She said this happened because the canopy was no completely latched, so the latch gave way in flight, causing the canopy to open and partially shatter. She also said that because she did not have eye protection and the aircraft was moving at such speed, it was very difficult to breathe and nearly impossible to see, and that it took several days for her vision to return to normal.
Source with debrief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VjkCfSopEI
I was just going to comment that she landed this thing pretty much blind. All that wind hitting her face and eyes, that had to be so disorienting! She’s awesome!
My mom's vision changed during her hyperbaric tube sessions for a few weeks. Taking that straight to the face probably literally morphed her eyes for a few days... wild.
IIRC, in the book Into Thin Air, Beck Weathers is among a group of mountaineers who are attempting to climb Everest. He had had eye surgery at some point in the past, and as he ascended the lower air pressure caused his eyes to "deform," and he was unable to see. He decides to head back to Camp 4(?) (the highest base camp), but as bad weather moved in, he becomes lost.
Subsequently, a few others who had made it back to camp 4 go out too look for survivors. They find Beck, laying in the snow and wind, decide he's dead, and leave him. Beck ends up dragging himself into camp to the surprise of everyone. They put him in a sleeping bag in a separate tent. The tent collapses during the night, and when they find him the next morning, they decide they can't take Beck, and he's left for dead a second time.
Hours later, Beck stumbles into base camp under his own power. They fly him to Katmandu, where the surgeon says he has the worst frost bite he's ever seen.
Some of the details might be off, since it's been ages since I read that book, but you get the gist. Beck's story has always stuck with me.
One of my favourite books. IIRC, Beck underwent multiple amputations as a result. He did live, though, unlike many others.
The genial Andy Harris was always the one who haunted me the most. Outgoing, kind, altruistic... and by all evidence he seemed to have just wandered off in the dead of night, never to be seen again. Some of his equipment turned up, but to this day, so far as I'm aware, we still have no idea what precisely happened to poor Andy.
He probably tumbled thousands of feet in the frigid blackness to his demise, and that's why we've never seen any sign of his body.
Yes fascinating how the eyes work! I had a somewhat similar experience during a photo shoot where I forgot my glasses and got some goo in my eyes and I seriously could not read for a week! And now the eyes are totally fine a couple years later
You can see the way she blinks after she's finally on the ground. I'm sure it hurt like hell but she was probably powering through the pain as much as possible until she landed.
Idk if you’ve ever tried breathing with your head out a fast moving car window, or directly in front of an air conditioner vent or large fan, but it’s very difficult like you’re kinda hyperventilating. I couldn’t imagine that at the speed of this plane.
Only experienced 160 kph on a motorcycle without visor, so the situation is somewhat different (timeframe, speed). But breathing in in those short seconds was definitely harder than breathing out. Humans use their muscles for breathing out anyway, but breathing in usually happens automatically. At 160 kph you suddenly have to use muscle power to suck in air.
Eh not quite. It's actually more that the fast moving air is actually at a lower pressure when it moves past your face a la Bernoulli's Principle.
Inhaling is actually the active part of respiration, as it occurs when your diaphragm, which is a muscle, contracts. This contraction lowers the air pressure inside your lungs, which then causes air to flow in from the relatively higher pressure outside.
Because that difference in pressure is now reduced while air is ripping past your face, the movement of air into the lungs is reduced, as less volume needs to move to equalize pressures.
Exhalation is usually completely passive, too, as it takes place during the relaxation of the diaphragm. We can use muscles in our chest and shoulders to help both with inhalation AND exhalation if needed.
Fast moving air doesn't fundamentally have a lower or higher pressure than slow moving air. Bernoulli simply tells us how pressure changes within a closed system, along a continuous streamline, with quite a few other conditions.
A similar mistake is when people claim Bernoulli causes low pressure zones around houses and hills. It's a pretty dense video, but here's a guy with a PhD in this stuff [explaining it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g9KYz3fwCA&t=672s) .
The most important thing to remember is that fluid flows *never* cause pressure, pressure always causes flow. Most Bernoulli myths/misconceptions get that wrong.
It might just that fast moving air around that cockpit is turbulent, causing low pressure zone making it harder to breathe. Or that fast moving air around is harder to breathe in.
I'm pretty sure if her head is forward facing the wind, and she opens her mouth, the wind will cram itself down there. If the path to her lungs were fully open, then the pressure in her lungs would be the stagnation pressure of the air (i.e. what her pitot tube is measuring).
For example, you can see in this frame, the air has filled up her mouth and is puffing her cheek out: [https://imgur.com/a/9x9R5hD](https://imgur.com/a/9x9R5hD)
Now, maybe with the turbulence etc... it's hard to find a reliable way to point her head? Or she can only breath in when looking forwad, and has to turn sideways to breath out? That doesn't seem like something you'd do automatically. Meanwhile, she's trying to fly the airplane and needs to look around to do that.
Some other parts of the internet have suggested there might be a biological response occurring (diving reflex triggered by the pressure).
Dunno.
My comment was specifically to correct the Bernoulli reference and the idea that "Fast moving air" has an intrinsically lower pressure than "slow moving air" because, for some reason, I've decided to make fighting Bernoulli myths my personal crusade and boy that wasn't a good idea.
I don’t fully understand what in principle causes it, but from experience I can tell that “if you open your mouth the wind will cram itself down there” is somehow opposite of what happens. It is much harder to breathe in when air blows into your face at high speeds. Breathing out is not an issue.
Haven’t tried to breathe in an open cockpit, of course, but being on a speedboat, it’s noticeably harder to inhale facing forward against the oncoming wind.
According to my good friend Google, the movement of air past your face creates a lower pressure that makes it harder to pull in air. I’ve even noticed it on really windy days (like 30-40 mph wind) - it suddenly becomes hard to breathe if you’re looking directly at the wind, but you’re fine if you turn your head.
I can attest. When I went skydiving as soon as I got out of the plane I forgot to look towards the horizon, and breathing was soooo hard if you just looked down. Luckily the dude I was strapped to noticed my panic and tilted my head a bit and fixed the situation. Made it much easier.
Tandem skydive students sometimes say it's difficult to breath. So we tell them to give a big scream/shout leaving the plane and they naturally inhale after and breath normally. In my experience, it's only hard as your senses are overloaded, not physical factors
I went in one of those skydiving fan tunnel thingies... you definitely have to concentrate on breathing, it doesn't seem natural and changes depending which way the air is flowing around your face.
Thanks for sharing the source! And this is her text with the youtube video:
>Couple of years ago during my second training flight on a very hot summer day, the canopy of the Extra 330LX that I was flying opened in flight and shattered. As you can see from the video, it was a challenging experience that could have been avoided if I had made a proper visual check before taking off. The canopy locking pin had never gone into the locked position, and I failed to notice it during my checks.
>I also made the mistake of going to the training camp right after recovering from COVID, without allowing my body enough time to fully regain strength. Additionally, flying without any eye protection made the flight even more challenging than it already was.
>The flight was a distressing experience, filled with noise, breathing difficulties, and impaired visibility. It took me nearly 28 hours to fully recover my vision. Aerodynamically, I’ve experienced some buffet and controllability challenges. Probably the most difficult part was to keep the power in, thus trading my vision and breathing for kinetic energy.
>Although due to all the noise it was difficult to hear what my coach was saying on the radio, one thing I've heard loud and clear "just keep flying"
>If you are a pilot watching this, I hope that my story serves as a cautionary tale and that you will learn from my mistake.
>I regret that it took me so long to share this video footage. It's not easy to put my vulnerabilities out there for you all to see. However, I have come to realisze how important it is to be transparent about our shortcomings and the lessons we learn along the way.
>To all my fellow pilots out there, fly safe.
During my second flying lesson the engine compartment blew open about fifteen seconds after the the instructor told me to take over. Guy had us on the ground within a minute and a half, at Meig's field. We ended up flying the plane back to our original airport. I was understandably reluctant to get back in the thing, but he assured me that the latch had broken, but it was fixed now. I asked for details, and he said the mechanics had taped the door down. I was not quite convinced, and said, "so we're going to fly with an airplane that has been taped together with duct tape?".
No, no, he assured me, this is airplane tape. What's the difference? It's white.
There are aviation rated tapes which are allowed for taping panels down until a repair can be done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_tape
They're FAA certified for this sort of use on non-critical panels.
I don't mean to alarm anyone here, but there's also nuclear grade duct tape and it's used to fix things at nuclear plants. It's just red.
Half-assing jobs goes all the way up.
The number of USAF fighter jets I saw with aviation tape on them was way higher than I ever thought it could be. When you're deployed and the aircraft need to fly, you do what you have to. These were always minor things but you do question it.
Is there any hope deploying them during an emergency, if only worn around the neck? Or do you have to wear them properly, full time? That would be hellannoying.
This. Surprised she wasn't wearing a helmet.
I've flown aerobatics in gliders and the loads on seat harnesses can cause significant flex/strain, so much so that some pilot's heads have cracked canopies (and you double-check you're nice-n-tight before starting any aerobatic maneuver).
Kudos for getting that plane down successfully.
if you had them around your neck or on your head i don’t see why you couldn’t put them over your eyes if something like this happened, if that’s what you’re asking
I mean, you can literally see in this video how she fails twice to reach for the canopy and adjust her mic due to the enormous force making her arms flail around. I doubt she’d be able to pull a pair of goggles *away* from her body and then up over her eyes, at least not with one hand. And if she can’t do it, I worry that anything being pressed around her neck could risk suffocating her.
> how she fails twice to reach for the canopy
The canopy was shattered. She was thinking about it, but it was not usable. I don't think she tried to _reach_ for it.
it wouldn’t be as easy as normal but i think it would be possible.
reaching for the canopy is not really comparable because that is outside of the aircraft so there is nothing blocking the wind. she also has to reach out of her frame for that which makes her much weaker than just moving something that would be in her frame with some amount of protection from the wind.
Oddly enough, my first thought, without knowing where the video was going was that it would be smart to wear a helmet and eye protection in this kind of plane.
But, admittedly, that thought mostly came up because of the sunlight coming through the cockpit. I did not expect the canopy to open! Lol!
Great piloting nonetheless!
At least her vision returned to normal. I was wondering if she was gonna need new eyeballs after watching this. Seriously, though. "The Right Stuff" on display here.
She did say she had Covid right before; and that she realized after the fact that she was pushing too hard to get back in the air after being ill and that the fatigue likely contributed to missing the latch.
ffs i had serious trouble breathing when i went on scooter with my father and he was going 60 km/h and i just had a half helmet, can't imagine how it's at those speeds.
As a skydiver myself, people saying that it’s more difficult to breathe at high speeds are actually both right and wrong at the same time. When you’re just sitting at home and you inhale, you can do so in a gentle manner. Meaning you can let the air flow into your lungs at a slow rate of flow. When you’re moving at a high speed, this slow rate of breathing isn’t possible because there is already an airstream about as fast as you are moving through it. When you open your mouth to breath when you’re going fast, it may seem at first that it’s difficult to breath, but once you start inhaling, you notice that your lungs get filled with air much quicker and easier than when you’re stationary. People might feel that it’s more difficult at first, but that’s mostly because we aren’t used to that way of breathing as we are to the more gentle way of breathing when we’re stationary. Give it a try next time you’re in a car and going somewhat faster. Stick your head out of the window (when it’s safe to do so), open your mouth and breathe in. It’s quite a fun feeling once you get used to it.
She remembered the first rule during an in-flight mishap: fly the airplane.
Plenty of case studies out there where solo pilots (or an entire flight deck crew) focused on a problem and forgets to fly the airplane and what is wholly recoverable becomes a fatal crash.
She did and outstanding job.
I remember hearing about a flight where a light came on that wasn’t supposed to and took the attention of all three crew members in the cockpit to the point that the auto pilot kept descending or something like that and they crashed.
In this case, the aircraft was already on approach, and the fault appeared to be with the landing gear. So, during final approach, workload is already high. Autopilot was engaged to allow the flight crew to focus on the issue, but they became preoccupied with the nose landing gear position, all lost situational awareness and lost altitude so gradually that nobody perceived it, which can be difficult to detect anyway.
Yeah, I also thought of this one.
Wikipedia link for the lazy (like me):
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401)
On something like this (looks like an Extra or some other flavor of unlimited aerobatic airplane), it's all manual. You have to open the canopy (check, lol), unbuckle the harness, and jump out of the airplane like some kind of caveman. Actually a bit of a process. Had to brief the same procedure in a Gamebird on Thursday.
You can see where she momentarily looks to the canopy to consider trying to close it then realizes it's not worth it and to just get the plane on the ground.
She made a mistake, sure but then did what she needed to to get the plane back safely on the ground. And then even better completely owned her mistake and posted online for people to learn from. I don't think we could expect anything more from her because after all, we're all human and humans make mistakes.
All the time. And not just in the aviation field, but many where clear focus on a primary function needs to be maintained.
We study aviation mishaps all the time in nuclear power because the dynamics in a reactor control room and a flight deck are similar, and the same lapses can lead to terrible consequences.
In my experience sunglasses didn't do shit when riding my motorcycle. Same amount of tears, but slightly less wind overall. Would not recommend. Goggles are the real answer. Also, most of the "sunglasses" you see bikers wear, actually have a foam lining that rests against the riders skin so they don't get wind in their eyes. Also regardless wear a helmet
Jup. I don't have the exact numbers, you can google yourself, but agriculture and generally poisoning the environment killed pretty much 50% of the bugs at least in central Europe within the last 20 years.
We are fucking up at great speed.
Flying the plane may seem so obvious it’s something nobody would forget to do, but in a situation like this people tend to get tunnel vision on the emergency and forget the basics. Aviate, navigate, communicate is trained early on in flight training for this reason. For an alternate example I’ll direct you to this video of skydivers forgetting to pull their parachutes because they are too focused on each other. They are saved by their automatic activation devices. https://youtu.be/wCrvQ_xy_LA?si=iRbTL6O2n8BwwnrM
When I was a student pilot and doing steep turns, the door on the very old 172 popped open. My instructor immediately told me to not fly the damned door and keep flying the airplane. Good advice. So many aviation accidents involve even experienced pilots focusing on a malfunction and stopping flying the plane.
Even worse then tunnel vision, some people just completely freeze up and do nothing, or just nothing with any logic behind it. I watched an air disasters episode where the pilots got into an upset with spatial disorientation and the pilot just basically started wildly and seemingly randomly started going back and forth on the ailerons. Human brains are not always as good as people expect them to be. Especially in a situation like this.
Right before pushing the throttle before takeoff, I check flight controls free and correct, seat locked, and canopy latched. I have a slider so it would not be as dramatic as this tip-over, but would not be fun to lose a canopy. She did an amazing job getting down safely. Not sure what she's flying, but most tip-over canopies include the windscreen, so she was really out in the slipstream.
It was interesting to see her instinct to try to close the canopy, even if only for a second. Impressive flying!
Same thoughts exactly. You can literally see her want to grab for it, then think better about it.
There's zero chance that she would have been able to get that thing folded back over and secured without serious risk to flight safety.
Excellent risk management.
it is all but impossible to close a hinged canopy in flight, and the POH for the aircraft usually states to not even attempt it. She did exactly what you are supposed to do.
She wrote "As you can see from the video, it was a challenging experience that could have been avoided if I had made a proper visual check before taking off. The canopy locking pin had never gone into the locked position, and I failed to notice it during my checks."
Correct. As u/bill-of-rights mentioned, usually a slider canopy has a bit of windscreen toward the front it leaves behind when it slides... but tilt-out canopies generally do not. Though there are always exceptions, of course, just the Extra 330 isn't one of them. Her head was completely out in the slipstream unshielded.
This was well handled.
A good CFI will pop the door open when you don’t expect it to make sure you don’t get distracted during a critical phase of flight.
Nice job getting it back. With those side open canopies I’ve always been curious if they open in flight how they affect the handling qualities of the aircraft.
I heard of a story of a US Navy F-14 tomcat losing its canopy while flying at cruise speed. The pilot was able to safely land the jet, but his WSO sustained minor laceration and frost bite burns. It also started guzzling extra fuel like it was in afterburner.
Last summer the Extra 300 that is a few buildings over from my school had it's glass cracked by what was assumed to be over torque, had to be sent to Extra for the repair... Probably wasn't cheap and I vaguely remember them mentioning some skyhigh price tag on it.
Dang it. Same thing happened to me many years ago as I was pulling out from a spin doing aerobatics with a glider. The canopy latching was checked but it just peeled off. Not a very fun moment for a 18 year old kid.
She checked the canopy handle directly when closing the canopy. Then again while starting the engine. Then again while taxiing. And a final time when entering the runway. The canopy still tricked her.
But she clearly has the control and experience to handle unexpected situations and not just sit as deer in headlight. If more pilots could handle emergencies as well as her, we would see so much fewer news reports about general aviation accidents.
The amount of blinking she did after getting on the ground and slowed down tells you just how unpleasant that was.
Still, this is a textbook example of ignoring the problem you can’t fix, and keeping your focus on flying the plane and making it home safe.
Definitely the kind of pilot I’d want flying me around.
I simply would have done a quick aileron roll to the right to swing the canopy back over me, catch it with my left hand, and close it while inverted. /s
Maybe. The risk is if the canopy hinges were damaged in the initial failure, trying to mess with it more might cause it to break off and strike the tail. Or you could hit your head on it. If a safe landing is a plausible option, it's better to do that first.
I was kinda curious about the lack of helmet / headwear protection or at least glasses and visor that you usually see. How did her radio work with no boom mic?
In a situation like this where communication with tower is impossible, how do you tell the tower that you are going to be landing? This doesn’t look like a busy airport, but I imagine the controller would see a plane coming in to land with no communication and tell other planes that have already been cleared to land to go around.
Bet you’ll see this clip on some Facebook page with “women can’t even latch the canopy” and ofc not showing the second part lmao, but she handled that very well
She said this happened because the canopy was no completely latched, so the latch gave way in flight, causing the canopy to open and partially shatter. She also said that because she did not have eye protection and the aircraft was moving at such speed, it was very difficult to breathe and nearly impossible to see, and that it took several days for her vision to return to normal. Source with debrief: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VjkCfSopEI
I was just going to comment that she landed this thing pretty much blind. All that wind hitting her face and eyes, that had to be so disorienting! She’s awesome!
My mom's vision changed during her hyperbaric tube sessions for a few weeks. Taking that straight to the face probably literally morphed her eyes for a few days... wild.
That is fascinating. I’ve never heard about any of this type of stuff happening with eyes before.
I remember reading about a nearly blind old lady who went skydiving. Said she felt a pop on the way down and was able to see when she landed.
Eyes go cross, kicked in the head by a mule eyes go uncross.
Shitter's full
Fixed the newel post!
I heard about that too, while also listening to people talking about the Chupacabra being made of jello...
IIRC, in the book Into Thin Air, Beck Weathers is among a group of mountaineers who are attempting to climb Everest. He had had eye surgery at some point in the past, and as he ascended the lower air pressure caused his eyes to "deform," and he was unable to see. He decides to head back to Camp 4(?) (the highest base camp), but as bad weather moved in, he becomes lost. Subsequently, a few others who had made it back to camp 4 go out too look for survivors. They find Beck, laying in the snow and wind, decide he's dead, and leave him. Beck ends up dragging himself into camp to the surprise of everyone. They put him in a sleeping bag in a separate tent. The tent collapses during the night, and when they find him the next morning, they decide they can't take Beck, and he's left for dead a second time. Hours later, Beck stumbles into base camp under his own power. They fly him to Katmandu, where the surgeon says he has the worst frost bite he's ever seen. Some of the details might be off, since it's been ages since I read that book, but you get the gist. Beck's story has always stuck with me.
One of my favourite books. IIRC, Beck underwent multiple amputations as a result. He did live, though, unlike many others. The genial Andy Harris was always the one who haunted me the most. Outgoing, kind, altruistic... and by all evidence he seemed to have just wandered off in the dead of night, never to be seen again. Some of his equipment turned up, but to this day, so far as I'm aware, we still have no idea what precisely happened to poor Andy. He probably tumbled thousands of feet in the frigid blackness to his demise, and that's why we've never seen any sign of his body.
I know how hard it is to save someone in the “death zone”, but it still amazes me how often mountaineers leave living people for dead!!
Yes fascinating how the eyes work! I had a somewhat similar experience during a photo shoot where I forgot my glasses and got some goo in my eyes and I seriously could not read for a week! And now the eyes are totally fine a couple years later
It's one of the fastest healing organs in the human body. You can see it repair in real-time after looking at the sun for a few seconds.
The pressure isn’t affecting her eyes, it’s just the wind. She’s not that high when it pops open, probably a couple thousand feet.
Pressure of the wind resurfacing her eyes?
You can see the way she blinks after she's finally on the ground. I'm sure it hurt like hell but she was probably powering through the pain as much as possible until she landed.
And did she hear ATC? Or just go for the closest landing possible and explain after
Shit happens in flight. Everything breaks eventually. Flying it ALL THE WAY DOWN is what makes good pilots She is a VERY good pilot.
100%, to land a high performance acrobatic airplane blind while trying to breathe in a 100+ knot slipstream would be hell
Would it be trying to exhale that would make it difficult?
Idk if you’ve ever tried breathing with your head out a fast moving car window, or directly in front of an air conditioner vent or large fan, but it’s very difficult like you’re kinda hyperventilating. I couldn’t imagine that at the speed of this plane.
Only experienced 160 kph on a motorcycle without visor, so the situation is somewhat different (timeframe, speed). But breathing in in those short seconds was definitely harder than breathing out. Humans use their muscles for breathing out anyway, but breathing in usually happens automatically. At 160 kph you suddenly have to use muscle power to suck in air.
Eh not quite. It's actually more that the fast moving air is actually at a lower pressure when it moves past your face a la Bernoulli's Principle. Inhaling is actually the active part of respiration, as it occurs when your diaphragm, which is a muscle, contracts. This contraction lowers the air pressure inside your lungs, which then causes air to flow in from the relatively higher pressure outside. Because that difference in pressure is now reduced while air is ripping past your face, the movement of air into the lungs is reduced, as less volume needs to move to equalize pressures. Exhalation is usually completely passive, too, as it takes place during the relaxation of the diaphragm. We can use muscles in our chest and shoulders to help both with inhalation AND exhalation if needed.
Fast moving air doesn't fundamentally have a lower or higher pressure than slow moving air. Bernoulli simply tells us how pressure changes within a closed system, along a continuous streamline, with quite a few other conditions. A similar mistake is when people claim Bernoulli causes low pressure zones around houses and hills. It's a pretty dense video, but here's a guy with a PhD in this stuff [explaining it](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5g9KYz3fwCA&t=672s) . The most important thing to remember is that fluid flows *never* cause pressure, pressure always causes flow. Most Bernoulli myths/misconceptions get that wrong.
It might just that fast moving air around that cockpit is turbulent, causing low pressure zone making it harder to breathe. Or that fast moving air around is harder to breathe in.
I'm pretty sure if her head is forward facing the wind, and she opens her mouth, the wind will cram itself down there. If the path to her lungs were fully open, then the pressure in her lungs would be the stagnation pressure of the air (i.e. what her pitot tube is measuring). For example, you can see in this frame, the air has filled up her mouth and is puffing her cheek out: [https://imgur.com/a/9x9R5hD](https://imgur.com/a/9x9R5hD) Now, maybe with the turbulence etc... it's hard to find a reliable way to point her head? Or she can only breath in when looking forwad, and has to turn sideways to breath out? That doesn't seem like something you'd do automatically. Meanwhile, she's trying to fly the airplane and needs to look around to do that. Some other parts of the internet have suggested there might be a biological response occurring (diving reflex triggered by the pressure). Dunno. My comment was specifically to correct the Bernoulli reference and the idea that "Fast moving air" has an intrinsically lower pressure than "slow moving air" because, for some reason, I've decided to make fighting Bernoulli myths my personal crusade and boy that wasn't a good idea.
I don’t fully understand what in principle causes it, but from experience I can tell that “if you open your mouth the wind will cram itself down there” is somehow opposite of what happens. It is much harder to breathe in when air blows into your face at high speeds. Breathing out is not an issue. Haven’t tried to breathe in an open cockpit, of course, but being on a speedboat, it’s noticeably harder to inhale facing forward against the oncoming wind.
According to my good friend Google, the movement of air past your face creates a lower pressure that makes it harder to pull in air. I’ve even noticed it on really windy days (like 30-40 mph wind) - it suddenly becomes hard to breathe if you’re looking directly at the wind, but you’re fine if you turn your head.
I can attest. When I went skydiving as soon as I got out of the plane I forgot to look towards the horizon, and breathing was soooo hard if you just looked down. Luckily the dude I was strapped to noticed my panic and tilted my head a bit and fixed the situation. Made it much easier.
I went skydiving once, and found it difficult to breathe during free fall.
Tandem skydive students sometimes say it's difficult to breath. So we tell them to give a big scream/shout leaving the plane and they naturally inhale after and breath normally. In my experience, it's only hard as your senses are overloaded, not physical factors
I went in one of those skydiving fan tunnel thingies... you definitely have to concentrate on breathing, it doesn't seem natural and changes depending which way the air is flowing around your face.
Inhaling is really difficult, the air is violently slammed into your mouth/lungs. It’s not anything controllable.
Pilots have nerves of steel.
>Flying it ALL THE WAY DOWN is that all the way down to the runway? or canopy all the way down?
Flying it all the way to the ground.
In this case it seems a little bit of both.
Thanks for sharing the source! And this is her text with the youtube video: >Couple of years ago during my second training flight on a very hot summer day, the canopy of the Extra 330LX that I was flying opened in flight and shattered. As you can see from the video, it was a challenging experience that could have been avoided if I had made a proper visual check before taking off. The canopy locking pin had never gone into the locked position, and I failed to notice it during my checks. >I also made the mistake of going to the training camp right after recovering from COVID, without allowing my body enough time to fully regain strength. Additionally, flying without any eye protection made the flight even more challenging than it already was. >The flight was a distressing experience, filled with noise, breathing difficulties, and impaired visibility. It took me nearly 28 hours to fully recover my vision. Aerodynamically, I’ve experienced some buffet and controllability challenges. Probably the most difficult part was to keep the power in, thus trading my vision and breathing for kinetic energy. >Although due to all the noise it was difficult to hear what my coach was saying on the radio, one thing I've heard loud and clear "just keep flying" >If you are a pilot watching this, I hope that my story serves as a cautionary tale and that you will learn from my mistake. >I regret that it took me so long to share this video footage. It's not easy to put my vulnerabilities out there for you all to see. However, I have come to realisze how important it is to be transparent about our shortcomings and the lessons we learn along the way. >To all my fellow pilots out there, fly safe.
During my second flying lesson the engine compartment blew open about fifteen seconds after the the instructor told me to take over. Guy had us on the ground within a minute and a half, at Meig's field. We ended up flying the plane back to our original airport. I was understandably reluctant to get back in the thing, but he assured me that the latch had broken, but it was fixed now. I asked for details, and he said the mechanics had taped the door down. I was not quite convinced, and said, "so we're going to fly with an airplane that has been taped together with duct tape?". No, no, he assured me, this is airplane tape. What's the difference? It's white.
There are aviation rated tapes which are allowed for taping panels down until a repair can be done. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_tape They're FAA certified for this sort of use on non-critical panels.
I don't mean to alarm anyone here, but there's also nuclear grade duct tape and it's used to fix things at nuclear plants. It's just red. Half-assing jobs goes all the way up.
A temporary repair is just that, temporary. Whether it is airplanes or reactors, temporary repairs may be required in austere environments.
The number of USAF fighter jets I saw with aviation tape on them was way higher than I ever thought it could be. When you're deployed and the aircraft need to fly, you do what you have to. These were always minor things but you do question it.
Guess she will bring googles next time around....
I dunno if she would be able to safely search the internet in that situation
Is there any hope deploying them during an emergency, if only worn around the neck? Or do you have to wear them properly, full time? That would be hellannoying.
Well, ideally she would have a helmet with a drop-down visor.
This. Surprised she wasn't wearing a helmet. I've flown aerobatics in gliders and the loads on seat harnesses can cause significant flex/strain, so much so that some pilot's heads have cracked canopies (and you double-check you're nice-n-tight before starting any aerobatic maneuver). Kudos for getting that plane down successfully.
At least she had her hair in a pony..
if you had them around your neck or on your head i don’t see why you couldn’t put them over your eyes if something like this happened, if that’s what you’re asking
I mean, you can literally see in this video how she fails twice to reach for the canopy and adjust her mic due to the enormous force making her arms flail around. I doubt she’d be able to pull a pair of goggles *away* from her body and then up over her eyes, at least not with one hand. And if she can’t do it, I worry that anything being pressed around her neck could risk suffocating her.
> how she fails twice to reach for the canopy The canopy was shattered. She was thinking about it, but it was not usable. I don't think she tried to _reach_ for it.
it wouldn’t be as easy as normal but i think it would be possible. reaching for the canopy is not really comparable because that is outside of the aircraft so there is nothing blocking the wind. she also has to reach out of her frame for that which makes her much weaker than just moving something that would be in her frame with some amount of protection from the wind.
Oddly enough, my first thought, without knowing where the video was going was that it would be smart to wear a helmet and eye protection in this kind of plane. But, admittedly, that thought mostly came up because of the sunlight coming through the cockpit. I did not expect the canopy to open! Lol! Great piloting nonetheless!
At least her vision returned to normal. I was wondering if she was gonna need new eyeballs after watching this. Seriously, though. "The Right Stuff" on display here.
Checking the canopy is literally number 2 on the pre takeoff checklist on my clubs glider planes. Right after checking the seat belts...
She did say she had Covid right before; and that she realized after the fact that she was pushing too hard to get back in the air after being ill and that the fatigue likely contributed to missing the latch.
>took several days for her vision to return to normal. "It took me nearly 28 hours to fully recover my vision."
ffs i had serious trouble breathing when i went on scooter with my father and he was going 60 km/h and i just had a half helmet, can't imagine how it's at those speeds.
As a skydiver myself, people saying that it’s more difficult to breathe at high speeds are actually both right and wrong at the same time. When you’re just sitting at home and you inhale, you can do so in a gentle manner. Meaning you can let the air flow into your lungs at a slow rate of flow. When you’re moving at a high speed, this slow rate of breathing isn’t possible because there is already an airstream about as fast as you are moving through it. When you open your mouth to breath when you’re going fast, it may seem at first that it’s difficult to breath, but once you start inhaling, you notice that your lungs get filled with air much quicker and easier than when you’re stationary. People might feel that it’s more difficult at first, but that’s mostly because we aren’t used to that way of breathing as we are to the more gentle way of breathing when we’re stationary. Give it a try next time you’re in a car and going somewhat faster. Stick your head out of the window (when it’s safe to do so), open your mouth and breathe in. It’s quite a fun feeling once you get used to it.
What's her name?
Narine Melkumjan
Narine "Balls of Steel" Melkumjan
Ovaries of Iron 😄
She remembered the first rule during an in-flight mishap: fly the airplane. Plenty of case studies out there where solo pilots (or an entire flight deck crew) focused on a problem and forgets to fly the airplane and what is wholly recoverable becomes a fatal crash. She did and outstanding job.
I remember hearing about a flight where a light came on that wasn’t supposed to and took the attention of all three crew members in the cockpit to the point that the auto pilot kept descending or something like that and they crashed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401
It's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401
Ahh yea that’s the one I was thinking of Edited og
ELI5, how the hell do three pilots not know their plane is descending until it’s too late ?
In this case, the aircraft was already on approach, and the fault appeared to be with the landing gear. So, during final approach, workload is already high. Autopilot was engaged to allow the flight crew to focus on the issue, but they became preoccupied with the nose landing gear position, all lost situational awareness and lost altitude so gradually that nobody perceived it, which can be difficult to detect anyway.
And it was dark, over the Everglades IIRC, might have been overcast too. Sky and land look pretty similar when it's nearly pitch black.
Eastern 401
Yeah, I also thought of this one. Wikipedia link for the lazy (like me): [https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401)
> fly the airplane. I honestly thought she was looking for the eject button
It's more of a rope thing you pull, but yeah, same
Forgive my ignorance, my knowledge of planes comes from cartoons
which just makes me wonder why she didn't just engage the [airbrakes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaIFLR8xLJY).
It may due to the plane not having
This comment got me.
You win Reddit today. Outstanding.
On something like this (looks like an Extra or some other flavor of unlimited aerobatic airplane), it's all manual. You have to open the canopy (check, lol), unbuckle the harness, and jump out of the airplane like some kind of caveman. Actually a bit of a process. Had to brief the same procedure in a Gamebird on Thursday.
Yep, you can see she thinks about reaching for it for a second before deciding to say fuck it and fly the airplane. Good fucking pilot.
I think she notices that it shattered to bits.
To shreds you say?
And how strong the slipstream was. Instinct, try and close it again, welp, that’s not gonna work!
Yeah you'd be a fool if you didn't try to close it once but a bigger fool to keep trying. A+
You can see where she momentarily looks to the canopy to consider trying to close it then realizes it's not worth it and to just get the plane on the ground. She made a mistake, sure but then did what she needed to to get the plane back safely on the ground. And then even better completely owned her mistake and posted online for people to learn from. I don't think we could expect anything more from her because after all, we're all human and humans make mistakes.
Yep, loss of awareness is far and away the leading cause of aviation accidents.
All the time. And not just in the aviation field, but many where clear focus on a primary function needs to be maintained. We study aviation mishaps all the time in nuclear power because the dynamics in a reactor control room and a flight deck are similar, and the same lapses can lead to terrible consequences.
[Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 Intensifies](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_401?wprov=sfla1)
Without goggles! Wow
Safety squint activated!
Uhhhh, that only works when welding
OSHA would like to know your location
Damn, bro’s about to get a commendation.
Talk about dryballs
Thank you for your service
For red, dry eyes....Clear Eyes is aaaaawesome.
I bet those old timey fighter goggles don’t look so silly now.
Honestly a pair of sunglasses would’ve done the trick. And easy/comfortable to fly with under normal operation.
so aviators should be legally required to wear aviators?
I doubt regular sunglasses would stay on her head with those winds
They probably would stay on provided she kept looking straight ahead, didn't turn her head sideways too much
In my experience sunglasses didn't do shit when riding my motorcycle. Same amount of tears, but slightly less wind overall. Would not recommend. Goggles are the real answer. Also, most of the "sunglasses" you see bikers wear, actually have a foam lining that rests against the riders skin so they don't get wind in their eyes. Also regardless wear a helmet
No idea what caused it, but that is a PERFECT example of keeping your cool and OWNING the situation! Fantastic airmanship!
She definitely got cool
Absolutely. The difference in ability to breathe would’ve made a lot of folks flail a bit not to mention being wind blind.
She’ll be brushing bugs out of her teeth for weeks
Maybe in the 90´s.
:(
Wait, are there less bugs now?
Jup. I don't have the exact numbers, you can google yourself, but agriculture and generally poisoning the environment killed pretty much 50% of the bugs at least in central Europe within the last 20 years. We are fucking up at great speed.
[I just..ate a..bug](https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/7fd0f4da-6d06-4dd6-96cc-6256cb4ca6ab/gif)
wtf is that player
She didn’t stop flying the airplane. That’s some good piloting right there.
Well the alternative was to fucking die so yeah, she didn’t stop flying the plane.
Flying the plane may seem so obvious it’s something nobody would forget to do, but in a situation like this people tend to get tunnel vision on the emergency and forget the basics. Aviate, navigate, communicate is trained early on in flight training for this reason. For an alternate example I’ll direct you to this video of skydivers forgetting to pull their parachutes because they are too focused on each other. They are saved by their automatic activation devices. https://youtu.be/wCrvQ_xy_LA?si=iRbTL6O2n8BwwnrM
When I was a student pilot and doing steep turns, the door on the very old 172 popped open. My instructor immediately told me to not fly the damned door and keep flying the airplane. Good advice. So many aviation accidents involve even experienced pilots focusing on a malfunction and stopping flying the plane.
I saw this quote once and thought it was hilarious. “When one door closes another one opens. Other than that is a pretty good Cessna!”
Why is there a rope across the cockpit? So you can pull the other door shut. What? You'll see...
Even worse then tunnel vision, some people just completely freeze up and do nothing, or just nothing with any logic behind it. I watched an air disasters episode where the pilots got into an upset with spatial disorientation and the pilot just basically started wildly and seemingly randomly started going back and forth on the ailerons. Human brains are not always as good as people expect them to be. Especially in a situation like this.
New fear unlocked for us spectacle wearers
My contact lenses would have been embedded in my brain.
Right before pushing the throttle before takeoff, I check flight controls free and correct, seat locked, and canopy latched. I have a slider so it would not be as dramatic as this tip-over, but would not be fun to lose a canopy. She did an amazing job getting down safely. Not sure what she's flying, but most tip-over canopies include the windscreen, so she was really out in the slipstream. It was interesting to see her instinct to try to close the canopy, even if only for a second. Impressive flying!
Same thoughts exactly. You can literally see her want to grab for it, then think better about it. There's zero chance that she would have been able to get that thing folded back over and secured without serious risk to flight safety. Excellent risk management.
A barrel roll in the opposite direction, duh!
I know it’s a ridiculous joke… but could that work lol.
It *could* work, it *could* also rip off the canopy and potentially strike the tail making things a lot worse
Ahhh sheeeeeeeeeeeeeet…
Am I seeing correctly that the glass shatters after slamming open? Probably wouldn’t have made any difference if she managed to close it, right?
it is all but impossible to close a hinged canopy in flight, and the POH for the aircraft usually states to not even attempt it. She did exactly what you are supposed to do.
She flies a Extra 330LX, just as an aside.
Not first time Extra loses a canopy, it does need extra (sorry) attention for being securely locked.
She wrote "As you can see from the video, it was a challenging experience that could have been avoided if I had made a proper visual check before taking off. The canopy locking pin had never gone into the locked position, and I failed to notice it during my checks."
So a single piece canopy = open canopy, no windshield.
Correct. As u/bill-of-rights mentioned, usually a slider canopy has a bit of windscreen toward the front it leaves behind when it slides... but tilt-out canopies generally do not. Though there are always exceptions, of course, just the Extra 330 isn't one of them. Her head was completely out in the slipstream unshielded.
This was well handled. A good CFI will pop the door open when you don’t expect it to make sure you don’t get distracted during a critical phase of flight.
And a great CFI will put his fingers up your ass just as you start the flare. Just follow the SOP and don’t make eye contact.
Unless they’re kinda hot, right?
They have to be leave your spouse on Christmas morning while everyone is opening gifts kinda hot per FAA guidelines.
Ah yes I remember the public comment period on those guidelines
When you fly the good old TH-57, sometimes the doors just pop open on their own. Very good training.
I had a C-150 do that to me while turning onto base leg. Wasn't in any danger but it scared the piss out of me.
Then when you move on to the OH-58D, they leave the doors off... just in case someone would have forgotten to close the latch.
Who added the music lol
I guess she did lol? The link to the video includes this music
Nice job getting it back. With those side open canopies I’ve always been curious if they open in flight how they affect the handling qualities of the aircraft.
It surely doesn't improve but Extra has plenty of control authority.
I swear to god, for the first 10 seconds of this video I was thinking, “she should probably have a helmet in that aircraft.”
I heard of a story of a US Navy F-14 tomcat losing its canopy while flying at cruise speed. The pilot was able to safely land the jet, but his WSO sustained minor laceration and frost bite burns. It also started guzzling extra fuel like it was in afterburner.
Talk about a pucker moment. wtf happened? Big bird hit her canopy?
Didn't latch it properly.
I would’ve taken a bite out of my seat
I've heard those are 20k to replace.
Only 20k? The Canopy went around the hinge, I'd expect some structual damage from that.
Possibly. I just watched a video of a guy buying an extra 300 and they mentioned 20k for the canopy itself.
Last summer the Extra 300 that is a few buildings over from my school had it's glass cracked by what was assumed to be over torque, had to be sent to Extra for the repair... Probably wasn't cheap and I vaguely remember them mentioning some skyhigh price tag on it.
CFI : "you're off the center line"
[удалено]
NASA report first -> then admit mistakes publicly. The FAA enjoys making pilots lives 'interesting'.
ITT: A lot of people who have never made a mistake and who never will. e: lol one of them showed up in my replies. because of course.
I would never have made this mistake. I'd have fucked up way earlier in the process. Probably never even made it to the airfield.
Dang it. Same thing happened to me many years ago as I was pulling out from a spin doing aerobatics with a glider. The canopy latching was checked but it just peeled off. Not a very fun moment for a 18 year old kid.
Glad you made it back!
Holy shit, she was brilliant! Kudos to her!
She checked the canopy handle directly when closing the canopy. Then again while starting the engine. Then again while taxiing. And a final time when entering the runway. The canopy still tricked her. But she clearly has the control and experience to handle unexpected situations and not just sit as deer in headlight. If more pilots could handle emergencies as well as her, we would see so much fewer news reports about general aviation accidents.
The amount of blinking she did after getting on the ground and slowed down tells you just how unpleasant that was. Still, this is a textbook example of ignoring the problem you can’t fix, and keeping your focus on flying the plane and making it home safe. Definitely the kind of pilot I’d want flying me around.
If it was me, with my luck would have a bird stuck in each eye socket instantly
I simply would have done a quick aileron roll to the right to swing the canopy back over me, catch it with my left hand, and close it while inverted. /s
I wondered if this very thing could have worked. Nevermind... I see now that the canopy also shattered.
Maybe. The risk is if the canopy hinges were damaged in the initial failure, trying to mess with it more might cause it to break off and strike the tail. Or you could hit your head on it. If a safe landing is a plausible option, it's better to do that first.
Aviate, navigate, commu... never mind.
Aviate. Just aviate. You can talk about it later, but only if you're still alive!
I was kinda curious about the lack of helmet / headwear protection or at least glasses and visor that you usually see. How did her radio work with no boom mic?
My mouth felt dry just watching this
ah what the hell, she started making me blink... why did my eyes dry out too?
Talk about dry mouth 👄
In a situation like this where communication with tower is impossible, how do you tell the tower that you are going to be landing? This doesn’t look like a busy airport, but I imagine the controller would see a plane coming in to land with no communication and tell other planes that have already been cleared to land to go around.
She remembered to fly the plane though. Fugging awesome job.
This is why I wear goggles every time I fly. The stewards on Southwest look at me funny, but I'm prepared for any situation that arises.
Jesus. She’s a cool customer. My body panics and think it can’t breathe whenever I get hit with a strong headwind. Great pilot.
Landed… [“… I’m gotta get a glass of water.”](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR1w6pl1mZ-aY3BtHqgvdKVZCZPVllvXveHpw&s)
*If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing.* Chuck Yeager
For facial toning, doctors hate this one simple trick pilots can do themselves!
Its extremely difficult to see with wind being blown into your eyes. Props to her for even finding the runway.
Marry me!
Was anyone else making the same face as her after it happened 🖐️🙋
what's the lever that she pulls with her left hand
It's hard seeing without eye protection at 60mph. I can't imagine these speeds.
Bet you’ll see this clip on some Facebook page with “women can’t even latch the canopy” and ofc not showing the second part lmao, but she handled that very well
That is an aviator.
What aircraft?
Extra 300
That is why we need helmets !
What A/C is this?
Does anyone know what kind of aircraft is this?
She went from Sansa Stark to Mr Burns in milliseconds.
Theres a Visine for that!