Pilot’s arm falls off during landing

Flybe, a UK based discount airline, is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. They will hire people with disabilities, including pilots with prosthetic limbs. A one-armed pilot ran into rough wind coming in for a landing recently and something happened that even aviation experts have probably never heard of before. His arm came off.

Here's how a CNN report describes the bizarre incident:

The 46-year-old pilot lost control in dark and windy conditions while bringing a Flybe airline turboprop plane with 47 passengers into Belfast City Airport in Northern Ireland.
A report released Thursday by Britain's Air Accident Investigation Branch said the unnamed pilot's false limb became detached as he performed a "flare manoeuver" in which the nose of the plane is raised.
The pilot managed to regain control and make a "heavy landing," it said.
The February 12 incident resulted in no injuries among the passengers or four crew, but triggered an investigation.
"As he made the flare manoeuvre ... his prosthetic limb became detached from the yoke clamp, depriving him of control of the aircraft," the report said.
"He made a rapid assessment of the situation and considered alerting the co-pilot and instructing him to take control."
However, it said, because the co-pilot would not have time to take stock of what was happening, he decided the best option was to continue one-handed."

Happily, he pulled off a normal touchdown except for one very heavy bounce but with no injuries reported. Yep, you gotta give him a hand. Yes, yes I actually did just say that.