Pilot ‘Sucked Halfway Out’ of the Sichuan Airlines Plane When Cockpit Windshield Blew Out; See Pics

The Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, China witnessed a heroic landing on May 14 after the co-pilot of a Sichuan Airlines flight was “sucked halfway out” of the plane as a cockpit windshield blew out, a local media reported quoting the aircraft’s captain. Captain Liu Chuanjian’s heroic action moments has won him praise from flight professionals and social media users for saving over 100 travellers on board. The cockpit experienced a sudden loss of pressure and drop in temperature and its right windshield was gone. The pictures surfaced on social media and it is horrifying.

As soon as the pilot levelled the jet at a cruising altitude of 32,000 feet, a deafening sound tore through the cockpit. To find out he looked over and saw the right side of the 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,” Liu told Chengdu Economic Daily. The aircraft reportedly was carrying 119 passengers. “Everything in the cockpit was floating in the air. Most of the equipment malfunctioned ... and I couldn't hear the radio. The flight was shaking so hard I could not read the gauges,” he added.

Here are the pics of the horrifying incident where the pilots and travellers had a lucky escape as the cockpit windshield smashed!

Brave landing!

The co-pilot, who was wearing a seatbelt, was pulled back in. After the emergency landing, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) informed that the co-pilot suffered scratches and a sprained wrist. One of the other cabin crew member was also injured. However, with such a brave landing, none of the passengers on board were wounded. An investigation led by CAAC, into how the incident occurred is underway.

When asked about the narrow escape, an unnamed passenger was quoted in a government-run China News Service, “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.” The flight, Sichuan Airlines 3U8633, took off on its scheduled time from the central China’s Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport on Monday morning and was due for the Tibetan capital of Lhasa. With the sudden fault, the flight made its emergency landing in the southwest city of Chengdu.

Incidents stating cracked windshields do occur on a regular basis as birds or lightning strikes but one involving entire windshield coming off are rare. In 1990, one of the pilots on British Airways flight 5390 was sucked partially out pf the cabin window after its windshield blew out at 23,000 feet. Thankfully, he survived the incident which occurred on a BAC-111 jet.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 15, 2018 04:13 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).