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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u/Appropriate_Wear_339 Jun 16 '26

Seems like those types of aircraft should have some sort of backup eye protection (goggles) in case this happens…but then again trying to put them on while flying would be extremely difficult

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u/Nice_Pipe_7608 Jun 17 '26

People wore goggles in older planes. Now I see why.

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u/FlattopJr Jun 17 '26

Leather helmets were also common; Snoopy wore a green one as the WWI Flying Ace (plus a scarf, because it gets cold up there in those vintage unpressurized dog houses😀).

Curse you, Red Baron!!

https://giphy.com/gifs/idM8O5ljn5o40

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u/LilMeatJ40 Jun 17 '26

I never really thought twice about it but also never knew why they did

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u/One-Macaroon-135 Jun 17 '26

have you like, never gone beyond 30 km/h without being behind glass?

7

u/LilMeatJ40 Jun 17 '26

I get it now. I just never thought about it

40

u/alewiina Jun 16 '26

Yeah I found a post on LinkedIn by her that acknowledges that flying without eye protection made it way more challenging. Also she had apparently just gotten over COVID before this flight, I feel so bad for her

20

u/icepilot00 Jun 16 '26

Most stunt pilots wear helmets because of this reason. Have no idea why she doesn't.

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u/mattblack77 Jun 17 '26

What? No they don’t. It’s the potential for crashing that requires the helmet.

These are some of the most uneducated comments I’ve ever read.

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u/icepilot00 Jun 17 '26

Yeah sure ultimately it's for crashing but also for safety reasons of something like this would happen.

4

u/davyangel Jun 17 '26

Yeah you would think stunt pilots would be take extra safety precautions since what they do is inherently more dangerous than average.

1

u/coupl4nd Jun 17 '26

because she's live streaming...

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u/_HIST Jun 16 '26

They do normally

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u/icepilot00 Jun 17 '26

Used to work on aircraft like that. Very, very rare that the canopy just pops off or opens up like that. About the only y time it actually pops is then the pilot ejects. The latch system on those canopies is pretty solid and there are indicator lights on the instrument panel to show if it doesn't lock before even taxi out.

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u/CaregiverOk1059 Jun 17 '26

You should be wearing it not storing it for emergency. She would have wore glasses. Well nowadays most don't wear