General
The Incredible Survival of the Pilot Who Was Sucked Out of the Plane
On June 10, 1990, British Airways Flight 5390 was flying from
Birmingham, England, to Malaga, Spain, with 81 passengers and six crew
members on board. The plane was a BAC One-Eleven 528FL, a twin-engine
jet airliner that had been in service since 1971.
The
captain was Timothy Lancaster, a 42-year-old veteran pilot with more
than 11,000 flight hours, and the co-pilot was Alastair Atchison, a
39-year-old with more than 7,500 flight hours. Both pilots had flown the
BAC One-Eleven for over 1,000 hours.
The flight took off at 8:20
a.m. local time and climbed to a cruising altitude of about 17,300 feet.
The weather was clear and calm, and the flight was expected to be
routine. The pilots released their shoulder harnesses and Lancaster
loosened his lap belt.
At 8:33 a.m., the cabin crew were preparing
for meal service and one of them, Nigel Ogden, was entering the cockpit
when a loud bang occurred. The left windscreen panel, on Lancaster’s
side of the flight deck, had separated from the forward fuselage,
creating an explosive decompression that sucked Lancaster out of his
seat and through the window.
Discovery produced a dramatic reconstruction of the incident. Credit: Reconstruction/Discovery
Ogden
reacted quickly and grabbed Lancaster’s legs before he could be pulled
out completely. He held on with all his strength as Lancaster’s upper
body was exposed to the extreme wind and cold outside the plane.
The
cockpit door was blown inward onto the control console, blocking the
throttle control and causing the plane to descend rapidly. The autopilot
had disengaged and the flight documents and checklists were sucked out
of the cockpit. Debris flew in from the passenger cabin and condensation
filled the air.
Ogden told the Sydney Morning Herald: “I whipped
round and saw the front windscreen had disappeared and Tim, the pilot,
was going out through it – 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.
“His shirt had been pulled off his back and his body was bent upwards, doubled over round the top of the aircraft.
“His
legs were jammed forward, disconnecting the autopilot, and the flight
door was resting on the controls, sending the plane hurtling down at
nearly 650kmh through some of the most congested skies in the world.”
He continued: “I thought I was going to lose him, but he ended up bent in a U-shape around the windows.
“His
face was banging against the window with blood coming out of his nose
and the side of his head, his arms were flailing and seemed about 6 feet
long. Most terrifyingly, his eyes were wide open. I’ll never forget
that sight as long as I live.”
Discovery produced a dramatic reconstruction of the incident. Credit: Reconstruction/Discovery
Atchison
took over the controls and declared an emergency to air traffic
control. He asked for an immediate landing at the nearest airport, which
was Southampton. He also instructed the cabin crew to restrain
Lancaster and keep him inside the plane as much as possible.
Ogden
was joined by another flight attendant, Simon Rogers, who wrapped a
belt around Lancaster’s waist and secured it to his seat. A third flight
attendant, John Howard, took over Ogden’s position when his arms became
numb from holding Lancaster’s legs. The crew also tried to cover
Lancaster with blankets and coats to protect him from the cold.
Meanwhile,
Atchison struggled to fly the plane with limited visibility and
control. He had to avoid other planes in the busy airspace and deal with
alarms and warnings from the instruments. He also had to cope with the
noise and pressure from the open window.
He managed to descend to
11,000 feet, where he could breathe without oxygen masks. He then
contacted Southampton Airport and requested an emergency landing. He was
cleared for runway 02 and guided by radar.
Atchison
made a smooth landing at 8:55 a.m., 22 minutes after the windscreen
blew out. He stopped the plane on the runway and asked for immediate
assistance. The emergency services arrived and helped extricate
Lancaster from his precarious position.
He was still alive but
unconscious. He had suffered several fractures, frostbite, shock, and
bruises. He was taken to a hospital along with Ogden, who had injured
his arm and eye during the ordeal.
The
passengers and the rest of the crew were unharmed but shaken by the
incident. They were transferred to another plane and continued their
journey to Malaga later that day.
The
investigation into the incident revealed that the windscreen panel had
been replaced the previous day by a maintenance worker who had used
incorrect bolts that were too small for the holes. The bolts had failed
under stress during the flight, causing the panel to detach. The
maintenance worker was charged with negligence but acquitted after a
trial.
Lancaster made a remarkable recovery and returned to work
after less than five months. He flew with British Airways until 2003 and
then with EasyJet until he retired in 2008. He is considered one of the
luckiest pilots in history for surviving such a harrowing experience.
Atchison
was praised for his calmness and skill in landing the plane safely. He
also continued to fly with British Airways until his retirement.
A British woman purchased a portrait of a young girl from a charity shop and now asserts that the picture is cursed, reports mirror.co.uk.
Zoe
Elliot-Brown, aged 36, spotted an artwork by an unfamiliar artist at
the Hastings Advice Representation Center in St Leonards-on-Sea, East
Sussex, a month ago.
Simultaneously, the seller cautioned Zoe
about the painting possibly being cursed, revealing that a prior
purchaser of the same artwork had returned it to the store with the
statement “it ruined my life.”
Out of curiosity, Zoe captured an
image of the painting on her smartphone and shared the photo with her
68-year-old mother, Jane Elliot-Brown. Her mother seemed to be entranced
by the painting.
Instantly,
she began urging Zoe to acquire the painting. Yielding to her mother’s
persuasion, Zoe paid £20 for the artwork. However, as soon as she
introduced it into her home, strange occurrences commenced taking place.
As
Zoe entered her home and positioned the painting in the living room,
their dog named Cilla leaped up and started growling at the artwork.
Cilla deliberately kept her distance, refraining from approaching the
picture. Subsequently, Zoe’s mother’s health took a sharp decline. She
began experiencing alternating spells of fever and chills, requiring her
to wear four sweaters to keep warm.
Concurrently, Zoe’s mother
seemed to be captivated by the painting. She continuously gazed at it
and even caressed the painted girl’s cheek. During the night, she heard
peculiar knocks emanating from the room where the picture hung, despite
the room being unoccupied.
Zoe managed to persuade her mother that
the painting held negative energy and was cursed. However, Jane
staunchly defended the painting, reluctant to part with it.
“I’ve
never seen my mother yearn for something so intensely. She was
entranced by it, but not in a positive manner. She guarded it. She
frequently gazed at it. She ran her fingers over the painted girl’s
cheeks and polished the surface, although the painting didn’t require
polishing.”
“Each time I mentioned disposing of the painting, she
became exceedingly irritable. It transformed into a sort of family
heirloom for her, something she began cherishing.”
“My mother
flatly refused to get rid of the painting. I think it’s a bit like the
magic power of the Lord of the Rings ring. It definitely works in an
attractive and charming way, it seems to pull you towards it.
“My mother became a bit like Gollum from The Lord of the Rings,” says Zoe.
Jane
herself says that it seems to her that the painted girl is very unhappy
and she stroked her to comfort her. She also does not attribute the
deterioration of her health to the purchase of the painting.
At
the same time, she admits that there were several cases when someone
seemed to knock on the door, and when she opened it, there was no one on
the threshold.
One day, Jane became so ill that she fainted right
in the bathroom. Zoe called 911, but her mother refused to go to the
hospital and was eventually left at home.
One morning, Zoe entered
the living room and saw her mother standing and stroking the painted
girl on her cheeks. And the mother could not remember how she ended up
in the living room and what she did at night.
“It
was strange behavior, especially for my mom. She couldn’t remember
anything from what happened last night. My mom is still very weird and
distracted and doesn’t want to discuss it.”
And then something
even more frightening happened. Zoe and her friend Ben went for a walk
on a hill during a thunderstorm and suddenly saw a “creepy black figure”
that suddenly appeared in front of them.
They do not know if this
is related to the painting, but they immediately ran back in fear.
Deciding to get rid of the cursed painting, Zoey eventually took it and
took it to the same shop where she bought it.
And when she drove
up to the store, she saw that in one of the tires of the car, brand new,
someone stuck a screw. She gave the painting to the seller, but then
changed her mind and took it back.
She
didn’t want someone else to buy the painting and get hurt because of
it. Now Zoe wants to give the picture only to someone who understands
damn things.
Now the painting is kept in Zoya’s house in a box filled with sage (it is believed that sage helps against evil spirits).
She also hung sage in every corner of the house, although Zoya’s mother was very unhappy with this.
“I
thought knowing my luck some idiot will go and get it and try and burn
it and I don’t really want to be left with the remainder of whatever the
hell has been going on. Technically I was the last owner. [I want it]
dealt with properly. […]”
A mysterious wild man, nicknamed by the locals “the wolf man”, was
photographed in the forested mountains of the Harz, in the center of
Germany. The man was completely naked and held a spear in his hand.
The
savage was accidentally noticed by two tourists who were walking
through the forest, not far from the city of Blankenburg in
Saxony-Anhalt, and examined the ruins of an old castle.
“When we
reached the caves in the sands, we saw this wolf-man. He stood high in
one of the caves and held in his hand a long wooden stick that looked
like a spear.
“He didn’t take his eyes off us, but he didn’t say
anything. He looked dirty and looked like a prehistoric man from the
Stone Age, like pictures in a history book,” Gina Weiss, 31, told Bild
newspaper.
According
to Weiss and her friend Toby, they observed this man for about ten
minutes. The naked man appeared to be in his forties and reportedly
these tourists were not the first to have seen him in the area.
It is assumed that he has been living in the forests near Blankenburg for about five years.
Authorities say they have received numerous reports of a person wearing a wolf’s skin or wolf costume over the past five years.
In
March 2023, a frightened eyewitness even called the police because he
thought that a wolfman running next to him wanted to attack him. In
other cases, people have seen how a savage is trying to make a fire or
building a hut out of branches for himself.
At the same time, it
is quite cold in this area in winter and it is not clear how this person
managed to survive here for several years.
According to Alexander
Beck, head of the local fire brigade, this savage clearly has the
skills to live in the wild and adapt to the changing seasons of the
year.
Where this man came from is unknown. There are many theories, from the hermit to more mystical versions such as time portals.
However, there are those who believe that all this is just some kind of prank to scare tourists or some other purpose.
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