Watch: This is what the pilot did after the plane’s canopy burst in mid-air – vopbuzz
Narine Melkumjan He said he shared the video in the hope that his story would be a cautionary tale for budding pilots and that they would learn from their mistakes.
“On a very hot summer day a few years ago, during my second aerobatic training flight of the day, canopy Part of the Extra 330LX I was flying opened and shattered during flight.As you can see from the video, it was a challenging experience that could have been avoided if I had done a proper visual check before takeoff,” Melkumjan wrote to X.
He said the incident occurred when he failed to realize that the canopy locking pin had never moved into the locking position.
“The canopy locking pin never engaged and I didn’t notice it during my checks. I also made the mistake of going to boot camp right after recovering from COVID without giving my body enough time to fully recover. Also, flying without eye protection made the flight even more challenging,” he added.
Melkumjan stated that it took approximately 28 hours to “fully regain his ability to see” after landing on the ground, and said that the most difficult part was “exchanging the ability to see and breathe for kinetic energy.”
“The flight was a harrowing experience, full of noise, breathing difficulties and impaired vision. It took me almost 28 hours to fully recover my vision. Aerodynamically, I had some buffeting and controllability challenges. Probably the hardest part was keeping the power inside me, replacing my vision and breathing with kinetic energy,” Melkumjan said.
The pilot said the only thing he heard loud and clear was his coach’s instruction to “keep flying.”
“Although it was difficult to hear what my coach said on the radio because of the noise, I heard it loud and clear: ‘Just keep flying.’ If you are a pilot watching this, I hope my story serves you.” “As a cautionary tale and I believe you will learn from my mistakes,” he said.
