An Airbus A318 had to make an emergency landing Monday in China after a cockpit rupture that injured the co-pilot, announced the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC).
Sichuan Airlines, which flew from the southwestern metropolis of Chongqing to Lhasa, Tibet, early Monday morning, managed to make an emergency landing in Chengdu, southwestern China, despite the shattering of the right cockpit window, according to a CAAC statement.
[1]The first officer was injured, including in the face, and one flight attendant was slightly injured during the landing, according to the release.
The cause of the incident was not specified, with the CAAC simply adding that an investigation is underway.
Images taken by passengers and broadcast on the website of the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), show that oxygen masks have been released. Other images seem to show that one of the cockpit windows has completely disappeared.
This is the second emergency landing of an aircraft in China in less than a month: on 15 April, an Air China flight was diverted after a man briefly took a crew member hostage and threatened him with a fountain pen.