Chinese social media hails pilot for flight's safe landing

[Photo: from IC]

Chinese social media praised a pilot as an "epic hero" after safely landing a plane carrying 119 passengers after one of its windshield panels blew out over Southwest China.

Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8633 from Chongqing made an emergency landing at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport at around 7:40 am on Tuesday.

Captain Liu Chuanjian managed to keep his cool as - 40 C winds blasted through the plane's opening at around 9,750 meters.

The incident happened without any signs, and half of the co-pilot's body was outside the plane due to the sudden change in cabin pressure, Chengdu Business Daily newspaper reported.

The sudden change in cabin pressure was very uncomfortable, Liu told the newspaper, comparing the experience to driving at 200 kilometers per hour at the temperature of -5 C.

"It happened as the flight attendants were serving our meals. People were shocked," a passenger on board the Lhasa-bound flight told media.

There was a feeling of weightlessness, the passenger said, adding many cried and vomited.

This is the first such case in China, as the captain had to simultaneously battle through huge noise, equipment malfunction and a change in cabin pressure, Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times. 

[The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI] 

(Source: Global Times)