch
1874 – Robert Frost, 1981 – Channing Tatum, 1966 – Kevin James, 1971 – Jet Li