The mistake

A photographer named John was flying first class from London to Nairobi in Kenya when one of the pilots came out of the cockpit to make some coffee in the microwave. He couldn’t get the machine to work, so he asked his fellow pilot to help him.

As the other pilot left the cockpit, he let the heavy metal door close behind him. The pilot started an urgent, whispered discussion with his colleague. The two pilots had locked themselves out of their cockpit and, as they told the photographer (who promised not to tell the other passengers), the door was fitted with a safety lock. This meant that not even the pilots could open it from outside the cockpit. John remembered that he had put his Swiss army knife in his hand luggage. However, he couldn’t remember where he had put his hand luggage and spent five minutes opening and closing overhead lockers until he found it. John and the pilots attacked the door with the knife, the lock started to come loose, and when they broke into the cockpit, the plane was cruising eastward over the Indian Ocean.

Adapted from American Inside Out - Student’s Book.

Hawaii’ volcano

Caleb Jones and Andrey Mac Aroy

Kilawea began erupting more than two weeks ago. It has burned dozens of homes, forced people to escape ______ smoke and fire and led officials to distribute face masks to protect against ash particles. Lava flying ______ the air from cracks in the earth can weigh as much as a refrigerator and even small pieces can be lethal. The lava streamed ______ a highway and flowed ______ the ocean. That sent hydrochloric acid with fine glass particles into the air, a process that can lead to lung demage and eye and skin irritation. The highway was closed in some places, and residents in the area have been evacuated.

Adapted from http://apnews.com; May 20, 2018.

Southwest Airlines Flight 1380

Jeremy Berke

Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 suffered an engine failure that smashed a plane window, sucking a passenger halfway out of the plane in midair.

A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight on Tuesday was partially sucked out of a window after an engine exploded in midair.

The flight, traveling from New York to Dallas, was forced to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia, and the passenger — a 43-year-old woman named Jennifer Riordan — died Tuesday at a hospital. It was the first fatality in a US passenger plane accident in nine years.

Passengers on the flight described how, after the explosion sent shrapnel into one of the plane’s windows, Riordan was pulled halfway out of aircraft.

While passengers were able to pull Riordan back into the plane, another passenger was said to have felt “severe pressure” after positioning his back against the opening in the cabin in an attempt to seal it.

When there’s an opening in an airplane during flight (regardless of the cause), the plane will undergo rapid depressurization.

Adapted from http://www.businessinsider.com