Unit 11. Travel. Recording 24.

Radio presenter
The pilot who spent nearly twenty minutes clinging to the outside of his aircraft at 23,000
feet has returned to flying. Hugh Owen reports from Birmingham Airport.Hugh Owen
On 13 June Captain Timothy Lancaster took off from Birmingham with eighty passengers
aboard. Most of the passengers were going to Spain on holiday. The window of the jet just in
front of the captain’s seat had been fitted at Birmingham Airport the day before. As the jet
gained height, pressure in the cabin gradually increased, and at 23,000 feet the windscreen
suddenly blew out. The captain, who was still strapped into his seat with a lap belt, was
sucked forward and almost disappeared through the hole where the window had been. There
was a loud noise as air escaped from the cabin, taking papers, trays and loose objects with it.
The flight crew, like all British Airways pilots, had been instructed in reacting to an explosive
decompression. Mr Alistair Aitchison, the co-pilot, immediately took control and headed for
the nearest airfield to make an emergency landing. For nearly twenty minutes Captain
Lancaster was half in and half out of the cockpit. His cabin crew held onto him desperately to
prevent him from falling off the plane. He lost consciousness and suffered frostbite and a
broken arm, wrist and thumb, but miraculously he survived. He was transported to hospital
immediately. His condition was serious. However, he was soon well enough to have visitors,
including the cabin crew. Today, only six months later, Captain Lancaster has made his first
operational flight since the accident, and he’s here with me now. Tim, did you ever worry
about getting back into the pilot’s seat? Captain Lancaster
Probably in hospital when I was lying in bed, not terribly well, it did cross my mind that I
might not get back to flying. But I improved slowly throughout the summer, and here I
am.Hugh
And what did you feel when you were up there today?Captain Lancaster
Fine. It was busy. So, you know, I was just thinking about the flying side of it. I didn’t have
time for other thoughts.Hugh
You didn’t think about the accident?Captain Lancaster
I’ve compensated for the accident by basically forgetting about it. It came back to me when I
met members of the crew afterwards, but over the summer, my brain has just blanked it
out.Hugh
So if I were to ask you to describe it to me now, you couldn’t.Captain Lancaster
Well, I was unconscious throughout most of it anyway, so ... Hugh
The plane involved in the accident was a 10-year-old BAC 1-11 jet, regarded by pilots as one
of the safest in the world. It’s thought that the accident was caused by the wrong-sized bolts
being used to fit the windscreen during a routine service of the aircraft. The results of a full
investigation have not yet been published.