In message , Chad Irby
writes
In article ,
Laurence Doering wrote:

Something like that did happen, though, on 3 November 1973.

A National Airlines DC-10 (flight 27, between Houston and Las
Vegas) was cruising at 39,000 feet over New Mexico when the number
3 engine's fan assembly disintegrated. Fan blades penetrated the
fuselage and one of the cabin windows, and a passenger seated in
seat 17H was forced out through the missing window. The victim's
seatbelt was fastened, and briefly prevented him from going
completely out the window. Another passenger tried to pull
him back in, but was unsuccessful.

After an emergency descent, the DC-10 landed safely at Albuquerque.
An extensive ground search for the passenger's body was conducted,
but his remains were never found.

As far as I know, this is the only case of a person being blown
(sucked, pulled, whatever) completely through a missing aircraft
window during a rapid decompression.

In 1990, a British Airways pilot almost got sucked out of his plane at
17,000 feet when a piece of the windshield fell off. He was wearing his
seatbelt, but got pulled under it. A flight steward held on to him
until another steward strapped into the seat and helped hold on. The
co-pilot landed the plane, and the pilot survived with some broken bones
and a case of frostbite.

And, one would assume, a need for clean underwear.

There was also the case of the Yugoslav air stewardess who left the
plane at about 30k and survived.

Mike
--
M.J.Powell