Nail-biting moment pilot lands plane after canopy bursts open mid-flight

A female Dutch pilot miraculously managed to land her small plane after its canopy suddenly burst open and shattered midflight, terrifying video of the saga shows.

Narine Melkumjan shared the “distressing” footage on social media over the weekend of the moment she encountered the airborne drama in her Extra 330LX aircraft.

The nail-biting ordeal, which unfolded several years ago on Melkumjan’s second ever aerobatic training flight, showed her frantically trying to maintain a grip on the controls in the seconds after the protective barrier ruptured.

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A visibly distraught Melkumjan could be seen struggling to keep her eyes open as the wind beat her face while veering the two-seater aircraft back towards the ground.

“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,” Melkumjan wrote alongside the 4-minute clip.

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“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,” she continued.

“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 was ‘just keep flying’.”

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Melkumjan admitted the “challenging experience” could have been avoided if she’d made the proper checks prior to take off.

“The canopy locking pin had never gone into the locked position and I failed to notice it during my checks,” she said. “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.”

Melkumjan, whose social media feeds are filled with videos of her flying, noted she was sharing the footage as a “cautionary tale” for fellow pilots.

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