May 15 (NBD) -- A Sichuan Airlines plane made a successful emergency landing in southwest China's Chengdu Monday. 

The plane, an Airbus A319, was scheduled to fly from Chongqing to Lhasa. When the flight was cruising at about 32,000 feet above Chengdu, its front-right windshield suddenly cracked and broke apart. Fortunately, captain Liu Chuanjian, who used to be a soldier, landed the plane safely thanks to his remarkable flying skills, calmness and bravery.  

With the windshield gone, the temperature in the cockpit quickly fell to 40 degrees below zero and many equipment was out of control, Chengdu Business Daily reported citing Liu Chuanjian. 

Photo/NBD

All passengers and crew survived and several with minor injuries, and all had been sent to a hospital for examination.

The co-pilot in the right seat suffered scratches on his face and a waist sprain. And a cabin crew member and two other passengers were also slightly injured in the accident. They were in hospital for treatment.  

An investigation into how the incident occurred is underway.

An airline captain surnamed Jin told NBD that the incident was probably caused by a mechanical failure, which refers to the quality of the plane itself and the maintenance, but specific reasons will be up to an investigation. 

When asked about the difficulty of emergency landing after windshield rupture, Jin said it was very hard to complete given the special topography of the plateau area. 

Chen Jianguo with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association-China confirmed the difficulty in operations. Regarding the windshield crack, he said to NBD there are four primary reasons - installation problems, the aging of glass, heating issues, and impact of external force. 

In an interview with Chengdu Business Daily, the plane's captain Liu described the breathtaking moment. He said there was no sign before the windshield blew out, and the co-pilot was then sucked halfway out of the window. Lucky for him, he fastened his seat belt. The dashboard was lifted and many equipment was down. Moreover, things in the cockpit were flying and there came extremely noisy sound. Liu had to operate only through the visual level gauge. It took him over 20 minutes to land the plane. In addition to his familiarity with the air route, the great weather helped a lot, Liu said. 

The captain was then hailed as a hero on the social network for his professionalism in this emergency landing.

In response to the incident, Airbus China said that upon the request of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) and the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety, the aircraft manufacturer has dispatched a special technical team to provide necessary support to the investigation led by the CAAC. However, the company declined to provide information about the manufacturing and other materials of the involved plane.

The out-of-order plane was delivered by Airbus to Sichuan Airlines on July 26, 2011, and has completed 19,912.25 flight hours and 12,920 flight cycles. Its latest A check was conducted in Kunming on April 12, 2018, while the latest C check was done by Sichuan Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co., Ltd. on March 9, 2017 and was the plane's third C check. 

Airlines and other commercial operators of large or turbine-powered aircraft operators prepare a Continuous Airworthiness Maintenance Program (CAMP) under its Operations Specifications or "OpSpecs". The CAMP includes both routine and detailed inspections, namely, A check, B check, C check, or D check. A and B checks are lighter checks, while C and D are considered heavier checks. Usually, a plane will be fully overhauled every eight years. 

In an exclusive interview with NBD Tuesday, a person-in-charge with Sichuan Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co., Ltd. revealed the plane's windshield wasn't covered in the C check conducted last year, and the check was done following the inspection package offered by Airbus. 

It was known that in addition to partial structural check, the C check covers the flight control system, power system, undercart, air conditioning and so on and so forth.

With regard to the question whether they had noticed any risk relating to the cockpit windshield, the person said maintenance doesn't necessarily mean replacing every part of the plane and the maintenance was conducted in accordance with the instruction package given by Airbus.

Email: lansuying@nbd.com.cn