It’s just not a bad day, but a bad year for the airline business. The many incidents of airlines failing people, putting security and safety of everyone on board at risk, are making everyone quite apprehensive.
In a recent debacle, co-pilot of a Sichuan Airlines flight was nearly sucked out of the window of the cockpit after the windshield broke. The flight was thus forced to make an emergency landing on Monday.
The Captain of the flight, Liu Chuanjian is now being called a hero after he landed the aeroplane safely and manually. He did so when his aircraft touched 32,000ft when the deafening sound robbed their attention.
“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, reports The Guardian.
“Everything in the cockpit was floating in the air. Most of the equipment malfunctioned … and I couldn’t hear the radio. The plane was shaking so hard I could not read the gauges.”
Fortunately, the co-pilot who was sucked halfway out of the plane was pulled back in and only sustained minor injuries. None of the passengers on the plane was hurt.
The said A319 flight left Chinese municipality of Chongqing on Monday morning and was bound for the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
“The crew were serving us breakfast when the aircraft began to shake,” an unnamed passenger told the government-run China News Service. “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.”
“I’m still nervous. I don’t dare to take an aeroplane anymore. But I’m also happy I had a narrow escape.”
We are just glad that everyone is safe.