Plane's cockpit window ripped out at 32,000ft forcing emergency landing
Two crew members injured after flight control unit partially sucked out of jet
The pilots of a Chinese passenger jet made an emergency landing after a cockpit windscreen was ripped out in mid-air.
Two crew members on the Sichuan Airlines flight were injured when the plane’s window blew out as it cruised at 32,000ft with 119 passengers on board.
The jet’s flight control unit was badly damaged by the resulting sudden decompression. Some parts of the system were reportedly sucked out of the gaping window, forcing the pilots to fly manually before landing the airliner safely at the south-west Chinese city of Chengdu.
One pilot, thought to have been the flight’s first officer, suffered scratches and a sprained wrist during Monday morning’s drama.
A cabin crew member was also injured in the descent, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
The flight, Sichuan Airlines 3U8633, had left the central Chinese city of Chongqing for the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. There were 128 people, nine of whom were crew, on board.
According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft was an Airbus A319.
An Airbus spokeswoman said the company would provide any support requested by the CAAC and Sichuan Airlines.
The carrier said on its official Weibo account the flight had experienced a “mechanical failure”, but gave no further details. It said it had switched passengers to another aircraft to continue their journey to Lhasa.
Pictures published on Chinese social media showed the plane missing one of its cockpit windows and damage to its cockpit controls. Weibo users praised the pilots for landing the flight safely.
Sichuan Airlines, a regional airline headquartered in Chengdu, operates mostly domestic flights but also flies internationally to countries including Japan, Canada and the Czech Republic.
Two crew members on the Sichuan Airlines flight were injured when the plane’s window blew out as it cruised at 32,000ft with 119 passengers on board.
The jet’s flight control unit was badly damaged by the resulting sudden decompression. Some parts of the system were reportedly sucked out of the gaping window, forcing the pilots to fly manually before landing the airliner safely at the south-west Chinese city of Chengdu.
One pilot, thought to have been the flight’s first officer, suffered scratches and a sprained wrist during Monday morning’s drama.
A cabin crew member was also injured in the descent, said the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
The flight, Sichuan Airlines 3U8633, had left the central Chinese city of Chongqing for the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. There were 128 people, nine of whom were crew, on board.
According to flight tracking website FlightRadar24, the aircraft was an Airbus A319.
The plane's flight control unit was damaged and one pilot was injured (Weibo)
The carrier said on its official Weibo account the flight had experienced a “mechanical failure”, but gave no further details. It said it had switched passengers to another aircraft to continue their journey to Lhasa.
Pictures published on Chinese social media showed the plane missing one of its cockpit windows and damage to its cockpit controls. Weibo users praised the pilots for landing the flight safely.
Sichuan Airlines, a regional airline headquartered in Chengdu, operates mostly domestic flights but also flies internationally to countries including Japan, Canada and the Czech Republic.
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