Originally Posted by
trip
YES.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlant...nes_Flight_529
The fire started about one minute after impact, and an oxygen bottle behind the first officer's seat leaked, contributing to the strength of the fire. Despite a dislocated shoulder, First Officer Warmerdam used the cockpit fire axe to cut through the thick cockpit glass. Surviving passenger David McCorkell and Carroll County Sheriff Deputy Guy Pope later assisted by pulling the axe out of the cockpit through the hole Warmerdam had created and struck the glass from the outside to increase the size of the hole and help Warmerdam escape.
I thought of that immediately when I read the question. There's a really in depth write-up out there somewhere about it, and what I remember from it is just how useless the axe was. Too blunt to be useful, and the head kept falling off the handle. FO had to pass it outside to let a passenger whack away at it, and even then it didn't work well.
Made me take a good hard look at the ones in my flight deck. At least the ones at the majors are a single piece.