Image: Reuters
A Chinese crew landed an Airbus A319 safely on Monday morning after the cockpit windscreen shattered at 30,000 feet, and the first officer was “partially blown out of the aircraft,” according to Captain Liu Chuanjian. “The situation was very critical,” said Jiang Wenxue, an official with China’s Civil Aviation Administration. “The windshield was blown off at a 10,000-meter-high altitude. The aircraft was in a state of low pressure and the temperature was minus 30 to minus 40 degrees Celsius.” Captain Liu said there was no sign of trouble before the windshield burst. “Just a huge noise,” Liu told the China News Service. “When I looked at the other side, the co-pilot was partially blown out of the aircraft. Luckily, he had the belt buckled up. Many devices malfunctioned and the plane was jolting strongly. It was very difficult to control.”
The first officer suffered scratches and a sprained wrist, the CAA said. A flight attendant also was injured, but none of the 119 passengers were hurt. The aircraft landed safely at Chengdu Shuangliu Airport in southern China. The cabin crew were serving meals to the passengers when the incident occurred, and several of them were thrown into the air, and food was strewn about, according to media reports. The incident occurred about 6:27 a.m. local time on Monday morning, about 80 minutes after takeoff. The flight originated from the southern city of Chongqing and was heading for Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. A month ago, a woman died on a Southwest flight after a window blew out in the passenger cabin.
