Window of Munde’s plane blown away in mid-flight!

When it ascended to an altitude of 15,000 feet 45 miles off Mumbai, the middle portion (known as T’ portion) behind the commander’s seat in the cockpit blew off leading to severe pressurisation failure in the cabin.

The head gear and glasses of the commander, Capt R S Dinshaw and his co-pilot Capt Mukhtiyar, were also blown away due to the sudden and explosive decompression in the cockpit. Both pilots frantically struggled with the controls and managed to bring the aircraft below10,000 feet at the maximum rate of descent as prescribed in the Explosive Decompression Procedure.

The aircraft finally made an emergency landing back at the Mumbai airport at 12.50 pm, where officials of the Airports Authority of India, fire brigade, and other rescue personnel were already on alert. Airport sources added that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation in Mumbai has already begun an investigation into the incident.

According to aviation experts, the windscreen and windows of the cockpit become brittle due to extremely low temperature at high altitude. However, the temperature of the glass is maintained by an electrical element which is embedded in it.

“In this case, it seems that the electrical element called the NISA system was not functioning properly. Such a mishap can be disastrous as the pilot can himself get sucked out of the cockpit due to the sudden decompression inside the cockpit,” said Capt Ayodh Kapur, director of the Federation of Indian Pilots.

The temperature of thewindows of the passenger capsule is maintained due to the regulation of the hot engine air inside the body of the aircraft.