Fickle and changeable

In 1990, a British Airways BAC One-Eleven, captained by Tim Lancaster and co-piloted by Alastair Atchison, was cruising at 17,000 feet.

Around 15 minutes after take-off, flight attendant Nigel Ogden entered the cockpit to bring the pilots something to drink. One second everything was fine. The next second, the pilot's side window blew out from the force of the pressurized cockpit. Even though he was strapped in, the force of the explosive decompression ripped the captain out of his chair and pulled him though the window.

The flight attendant immediately leapt forward and grasped the captain's belt. The force was so strong - due to the plane's speed - the captain slipped and was pulled almost entirely out of the plane, but the flight attendant caught his leg. The captain laid on the roof, then the side of the fuselage (the above image is an inaccurate recreation - the side window was smashed) and the flight attendant's entire arm was soon outside of the plane, gripping him.

(Recreation from the show Mayday at the point of decompression)

At the same time, the event caused the autopilot to disengage, and the captain's body hitting the flight controls caused the plane to enter into a deep dive. The throttle was set to full power and could not be accessed due to debris, meaning the plane was descending rapidly. The co-pilot, experiencing hypoxia, fought to control the plane's dive while allowing it to continue descending to a level the passengers/crew could breathe at. He attempted to contact air traffic control, but the wind made communication impossible, so he broadcast a mayday signal. Finally, he was able to re-engage the autopilot and level the plane out at a breathable altitude.

Soon, the flight attendant's entire arm was burned from wind shear and frostbite, and his grip began to slip. The other attendants entered the cabin to see what was wrong and took over holding the captain's body. Seeing the blood covering the windows from the captain's severe wind sheer burns and frostbite, the attendants and co-pilot knew he was dead. However, they could not let his body go because it could smash into the wing, horz stabilizer, or engine, and bring the plane down.

For 30+ minutes the co-pilot flew a jet plane with an OPEN WINDOW and his co-worker's body hanging along the side of the plane. Finally, clearance to land from ATC came across over the sound of the wind and the flight attendants were able to dislodge the captain's ankles from the flight controls without letting him go. The co-pilot successfully landed the plane.

(tw below for blood)

(Taken same day as the incident)

BUT HERE'S THE KICKER: when they reached the ground and evacuated, they realized THE CAPTAIN WAS NOT DEAD.

He SURVIVED being outside the fuselage of a jet airplane traveling 550mph at 17,000 feet. His only injuries were extensive - but mostly superficial - frostbite and windshear burns, bruising, fractures in his hand, and shock. He has since stated that he remembers the event and was conscious for much of the time he was outside of the fuselage. The only other injury was the flight attendant's frostbitten/windshorn arm. Captain Tim Lancaster returned to flying five months later.

(Captain Tim Lancaster in bed several weeks after the incident, with flight attendant Ogden (+ Ogden's wife) above him and co-pilot Alastair Atchison to the far left, along with the two other flight attendants)

Why did this occur? Because the plane had received maintenance the day before, and the maintenance supervisor did not check he was using the correct screws in re-installing the windscreen.

(Recreation)

Just a note that I was wrong - it was the front pilot's windscreen, not the side-window! I'm used to looking at Boeing windows with different positions :)

The ‘maintenance supervisor did not check the bolts’ is technically correct but ignores the amount of stuff that had to go wrong for that to happen.

1: the supervisor was the one doing the bolts (I think there was a staffing issue) and so did not have to check the work that he did

2: the window was not on the list of vital components that need to be checked by someone else even if the supervisor does it.

3: the parts store where he had to go to get the bolts was badly lit and had bolts in the wrong drawers.

4: the wrong bolts and the right bolts are almost indistinguishable by sight.

5: the correct tool to put the screws in was not available so they had to do some lite bodging to get the screws in. By this I mean it was still a torque wrench and they checked it released at the right point but the correct socket did not stay in place or something like that.

6: any slight differences between the right bolts and the wrong bolts were hidden because of the tool they were using (which would have worked perfectly if they were using the right bolts).

From Wikipedia:

“The Swiss cheese model of accident causation illustrates that, although many layers of defense lie between hazards and accidents, there are flaws in each layer that, if aligned, can allow the accident to occur. In this diagram, three hazard vectors are stopped by the defenses, but one passes through where the "holes" are lined up.”

5. out

4. guilty

3. wanting

2. lacking

I am not so sure thay some close people don't read my twitter, but it's safer here

Having crush on some Korean or Chinese, or any other actors no matter how strong and stressful some of them were is so so so much better than having crush on a person you are working with

It's a fucking rollercoaster of emotions every day, especially if this person keeps giving you mixed signals

One day he sends you message with quite personalised birthday wishes, and hugs you next day, again wishing you a happy birthday. And later the very same day he tells about the holiday trips to Cuba with his wife

I am old, and most definitely past the days when I could be called attractive, and I, as reasonable person with adequate self esteem, know that I will never be attractive

But damn, it's even more frustrating that I could think. And quite painful actually.

We had a Secret Santa thing at work and he gave me separate New year gift. He thought at first to put it in the box where we stored all our new year presents but I approached him first and he gave it to me directly, otherwise I would have been the only one who got two presents.

It feels so strange. I am not so well acquainted with all this flirting-at-work thing, so i don't know what to do

I like him very much, and I try not be obnoxious about it, but I think it's already obvious for him and for others

We talk at lunch, but I'm trying not to approach him every day and not to be nosy. He is a nice person, and the days when I managed to have some not-work-related conversations with him are much much better and brighter.

It is only my problem that I would like to have more, talk more, and be closer.

It is even more painful because, for some reason, one very important colleague on the project I work for, is very very annoyed by me, and the days at work would have been totally unbearable if not for these short conversations

Of course I'm not attractive enough

Of course I will just behave silly and awkward for a while

I've read that there's something called "proximity infatuation", nothing special. It's just you feel attracted to someone because you spend so much time together and that's it

It also seems that something has changed in his attitude towards me, but I can't possibly ask, so I am guessing and second guessing and overthinking.

We talk when we meet at the office kitchen, sometime we have lunch together in office canteen, sometimes we talk a bit after 6pm also in the kitchen but more relaxed..

There are days when 15 minutes conversation is best thing that happened. I like how attentive, soft and kind he is. But this also could be just my imagination.

One day we talked about theatre, and I asked about the good seats, considering our height difference, and the other day he said 'I was there a few days ago, and checked specifically for your height and you should try these seats they will be the best for you "

And I admit I melted a bit, but then I remembered that he went to the theatre with his wife...

I even started taking some anti-anxiety pills because I couldn't cope with this. And the amount of alcohol I was drinking in order to sooth the pain of his absence. Don't if they are working though, but I am sleeping better at least.

It's so extremely confusing and strange to deal with this unexpected attraction and feelings at my age. By all means, I should have experienced all this when young, not 20 years into marriage (that is another painful thing). I don't know how to deal with this.

I know what I am doing is wrong

I know there is an activity that looks similar that is not wrong

Saw someone claim that if you read a lot as a child, you were disassociating. No, you were reading. Because reading is fun.

"I have a problem with maladaptive daydreaming." It's only maladaptive if it negatively impacts your ability to function in the real world. Laughing at a joke you made in your head isn't doing that.

"You seem to do a lot if creative projects. What are you escaping?" I'm escaping this conversation.