British Airways Flight 5390: What Really Happened to the Pilot Hanging Out of the Window

June 10, 1990. A Sunday morning. Most people were just waking up, but for the crew of British Airways Flight 5390, it was already a disaster.

The BAC One-Eleven took off from Birmingham, England, headed for Malaga. It was routine. Boring, almost. Then, at 17,000 feet, a loud bang changed everything. The left windscreen panel—the one right in front of Captain Tim Lancaster—simply blew out.

The pressure difference was violent. In a split second, Lancaster was yanked from his seat. He didn't just fall; he was sucked through the opening. His head and torso were outside the plane, pinned against the exterior by 300 mph winds, while his legs stayed snagged on the control column.

This is the story of the pilot hanging out of the window, an aviation miracle that shouldn't have been possible.

The 20-Minute Nightmare at 17,000 Feet

Imagine being Nigel Ogden. He was a flight attendant who had just entered the cockpit to offer tea. When the window blew, he didn't think; he just lunged. He grabbed Lancaster by the belt.

It was a gruesome scene. Because of the airflow, Lancaster’s body was being hammered against the side of the fuselage. His eyes were wide open, frozen by the sub-zero temperatures. His colleagues actually thought he was dead. Honestly, who wouldn't? At that altitude, the air is thin and the cold is lethal.

But they couldn't let go.

If they had released his body, it likely would have been sucked into the left engine. That would have caused a catastrophic failure, potentially bringing the whole plane down. So, Ogden held on, even as his own arms grew numb and he suffered frostbite. When he couldn't hold any longer, other crew members took turns. They held onto a man they believed was a corpse just to save the rest of the passengers.

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Why the Window Blew Out

You’d think a plane window is held in by massive, heavy-duty bolts. They are. But the AAIB (Air Accidents Investigation Branch) report revealed a series of small, human errors that led to the pilot hanging out of the window.

The maintenance had happened just the night before.

The shift maintenance manager was under pressure. He was tired. When it came time to replace the windscreen, he didn't use the illustrated parts catalog. Instead, he took the old bolts to the store's cupboard and matched them by eye.

He was off. Just a tiny bit.

The bolts he picked were 7D—slightly too small in diameter—and some were too short. Out of the 90 bolts used to secure that window, 84 of them were the wrong size. Because the BAC One-Eleven’s windscreen is fitted from the outside, the only thing holding that glass in place against the internal cabin pressure was the friction of those undersized bolts.

As the plane climbed, the pressure inside pushed outward. The bolts failed.

Co-Pilot Alastair Atchison: The Unsung Hero

While the crew was playing a high-stakes tug-of-war with the captain's body, Co-pilot Alastair Atchison was alone at the controls. He had to fly the plane while decompression sucked the air out of his lungs and debris swirled around the cockpit.

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He didn't panic.

Atchison managed an emergency descent to an altitude where the crew and passengers could breathe. He then navigated the aircraft toward Southampton Airport. He was dealing with a massive amount of drag because of the captain’s body still being pinned to the outside of the cockpit.

He landed that plane perfectly.

When the wheels touched the tarmac, the emergency crews rushed the aircraft. They expected the worst. But as they reached the cockpit, they found Tim Lancaster—the pilot hanging out of the window for over twenty minutes—still alive.

The Survival That Defied Physics

Lancaster survived with a fracture to his right arm, a broken wrist, a broken nose, and severe frostbite. That’s it.

It sounds impossible. Most experts point to a few factors. First, the rush of air around the fuselage created a sort of "dead air" pocket right against the skin of the plane, which might have provided a tiny bit of oxygen. Second, the sheer adrenaline and the body’s immediate reaction to extreme cold likely slowed his systems down.

He didn't just survive; he went back to work. Less than a year later, Lancaster was flying again.

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Lessons Learned from Flight 5390

This incident changed how aviation maintenance is handled. It wasn't just about "using the wrong bolts." It was about the system that allowed a tired manager to make that choice without a second set of eyes verifying the work.

Today, "critical tasks"—things like engine installs or windscreen replacements—require a double-check. One person does the work, another inspects it.

The story of the pilot hanging out of the window is often used in Human Factors training for engineers and pilots. It highlights the "Dirty Dozen"—twelve common causes of human error in maintenance, including fatigue, lack of knowledge, and pressure.

What to Do if You’re Concerned About Flight Safety

It’s easy to read this and get a bit twitchy about your next flight. Don't.

• Check the stats. Commercial aviation is statistically the safest way to travel. Incidents like 5390 are extremely rare and led to massive overhauls in safety protocols.
• Trust the redundancy. Modern planes have layers of safety. Even if a window fails (which it basically doesn't anymore because they are now mostly plugged from the inside, so pressure holds them in), pilots are trained for rapid decompression.
• Wear your seatbelt. Tim Lancaster was sucked out because his seatbelt wasn't tightened enough during the climb. Keep yours fastened whenever you’re seated. It’s the simplest way to stay safe in sudden turbulence or decompression.
• Read the reports. If you're a nerd for details, the AAIB report on Flight 5390 is public. It’s a fascinating look at how small mistakes chain together.

The incident remains a testament to the endurance of the human body and the incredible skill of flight crews under pressure. It wasn't just luck; it was a crew that refused to let go of their captain, and a co-pilot who kept his cool when the world literally blew up in his face.

To stay informed on aviation safety, you can follow updates from the ICAO or the FAA, which constantly refine maintenance standards based on historical data. Modern engineering has largely designed out the specific flaw that caused the window to eject, making the sky a much safer place than it was on that chaotic morning in 1990.