INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
SHANGHAI: The co-pilot of a Sichuan Airlines flight that was forced to make an emergency landing on Monday was
"sucked halfway" out of the plane after a cockpit windshield blew out, local media reported citing the aircraft's captain.Captain Liu
Chuanjian, hailed as a hero on social media after having to land the Airbus A319 manually, told the Chengdu Economic Daily his aircraft had
just reached a cruising altitude of 32,000 feet when a deafening sound tore through the cockpit.The cockpit experienced a sudden loss of
pressure and drop in temperature and when he looked over, the cockpit's right windshield was gone."There was no warning sign
Suddenly, the windshield just cracked and made a loud bang
The next thing I know, my co-pilot had been sucked halfway out of the window," he was quoted as saying."Everything in the cockpit was
Most of the equipment malfunctioned and I couldn't hear the radio
The plane was shaking so hard I could not read the gauges," he said.The co-pilot, who was wearing a seatbelt, was pulled back in
He suffered scratches and a sprained wrist, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said, adding that one other cabin crew member was
also injured in the descent
None of the plane's 119 passengers were injured.An investigation into how the incident occurred is underway.The flight, Sichuan Airlines
3U8633, left the central Chinese municipality of Chongqing on Monday morning and was bound for the Tibetan capital of Lhasa
It made its emergency landing in the southwest city of Chengdu."The crew were serving us breakfast when the aircraft began to shake
We didn't know what was going on and we panicked
Then the oxygen masks dropped We experienced a few seconds of free fall before it stabilised again," an unnamed passenger told the
government-run China News Service."I'm still nervous
I don't dare to take an airplane anymore
But I'm also happy I had a narrow escape."The windshield shattered about half an hour after the plane took off at 6.25 a.m
local time (1025 GMT), the Chengdu Economic Daily said
A separate report said the aircraft had accumulated 19,912 flight hours since entering service at Sichuan Airlines in July 2011.Incidents
involving cracked windshields do happen on a regular basis due to occurrences such as bird or lightning strikes but ones involving entire
windshields coming off are rare.In 1990, one of the pilots on British Airways Flight 5390 was blown partially out of the cabin window after
its windshield blew out at 23,000 feet
He survived the incident, which occurred on a BAC-111 jet.© Thomson Reuters 2018(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by
TheIndianSubcontinent staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)For the latest Election Results Live Updates from Karnataka log on to
TheIndianSubcontinent.com
Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for updates.
