Posted on 01/09/2023 10:37:48 AM PST by Red Badger
THIS is the shocking moment a plane door sprang open mid-air as panicked passengers feared they would be "blown out".
The pilot of the Russian flight was forced to make an emergency landing in icy -41C conditions as luggage was sucked out of the Antonov AN-26.
VIDEO AT LINK.............
Hats belonging to the 25 passengers flew off heads and vanished into the bone-chilling air after the rear door popped open soon after takeoff in one of the world’s coldest regions.
Footage shows the door wide open on the IrAero Antonov aircraft, which had taken off from Magan in the Siberian region Yakutia bound for Magadan on Russia’s Pacific coast.
The man filming the nightmare incident is heard swearing in shock at the open door behind him.
Another video from 112 news outlet showed the terrified passengers in the howling ice-cold wind with the rear door open.
A male passenger said: “A man sitting at the rear of the plane was nearly blown away.
“He had just unfastened his seat belt.
“And he was almost blown out of the plane."
The door, used to load cargo and luggage, is normally curtained off from the passengers at the back of the plane but was seen flapping wildly.
Despite the intense cold in the cabin during the drama, all passengers on board were "safe" as the pilot made a rapid emergency landing.
Passenger Sergei Lidrik, 33, from Magadan, said it took 15 minutes from a “loud pop” when the door blew open until the plane landed at the same airport they had just left.
He said: "People were shocked at first.
"The older women were frozen hard.
"People had their hats blown off. They were afraid their luggage had fallen out too, but most of it was in the nose of the plane.
"The men sitting in the back of the plane were freezing cold."
It is believed all the passengers were strapped in for takeoff and wearing coats.
An investigation is underway into the disturbing incident.
One aviation expert told The Insider that the twin-engine turboprop planes should no longer be used.
He said it was "little surprise" the locking system on the door had malfunctioned.
The Antonov AN-26 planes were introduced in the USSR in 1970 and stopped being manufactured in 1986.
Magan is eight miles from Yakutsk, the world’s coldest city, and capital of Yakutia region.
Sure, the Rooskies would have dual purpose in mind.
I would NEVER fly on a Rusian plane.
Business as usual for Russian airlines...
Although markedly improved since the Soviet days...
That’s was funny! I’ve never seen that before...thanks!
The experienced crew are chillin in Bakhmut.
I’ve flown on Aeroflop, but would be nervous about flying on an AN-26. I remember they used to drop those things all the time. Especially remember a couple going down in Vietnam back in the 80s. Also some in Russia in the 90s.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-26#Accidents_and_incidents
Couldn’t someone design and build a better door?
I did a few times in Iraq. Iraqi Airways used old Russian planes with Russian pilots and crew for charters.
We were occasionally put on charters to get from Baghdad to Dubai and back for R&R. Weirdest crap I’ve ever been on aviation-wise and I’ve flown on a lot of stuff. Big tires in the front seats sometimes, bald tires with cords showing on the planes, and they felt and sounded like buckets of bolts when airborne.
The Russky pilots knew how to do the corkscrew landing required at Baghdad and it was much scarier than the ones experienced on C-130s.
But hey, we always got there and back in one piece (heaving huge sighs of relief.)
Locking system on the door had malfunctioned.
Old McDonald Douglas parts made it to Russia.
Lol!
Someone forgot to hook the door shut.
You’ve probably also read about the Portland flight that crashed short of the runway because they ran out of fuel while they were arguing over a landing gear issue. I believe that was the crash that instigated CRM training. One of my instructors survived that crash and said the only reason she did was because there was no fire. She was pretty badly injured and couldn’t get out.
That one as well.
One of the Pins on the ramp door broke.... funny story... I was an FE on a C-23 Sherpa and one of the pilots came to the cargo compartment to take a crap in the bucket in a trash bag and he opened the side rear passenger door to try and throw it out at like 16-18,000 ft over the Rocky Mountains! All I heard was “Boom, BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM,.... “ I looked back and saw him holding a trash bag of shit, and the door fluttering around... and him trying to close the door... I took off my O2 and ran back there to close the door... its hard to close if you dont know how to do it while flying... unpressureized of course... no parchutes, or safety harness’s... the doors opened inward for paradrops and stuff. God that was funny... I guess he went hypoxic or something... I do miss those good times.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.