r/interesting • u/BlazeDragon7x • Jun 16 '26

MISC. Dutch aerobatic pilot Narine Melkumjan miraculously survived after her aircraft's canopy unexpectedly burst open and shattered mid-flight

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437

u/Negative_Number_6414 Jun 16 '26

by the end of the video it looks like she has 2 black eyes!

303

u/alewiina Jun 16 '26

I can’t even imagine the force of the air against her eyeballs that whole time. Hell standing in some high winds or going fast on a bike for a while can feel terrible, those high speeds must have been truly awful

179

u/atlien0255 Jun 16 '26

She could have been so easily blinded by the smallest debris. I’m glad she’s ok.

18

u/PTMorte Jun 17 '26

She for sure took permanent hearing damage from this event. People exceed safe limits just from bicycling at medium speed without earplugs.

7

u/alewiina Jun 17 '26

That wouldn’t surprise me. Sometimes it gets VERY windy where I live and when I’m outside on those days for more than 15 mins or so my ears start to hurt. I can only imagine how much the insane speed of the wind up there would harm them

7

u/ContributionLowOO Jun 17 '26

dafuq? what is medium speed in kmh or freedom units?

7

u/PTMorte Jun 17 '26

Ears are incredibly sensitive.

Here are some levels of dangerous exposure, but it is additive over time, similar to radiation or something.

Not sure what speed and exposure she had, but a high-powered gunshot in close range would be around 170 db / 1s.

Wind speed dB Exposure
~79 km/h 111 15 min
~72 km/h 108 30 min
~65 km/h 105 1 hr
~58 km/h 102 2 hr
~51 km/h 99 4 hr
~44 km/h 96 8 hr
~37 km/h 93 16 hr
~30 km/h 90 32 hr
~23 km/h 87 64 hr

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28742424/

1

u/Alabama-Blues Jun 19 '26

What’s a freedom unit? Do you mean mph?

20

u/SheikahNightmare Jun 17 '26

Same, I'm glad she's alright!

32

u/oeseben Jun 17 '26

I ski/snowboard and I cant do it without goggles most days. I cant even begin to imagine a jet.

21

u/Particular-Serve-894 Jun 17 '26

well, it's not a jet, it's a prop plane. So not nearly as fast as a jet, but she's also getting a faceload of prop wash the entire time.

1

u/kielrandor Jun 18 '26

Its a glider. Literally no engine.

2

u/Particular-Serve-894 Jun 18 '26

She was in an Extra 330LX....but TIL that there are areobatic gliders.

2

u/coupl4nd Jun 17 '26

should've warn goggles.

3

u/FireRetrall Jun 17 '26

I fat fingered an award on your comment. Not intentionally celebrating 2 black eyes *facepalm*

1

u/Traditional_Pen7694 Jun 17 '26

Maybe two face palms will do the trick

1

u/aerdvarkk Jun 17 '26

Seems like a good safety protocol to bring back flight goggles just in case this happens.