China Sichuan Airlines pilot ‘half sucked out of plane’ survives

May 15th, 2018

Awake Goy

A Chinese passenger jet was forced into an emergency landing after its windscreen blew out at 32,000ft (9,753m), sucking the co-pilot halfway out of the plane.

Captain Liu Chuanjian said the Airbus A319 had been cruising mid-air when a deafening sound flooded the cockpit. “There was no warning,” he told the Chengdu Economic Daily. “The windshield just cracked and made a loud bang. The next thing I knew, my co-pilot had been sucked halfway out.”

Luckily, the co-pilot was wearing a seatbelt. He was dragged back into the chaos of the cockpit, where pressure and temperature had dropped and the equipment was failing.

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The Civil Aviation Administration of China said the co-pilot had a sprained wrist and facial cuts after his ordeal. Another cabin crew member suffered a slight injury to the waist as the plane dropped.

The plane landed with all 119 passengers unharmed. Some 27 received medical check-ups at a hospital in Chengdu, where the plane made its emergency landing, according to the South China Morning Post.