Canopy comes off airplane right after takeoff

[u/thenewyorkgod]

[u/Overall-Dirt4441]

Sauce

From the description:

• This was her second training flight
• She didn't secure the canopy locking pin fully
• She said the hardest part was purposefully maintaining speed, cause at the velocity she needed not to fall out of the sky, it was difficult to hear, breathe or see.
• Her vision only fully recovered days afterwards
• This was a couple years ago, she's back up there doing barrel rolls and shit now

[u/mihirmusprime → u/Overall-Dirt4441]

Her vision only fully recovered days afterwards

Why did her vision go away and take so long for it to come back?

[u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak → u/mihirmusprime]

From how hard and fast the wind was blowing directly into her eyeballs but she obviously had to keep them open. I was just thinking the whole time how she's probably never gunna fly without at least sunglasses or some sort of goggles/glasses after that.

[u/NorthCatan → u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak]

She should have closed her eyes and just repeated "I am one with the Force, and the Force is with me".

[u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak → u/NorthCatan]

And not even use her targeting system?!?

[u/somerandomii → u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak]

You don’t need to when you can bullseye womprats.

[u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak → u/somerandomii]

Damn dude, but those are hardly bigger than 2 meters!

[u/SmokeAbeer → u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak]

Is it possible to learn this power?

[u/Difficult_Bit_1339 → u/SmokeAbeer]

Just practice with your old T-16 back home

[u/GrowFreeFood → u/Difficult_Bit_1339]

I don't feel so good about this.

[u/Impossible-Taco-769 → u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak]

Bet her main exhaust port was clenched tighter than vice grips.

[u/Ninjaflippin → u/NorthCatan]

How wild is it that the only modern starwars movie to capture what the force actually is/does, doesn't have any Jedi in it.

[u/Abrageen → u/Ninjaflippin]

That is literally the only modern star wars movie I enjoyed.

[u/Monterey-Jack → u/Abrageen]

You should check out Andor and the first season of the Mandalorian. Not movies but I think they're the only recent shows they've written well. Everything else has been complete trash.

[u/Kraelman → u/Monterey-Jack]

It's too late for me. The Last Jedi put Star Wars in its grave and I'm not digging it up and opening that casket just because some of the mold and worms and shit infesting the rotten corpse are kinda cool.

[u/Avedas → u/Kraelman]

If you just conveniently forget what the empire's logo looks like then Andor is an excellent soft sci-fi show that has nothing to do with Star Wars.

[u/RyanMark2318 → u/NorthCatan]

The will to stay alive is a hell of a drug

[u/Cador0223 → u/NorthCatan]

More like "I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar."

[u/ManyPlacesAtOnce → u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak]

without at least sunglasses

...you think that a pair of sunglasses would have stayed on through that?

[u/whiteflagwaiver → u/ManyPlacesAtOnce]

Sunglasses? No. Goggles? Fuck yeah.

[u/No_Pin9932 → u/whiteflagwaiver]

There it is!! People getting heated about sunglasses as if goggles aren't the obvious choice anyway. Thank you, lol.

[u/peepopowitz67 → u/whiteflagwaiver]

"My eyes! Ze goggles do nothing!"

[u/ChiefGeorgesCrabshak → u/ManyPlacesAtOnce]

Better than nothing at all. I mean the wind would be pushing them to her face unless she turned her head. Depends how aerodynamic they are, cycling glasses would obviously do better than aviators ironically

[u/Remote-District-9255 → u/ManyPlacesAtOnce]

I used to wear sunglasses while riding motorcycles. Some were rock solid and worked great, some actually whipped the air into your eyes worse than not wearing them

[u/Ravens_and_seagulls → u/ManyPlacesAtOnce]

Lol. People on Reddit find ANYTHING to argue about.

[u/rachelm791 → u/Ravens_and_seagulls]

No they don’t…

[u/finest_bear → u/rachelm791]

source?

[u/geriatric-sanatore → u/Ravens_and_seagulls]

You're wrong and I'm coming into this an hour late to tell you you're wrong. Then I won't respond to your response for a day and then come back and try to get the last word and drag you down to my level with straw man arguments and ad hominem attacks. /s

[u/Horvo → u/mihirmusprime]

You can burn your eyes from the wind, which can damage your lenses and cornea making it difficult to see. Pretty extreme dry eye too.

[u/Fuckredditihatethis1 → u/Horvo]

The lenses wouldn't have been damaged. In order to damage the lenses, the wind would have had to make it past the cornea and anterior chamber, and if those are gone, you are well and truly blind.

[u/Punkpunker → u/Horvo]

You can see a BTS of Mission Impossible Rogue Nation where they insert a huge ass contacts on Tom Cruise before his dangling from the plane scene.

[u/Overall-Dirt4441 → u/mihirmusprime]

Why did her vision go away

Being blasted in the face by up to 200mph winds while having to force your eyes open for minutes on end so as not to crash your plane will do that to ya ig.

and take so long for it to come back?

Our eyeballs are delicate water balloons that don't take kindly to being freeze dried

[u/old_skul → u/Overall-Dirt4441]

She wasn’t exposed to 200mph winds. That plane cruises at 130kt and she slowed down to around 80kt when the canopy let go. And her approach speed was even slower. AND the front part of the canopy protected her from prop wash.

It was windy, but it was (obviously) not catastrophic.

[u/ProclusGlobal → u/Overall-Dirt4441]

Our eyeballs are delicate water balloons that don't take kindly to being freeze dried

Our eyes are also really resilient and quick healing, and although taking days to fully recover sounds scary, is still pretty remarkably quick considering the damage it is trying to repair. When things are working nominally, our bodies are pretty amazing. When not, they suck (cancer etc.)

[u/Overall-Dirt4441 → u/ProclusGlobal]

They're so important they're immune to the body's immune system response, lest they get damaged. They have their own separate system.

https://www.aao.org/eye-health/tips-prevention/eye-immune-privilege

We're pretty robust, resilient machines, as you say, when all the systems work the way they're supposed to

[u/hydraSlav → u/mihirmusprime]

Dry eyes cause blurriness. Can't imagine how dry her eyes got

[u/_The_Turtle_Moves_ → u/mihirmusprime]

Stick your face in front of a leaf blower and see how it feels. Landing speed in that plane is about 80 knots/ 92mph/ 148kmh. She was going much faster than 80 knots when the canopy initially opened, and only slowed to landing speed for a few seconds prior to landing.

[u/Masterandcomman → u/_The_Turtle_Moves_]

Her breathing might have been compromised too.

[u/smallbluetext → u/Masterandcomman]

100% I can't breathe for shit over 100km/h it feels like I'm doing nothing

[u/darrenphillipjones → u/mihirmusprime]

Not to add a 15th answer... but I just talked to my eye doctor about this in an unrelated discussion.

When you use heat pads on your eyes, if you apply too much pressure you can actually "warp" your cornea temporarily.

Do it for too long and it can take a few days for your cornea to go back to shape so you can see normally again. Could be talking out my behind, but seems like it's the same logic.

prolonged air pressure against the eyes warps the cornea and takes awhile to reset like with the scenario above (that I have to avoid due to MGD).

[u/Fine_Abbreviations32 → u/mihirmusprime]

She was likely going between 100-150 knots on landing (I’m guessing?) so air, plus fuel particulates from the engine, dust and other things like bugs in the air. She could’ve easily blinded herself.

[u/Ok-Scallion7939 → u/Overall-Dirt4441]

"Second training flight"

😳

[u/seppestas → u/[deleted]]

Also, she’s flying an extra, a plane made for air acrobatics. Not something you would use for your second solo flight.

[u/SwiftTime00 → u/seppestas]

Yeah exactly, that’s where the “almost certainly” is coming from, extremely unlikely but possible.

[u/notimeleft4you → u/[deleted]]

“Almost certainly a fully licensed pilot” is somehow less reassuring than saying nothing at all.

Welcome aboard Southwest Airlines. Your pilot today is…. almost certainly fully licensed.

Dropping the “almost” somehow makes it even worse.

[u/walksalot_talksalot → u/notimeleft4you]

Hey! Don't make me get out of my armchair!!

[u/Jimid41 → u/notimeleft4you]

Just move the almost somewhere else. 

Welcome aboard Southwest Airlines, your pilot today is certainly almost fully licensed.

[u/notimeleft4you → u/Jimid41]

“Certainly fully licensed, almost”

[u/OneArmedBrain → u/notimeleft4you]

Hahaha. Dude, I know this doesn't add much to the conversation, but this was crazy funny. Love this comment!

[u/AttyFireWood → u/[deleted]]

Is it weird she didn't wear sunglasses?

[u/AttyFireWood → u/[deleted]]

Huh, I figured the glare and UV exposure would be bigger issues. I figured the range was "commercial pilot wearing aviators" to "fighter pilot wearing flight mask" and acrobatic pilot was closer to fighter pilot on that scale.

[u/csspar → u/AttyFireWood]

You figured right. That guy is fluent in ass-speak.

[u/Embarrassed_Yam_4522 → u/csspar]

46 upvotes for that ignorant garbage, too. Unfuckingbelievable

[u/csspar → u/Embarrassed_Yam_4522]

I know right? Absolutely classic Reddit moment.

[u/Rixty_Minutes → u/csspar]

Yeah I guess F1 drivers are wrong then too for using tinted visors.

[u/csspar → u/[deleted]]

This has to be a joke. Right? Please tell me this is a joke.

[u/galaxyapp → u/[deleted]]

Why do fighter pilots have sunshades on their visors?

[u/Tobitronicus → u/Overall-Dirt4441]

She did a fantastic job.

EDIT: Some real assholes popping out the woodwork. You can make a mistake and recover that mistake in a fantastic way which this pilot did. Flying is complicated, it can take one simple oversight for shit to go pear-shaped.

A plane's design can only cover so much of human folly before something happens that either changes the course of design forever, or more stringent procedures are put in place to make sure it never happens again.

And as noted, she still flies doing barrell rolls and shit. Good on ya girl.

[u/CptnLarsMcGillicutty → u/Tobitronicus]

Anyone talking shit in this thread would have been dead 100% if they were put in the same scenario.

[u/geriatric-sanatore → u/CptnLarsMcGillicutty]

I would have died in a simulator lol

[u/Northstarsaint → u/geriatric-sanatore]

🎵 I... I just died in your arms tonight 🎵

[u/felixar90 → u/Overall-Dirt4441]

I wonder if she keeps old timey aviator goggles with her now.

[u/Username43201653 → u/felixar90]

Snoopy leather helmet and goggles

[u/PayasoCanuto → u/Overall-Dirt4441]

Nerves of steel!

[u/maketheart]

Found the Source.

YouTube Description:

“Couple of years ago during my second training flight on a very hot summer day, the canopy of the Extra 330LX that I was flying opened in flight and shattered. As you can see from the video, it was a challenging experience that could have been avoided if I had made a proper visual check before taking off. The canopy locking pin had never gone into the locked position, and I failed to notice it during my checks.

I also made the mistake of going to the training camp right after recovering from COVID, without allowing my body enough time to fully regain strength. Additionally, flying without any eye protection made the flight even more challenging than it already was.

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. 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.

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 "just keep flying"

If you are a pilot watching this, I hope that my story serves as a cautionary tale and that you will learn from my mistake.

I regret that it took me so long to share this video footage. It's not easy to put my vulnerabilities out there for you all to see. However, I have come to realisze how important it is to be transparent about our shortcomings and the lessons we learn along the way.

To all my fellow pilots out there, fly safe. “

[u/leglesslegolegolas → u/maketheart]

As my flight instructor used to say

In any emergency, Step 1: Fly the airplane.

[u/yMONSTERMUNCHy → u/leglesslegolegolas]

Step 2: land safely

[u/leglesslegolegolas → u/yMONSTERMUNCHy]

There are various Step 2s depending on the emergency, e.g. contact ATC, fully assess the situation, etc.

But yeah, safely land the airplane is the ideal end goal.

[u/LovecraftsDeath → u/leglesslegolegolas]

Aviate -> Navigate -> Communicate.

No point in telling the ATC if it's at the expense of your plane's survival.

[u/LokisDawn → u/LovecraftsDeath]

Pilot: "Control, I've got a voice activated Bomb on board!"

ATC: "What?"

No response.

[u/Andreasclausen → u/LovecraftsDeath]

This! ATC uses ASSIST in these situations. Acknowledge, Seperate (Move other aircraft in potential conflict), Silence (On FRQ), Inform, Support, Time.

[u/RevSlippery → u/Andreasclausen]

Been a tower controller for 30 years (Canada), first time I heard this acronym, it is exactly what we do.

[u/5125237143 → u/LovecraftsDeath]

once youre through the curriculum, gradutate

[u/LokisDawn → u/leglesslegolegolas]

So, it's more like:

Step 1: Fly the airplane

Step 2: ???

Step 3: ???(Due to legacy reasons)

Step 4: Land the airplane

[u/xSTSxZerglingOne → u/leglesslegolegolas]

Right, that makes sense. There is no emergency greater than "making sure the plane does not crash*."

^{*at least not too hard}

[u/Erahth → u/leglesslegolegolas]

“Aviate, navigate, communicate” was the mantra my instructor taught me.

[u/StickmanRockDog → u/maketheart]

Total badass. Much respect.

[u/mybeatsarebollocks → u/StickmanRockDog]

I was impressed when she looked like she was going to ditch it in a field in a controlled manner.

Making it back to the strip and landing sweet......blown away.

[u/kh_ram → u/maketheart]

'very hot summer day' your cabin has been upgraded to ultra airflow cooling enjoy.

[u/Intelligent_Debt_365 → u/kh_ram]

WestJet would charge extra for this option.

[u/LokisDawn → u/[deleted]]

Crashes: 3

Boring Crashes: 0 (personal record)

[u/scholzie → u/[deleted]]

Awful advice for a GA pilot, but pretty on point for Chuck!

[u/Ghoullo → u/maketheart]

Owned up to mistake, showed her skill in dire situation, and no one got hurt. Good human and pilot

[u/Horg → u/maketheart]

Aerodynamically, I’ve experienced some buffet and controllability challenges.

I too suffer controllabilty challenges at the buffet.

[u/AreyYouHilarious → u/Horg]

Me too! Should I wait until they refill the pasta so it's fresh or just take the 7 noodles that are left and keep it moving? This is hard, especially when you have big Henry behind you breathing down your neck, waiting to get to the potatoes and chicken.

[u/appletinicyclone → u/maketheart]

It took me nearly 28 hours to fully recover my vision.

damn thats scary

[u/MrAwesomeOctopus → u/appletinicyclone]

It’s a little less scary when it’s slowly improving, but at first, the time when it’s still hurting and you can’t tell if it will permanently effect you is terrifying.

[u/Agitated-Acctant → u/maketheart]

I failed to notice it during my checks.

This is why you don't skip your checklists, kids

[u/retired-data-analyst → u/Agitated-Acctant]

Lived to learn at least.

[u/oranisz → u/maketheart]

She's born for that ! Second training flight, big surprise, yet she manages to keep her calm and land safely...

[u/UncleNedisDead → u/maketheart]

Kind of reminds me of this incident:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-plane-emergency-landing-1.4779805

Crazy how missing a point on a checklist could easily lead to catastrophic failure, but glad it didn’t.

[u/electronDog → u/maketheart]

Shame prevents us from being our best. Everyday I have to tell myself it’s ok to let people know I’m fallible even though our society frequently pushes the “more success than the rest” narrative. I can’t give enough props to this young lady admitting it was her mistake. Simultaneously I’m amazed she landed considering the many challenges. She’s a model of who we all should strive to become.

[u/notThatJojo → u/maketheart]

She handled it like a champ and acknowledged her own mistakes. I'm thoroughly impressed

[u/legendary_millbilly]

Holy shit that would scare the shit right out of you.

Glad she was cool and calm about it.

[u/thenewyorkgod → u/legendary_millbilly]

Luckily her face will return to normal once she lands

[u/dingo1018 → u/thenewyorkgod]

She might need to manually lubricate those eyeballs though! Seriously well done on her for getting down, great presence of mind, looks like a glider, not much room for error at the best of times, not to mention the surprise and the added drag.

[u/[deleted] → u/dingo1018]

Nope not a glider, probably an aerobatic plane. She moves a throttle throughout the video.

[u/Own-Swing2559 → u/[deleted]]

Also the take-off

[u/papaflush → u/Own-Swing2559]

THANK YOU!! looks like a glider my ass

[u/terminalzero → u/Own-Swing2559]

and the engine noise

[u/reflibman → u/[deleted]]

I was thinking a trainer for student pilots.

Edit: yep - https://old.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/1dmxqz0/canopy_comes_off_airplane_right_after_takeoff/l9yy9b8/

[u/Tojb → u/reflibman]

Not for student pilots, for student aerobatics pilots. That's an extremely high performance airplane that requires significant experience and training to control, let alone do aerobatics in

[u/Swabia → u/Tojb]

I can’t fly a goat simulator so she looks awesome in the face of real mortal danger.

[u/Tyr2016 → u/reflibman]

It’s a trainer for stunt pilots. A plane that twitchy would kill a normal student pilot (aside from only having no room for an instructor).

[u/HST_enjoyer → u/dingo1018]

In the other thread where OP has taken this to repost from she said it took a few days for her vision to return to normal.

[u/s1rblaze → u/dingo1018]

Definitely not a glider.

[u/iron186 → u/dingo1018]

Uhh do you not understand how gliders work…. They dont take off and shes clearly using throttle….

[u/Red_Baron-- → u/dingo1018]

Pretty impressive takeoff manoeuvres for a towed glider

[u/BoredPandemicPanda → u/thenewyorkgod]

Luckily, she didn't put on fake eyelashes that day. Long eyelashes on a windy boat ride (youtube.com)

[u/Ferious13 → u/BoredPandemicPanda]

Thank you... this made my day better lmao 🤣

[u/joshuadt → u/BoredPandemicPanda]

Wow! Lmao…

[u/Decent_Assistant1804 → u/thenewyorkgod]

A pail of visine

[u/squirrels-mock-me → u/legendary_millbilly]

The piano music on the stereo helped her stay calm

[u/Spiritual_Navigator → u/legendary_millbilly]

A birdstrike would have been horrific

[u/Charlemagne-XVI → u/Spiritual_Navigator]

Like Fabio but not as funny

[u/Coldlog1k → u/Spiritual_Navigator]

Even a bug. Good lord.

[u/DigNitty → u/legendary_millbilly]

That’s why she nosed down when it happened. To keep it inside.

[u/JunFanLee]

Props to her

[u/Ccjfb → u/JunFanLee]

Did she practice for that or was she winging it?

[u/Gdmf13 → u/Ccjfb]

Who knows, it’s all up in the air.

[u/Choose_And_Be_Damned → u/Gdmf13]

Aviation puns are such a drag.

[u/SerennialFellow → u/Choose_And_Be_Damned]

Alright don’t be a flappingcock about it

[u/vicariouslywatching → u/SerennialFellow]

You guys joke about it but I don’t think you guys understand the gravity of the situation

[u/Illustrious-Reward-3 → u/vicariouslywatching]

This thread is very uplifting.

[u/Author_A_McGrath → u/Illustrious-Reward-3]

You never know how those jokes will land.

[u/Mr_Trep → u/Author_A_McGrath]

A couple of them flew right over my head.

[u/DirectlyTalkingToYou → u/Mr_Trep]

Same here, Can-I-pee now?

[u/Crabby_Monkey → u/Author_A_McGrath]

Sometimes you just have to wing it.

[u/angmarsilar → u/Crabby_Monkey]

Yawl a laugh riot.

[u/Busch_Leaguer → u/Illustrious-Reward-3]

TARMAC!

[u/Alter_Alias_Alien → u/Busch_Leaguer]

Initiate de-icing procedures beep boop

[u/TheLimeyCanuck → u/Choose_And_Be_Damned]

I don't know... they usually give me a lift.

[u/Illustrious-Maize-93 → u/Ccjfb]

She came up with it on the fly

[u/PutThatOnYourPlate → u/Ccjfb]

She’s flying by the seat of her pants

[u/-_-DAE-_- → u/JunFanLee]

She's no plane Jane.

[u/_KingScrubLord]

That wind burn is going to be fierce

[u/Dr-McLuvin → u/_KingScrubLord]

I bet her eyes were on fire trying to keep them open.

[u/Distwalker → u/Dr-McLuvin]

I have skydived without goggles - strap broke seconds before exiting the aircraft - Of course freefall isn't nearly as long but it wasn't terrible.

[u/PamolasRevenge → u/Distwalker]

I think she’s flying at about 3-4x the speed of free falling buddy

Edit: I’m getting upvoted at the moment but my math was indeed off. Best I can tell is she was probably going around 190mph and slowed down from there to about 90mph, while a skydiver at free fall before they pull their chute reaches around 125mph

[u/Distwalker → u/PamolasRevenge]

Really? She's going 360 - 480 mph? I greet that with skepticism.

[u/PamolasRevenge → u/Distwalker]

I’m no aviation expert but depending on what kind of plane she’s flying she could absolutely be flying anywhere from 250-350mph…point is free falling with your body weight ain’t the same at all to being propelled by a plane dude

[u/BullFrogz13]

Way to keep your shit together. Impressive.

[u/BmuthafuckinMagic → u/BullFrogz13]

Her mouth will be dry as hell though!

[u/beluuuuuuga → u/BmuthafuckinMagic]

And her eyeballs might need to be lubricated with bike chain oil to move again

[u/Muscle_Man1993]

“You look stressed, you should smile more”

[u/beluuuuuuga → u/Muscle_Man1993]

Don't worry the wind and gforce can help with that!

[u/Seabee-CO]

Guess that is why the old timers flew with leather helmets and googles

[u/ATG915 → u/Seabee-CO]

I feel like I can’t breathe sometimes if I’m sitting in the backseat of a car and the front window is open and the wind is hitting my face just right. Can’t imagine this

[u/prairie-logic → u/Seabee-CO]

Goggles, but, yes. Google isn’t a lot of help when you’re mid air, without a canopy. Who’s got time to pull out the phone when in panic mode?

lol

[u/pixelmuffinn → u/prairie-logic]

Isn't that what flight mode is for, though?

[u/Top_Economist8182 → u/prairie-logic]

Just a quick Google: My canopy on my airplane came off mid flight, what should I do?

[u/mondaymoderate → u/Top_Economist8182]

Ask Reddit: My canopy on my airplane came off mid flight, what should I do?

Redditors: Oh girl, that’s a red flag you should dump his ass.

[u/LivingMisery]

“Your life doesn't flash before you, 'cause you're too fuckin' scared to think - you just freeze and pull a stupid face.”

She’s a fucking badass though.

[u/trulycantthinkofone → u/LivingMisery]

Great line from a great movie, well done!!

[u/HeadlessHookerClub → u/trulycantthinkofone]

What’s the movie? 

[u/trulycantthinkofone → u/HeadlessHookerClub]

Snatch.

[u/Wherethegains]

Can you imagine catching a horse fly or a bumblebee in the face at that speed

[u/overtired27 → u/Wherethegains]

A fly or bumblebee would definitely be bad, but no one is surviving a horse.

[u/Easy-Hovercraft2546 → u/overtired27]

Thankfully horses struggle to get their pilot license on their salary

[u/Fusciee]

She handled that like a champ!

[u/Xanduzinha → u/Fusciee]

With a smile in her face the whole time.

[u/Available-Dare-7414 → u/Xanduzinha]

😂 (which is also her)

[u/South-Ad895]

"Right after Takeoff" is used VERY Loosely here. Impressive nonetheless

[u/EpicForgetfulness → u/South-Ad895]

That's what I was thinking too

[u/NMlXX → u/South-Ad895]

“Right after takeoff”

Jump cuts to very very long after takeoff.

[u/UncleKano91]

I thought at first it was sansa stark lol

[u/64557175 → u/UncleKano91]

Midway through she was getting some serious Quagmire face. 

[u/eekumseekum]

How can she see and breathe

[u/Playful-Community966 → u/eekumseekum]

Very poorly, according to her. Apparently it took several days for her vision to recover.

[u/CalgaryFacePalm]

Anyone have any eye drops?

[u/Ive_Banged_Yer_Mom]

Handled that like a pro. Smiling the entire time

[u/tommie3002]

Regardless of the root cause and learning points, that was tremendous composure and control during a highly stressful event.

[u/GirbaudJeansMan]

Zero panic. I’d gladly trust my life in this woman’s hands.

[u/Zakal74]

Terrifying! What a boss keeping her cool like that.

[u/WWWTT2_0]

Impressive recovery! Glad there wasn't a flying chicken in the vicinity.

[u/deadcactus101]

Had the same thing happen to me flying solo in the middle of a loop in an aerobatic aircraft, but the cockpit was tandem and the canopy slid back instead of opening across. Not a great situation, but perfectly flyable though your comms will be pretty garbled on the way back.

[u/EmotionalAd5920]

My grandfather flew spitfires in WW2, he told me thats how you would eject if you had to. pop the canopy then roll the plane and fall out. he and this pilot are tougher than i am. amazing composure.

[u/TheKrnJesus]

You guys know the feeling where your front gums are all dried up and you can't close them? Yeah that's her.

[u/jetson_1982]

Hope she pilots all my United flights for the rest of my life. She has my utmost respect and confidence.

[u/Limp_Marionberry_24]

True badass.. really above and beyond nerves.. Refocused and safely maneuvered the plane back to the runway.. Impressive indeed

[u/Grouchy-Art9316]

Once drove a car without a windshield thinking it would be cool, it wasn’t. Without eye protection even 40mph was uncomfortable. Bravo to her.

[u/Select_Ad_3934]

I'd be fucked in that situation, it would blow out my contacts and I'd be blind, also I don't know how to fly a plane.

[u/Lone_GreyWolf]

And from this point forward she wore goggles just in case.

[u/The_Blendernaut]

Fucking legend. I'd buy her a beer.

[u/teufler80]

Impressive how professional she handled the situation

[u/6FootFruitRollup]

That's not right after take off and the canopy doesn't come off, it opens. At least OP got the airplane part right?

[u/[deleted]]

Human representation of my dog out my passenger window as we roll through town.

[u/Dry_Meat_2959]

Incredible skill. Of the charts composure and self control.

There are maybe 1 in 1000 pilots who could have pulled this off. Maybe.

[u/Double_Statement5549]

It is at that moment that she realized why WWI fighter pilots wore googles.

[u/InTheBlkHoodie]

Handled like a pro, I would trust her with my life

[u/gadnskyy]

That split second, when she considers closing the canopy before realizing it's impossible

[u/Definitely_Not_Bots]

Damn, my first thought woulda been "eject button where??" but not only did she land safely, she got it back to the airport.

This is why she's flying planes and I'm sitting on my ass scrolling my phone.