A small plane’s onboard cam captured the moment its windshield known as the canopy suddenly opened up midflight while Dutch pilot Narine Melkumjan flying it.
In the video that she shared over the weekend as a “cautionary tale” to other pilots, Melkumjan was flying her Extra 330LX aircraft on her second aerobatic training flight years ago when the glass canopy suddenly opened and shattered.
She struggled to keep her eyes open due to the sudden gush of wind and was able to control the aircraft and land safely. Video below:
“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,” she noted.
“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,” she continued.
“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 was ‘just keep flying’.”
She blamed herself for the failed canopy noting she did not properly fit the pin into the lock as well as rushing into flying without fully recovering from Covid.
“A few years ago, during my second art flight of that day, on a very hot summer day, the hood of the Extra 330LX with which I flew opened during the flight and crumbled. As you can see in the video, it was a challenging experience that could have been avoided if I had performed a good visual check before I left. The locking pin of the hood had never ended up in the locked position, and I didn’t notice that during my checks.”