[imagesource:Public Domain Pictures]

The windows on an aeroplane are jammed closed for a reason.

Because the air pressure inside the cabin is higher than it is outside of the plane, if a window happens to break, the air inside would escape at high speeds, taking objects with it.

This depressurisation is no joke, though, and has been known to expel larger things like people, too. For example, Bright Side reported that in 1990, during a British Airways flight, one of the windscreen panels got separated, and the plane’s captain was nearly sucked out of the cabin. Fortunately, an air steward caught the pilot last second and held onto him until the plane landed, so he survived.

A similar incident happened in the middle of an Airbus A319 flight in 2018 when a windshield got blown off, except, thankfully, the plane’s co-pilot had his seatbelt on and was only partially blown out.

Just recently, a commercial plane took off with two missing window assemblies and reached more than 3,000 metres before anyone realised something was wrong.

The Airbus A321 was the subject of a special bulletin released by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch last week detailing events that took place on October 4, per Business Insider.

The plane had departed that day from London Stansted Airport for Orlando International Airport, carrying three pilots, an engineer, a loadmaster, six cabin crew, and nine passengers. However, at some point during the flight, several passengers noticed that the aircraft cabin seemed both colder and noisier than usual.

Image: AAIB

It was only at 3000 metres in the air that the loadmaster walked toward the back of the plane and noticed a significant increase in cabin noise, saying it was “loud enough to damage your hearing”. He also noticed that the window seal on a window on the left side of the plane was “flapping in the airflow”.

Somehow, there were no “abnormal indications” on the flight deck and operations of the aircraft’s pressurisation system seemed normal. Still, the flight crew decided to stop the plane’s climb at 4,200 metres and head for landing. The plane landed 36 minutes after taking off, the report said, which means it was flying windowless for a good chunk of time.

Thank the heavens that nobody was blown out that whole time.

The AAIB said that the day before the flight, the plane had been used during a filming event where high-power lights were active for hours, and mentioned that the incident could have had far “more serious” consequences.

[source:businessinsider]