A Sichuan Airlines flight was forced to make an emergency landing in China Monday after the co-pilot was sucked halfway out of the cockpit window.
According to Reuters.com, Sichuan Airlines Flight 3U8633 was en route from Chongqing to Lhasa, Tibet, when the cockpit windshield blew out as the plane flew at a cruising altitude of 32,000 feet.
The pilot made an emergency landing in the southwest city of Chengdu.
The Airbus A319 was cruising when a deafening sound tore through the cockpit and it experienced a sudden loss of pressure. When the pilot, identified as Liu Chuanjian, looked over to the right, the windshield was gone.
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Chuanjian said he saw his co-pilot being sucked halfway out of the window, but he managed to pull him back. The co-pilot suffered scratches and a sprained wrist, but survived thanks to his seatbelt, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
In addition, Chuanjian said items in the cockpit began floating around, the equipment malfunctioned, the radio couldn’t be heard and he could not read the gauges due to how intense the plane was shaking.
There were no injuries reported among the 119 passengers onboard, but one cabin crew member was injured in the descent. France’s BEA accident investigation agency and Airbus were sending officials to China to investigate the incident.
While incidents involving bird or lightning strikes cause cracked windshields on a regular basis, the idea of the entire windshield coming loose during a flight is rare.
