Originally Posted by Doppy
There was an incident a number of years back where a BA (?) pilot was sucked out of a windshield that blew out. He got stuck about 10% in the plane, 90% out. They ended up holding him in their clear through landing and he made a full recovery.
This incident (yes it was BA) is well known in the UK and arose not because of a broken windscreen but because it had been changed over the previous night and incorrect bolts were used to refix it, so the whole glass panel blew out as the aircraft climbed through about 20,000 feet.
The captain owed his life to the heroics of the two stewards who came forward and held onto his feet when he was sucked out up to his hips. They took it in turns as they were getting muscle fatigue and frostbite, right through to landing. The First Officer made an emergency landing (into Southampton) with all this going on right alongside him. ATC couldn't hear his radio calls for the wind noise.
Couldn't do it nowadays, stewards couldn't get through the flight deck door.