WATCH | The terrifying moment a plane's window falls out mid-flight

24 April 2018 - 09:00
By TimesLIVE

A video has surfaced that shows the terrifying moment a flight attendant tries to fix a window panel which has fallen off during mid-flight.

The Air India flight from Amritsar to Delhi ran into such severe turbulence last week Thursday that the inside part of a window panel came off and some overhead oxygen masks got deployed, the Times of India reported.

The turbulence caused one passenger to hit his head on the overhead cabin, while two more suffered minor injuries. 

While the inside panel of the window fell off, the outside window did not break and the cabin remained pressurised.

An investigation has been launched by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board.

Last week the engine of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 suddenly blew apart during a flight from New York to Dallas. The shrapnel shattered a window and depressurized the cabin, partially sucking a woman out of the plane.

Fellow passengers pulled the passenger — identified as Jennifer Riordan, 43 — back in, but she later died of her injuries.

Andrew Needum, the Texas firefighter who pulled the victim of Tuesday's Southwest Airlines mid-air engine explosion back into the plane says he felt a calling to "standup and act."

The plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia. A first inspection of the Boeing 737’s damaged engine showed that an engine fan blade was missing, apparently broken due to metal fatigue, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

US and European airline regulators on Friday ordered emergency inspections within 20 days of nearly 700 aircraft engines similar to the one involved in the fatal engine blowout.

- additional reporting by Reuters and AFP