![]() ![]() ![]() Within 148 seconds, Atchison managed to bring the plane back level at 11,000 feet. Ogden immediately grabbed Lancaster by the waist while chief steward John Heward rushed in to haul the debris of the cockpit door off the navigation panel, and shoved it out of the way into a toilet cubicle.Ĭo-pilot Atchison had managed to stay in his seat, immediately taking back the controls of the plane.ĭescending at 4,600 feet per minute through some of the world's busiest airspace, the first officer was desperate to avoid a mid-air collision and stabilise the air pressure to bring oxygen back into the cabin. With the control column pushed forwards, presumably as the captain was jerked out of his seat, the plane dipped and rolled towards the right. His torso was pinned to the outside of the aircraft by the force of the oncoming winds, while his legs were jammed firmly inside the cockpit. The cabin suddenly filled with condensation mist. The crew knew at once that something had gone horribly wrong: 'explosive decompression'.įlight attendant Nigel Ogden, who had just offered the pilots a cup of tea, was the first to see the catastrophe unfolding inside the cockpit.Ĭaptain Tim Lancaster had been sucked through a gaping hole where the windscreen should have been. ![]() 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. ![]()
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