British Airways Flight 5390 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Birmingham Airport in England to Málaga Airport in Spain. On 10 June 1990, the BAC One-Eleven suffered an explosive decompression. While the aircraft was flying over Didcot, England, an improperly installed windscreen panel separated from its frame, causing the captain to be partially ejected from the aircraft. He was held in place through the window frame for 20 minutes until the first officer landed at Southampton Airport.
Background
Aircraft
The County of South Glamorgan was a BAC One-Eleven Series 528FL jet airliner built in 1971 and was registered as .
Crew
The captain was 42-year-old Timothy Lancaster, who had logged 11,050 flight hours, including 1,075 hours on the BAC One-Eleven; the co-pilot was 39-year-old Alastair Aitchison, with 7,500 flight hours, with 1,100 of them on the BAC One-Eleven. The aircraft also carried 4 cabin crew and 81 passengers.
Accident
Aitchison handled a routine take-off at 08:20 local time (07:20 UTC), then handed control to Lancaster as the plane continued to climb. Both pilots released their shoulder harnesses and Lancaster loosened his lap belt. At 08:33 (07:33 UTC), the plane had climbed through about and the cabin quickly filled with condensation. The left windscreen panel, on Lancaster's side of the flight deck, had separated from the forward fuselage; Lancaster was propelled out of his seat by the rushing air from the decompression and forced headfirst out of the flight deck. His knees were caught on the flight controls and his upper torso remained outside the aircraft, exposed to extreme wind and cold. The autopilot disengaged, causing the plane to descend rapidly. By this time, Lancaster had shifted several centimetres farther outside and his head was repeatedly striking the side of the fuselage. The crew believed him to be dead, but Aitchison told the others to continue holding onto him, out of fear that letting go of him might cause him to strike the left wing, engine, or horizontal stabiliser, potentially damaging it.
Eventually, Aitchison was able to hear the clearance from ATC to make an emergency landing at Southampton Airport. The flight attendants managed to free Lancaster's ankles from the flight controls while still keeping hold of him. At 08:55 local time (07:55 UTC), the aircraft landed at Southampton and the passengers disembarked using boarding steps.
Lancaster survived with frostbite, bruising, shock, and fractures to his right arm, left thumb, and right wrist.
Investigation
upright=1.2|thumb|Comparison of screws used in the G-BJRT windscreen (left to right: correct size, new; small size, new; correct size, old)
Police located the blown-off windscreen panel and many of the 90 screws used to secure it near Cholsey. Aitchison was also awarded a 1992 Polaris Award for outstanding airmanship.
Aftermath
Lancaster returned to work after fewer than five months. He left British Airways in 2003 and flew with EasyJet until he retired from commercial piloting in 2008.