‘Best of the best’: pilot said to have drawn on air force training to land Sichuan Airlines jet
Liu Chuanjian was an instructor at a PLA flight college for 10 years before he joined the airline and ex-colleague says he was ‘one in a thousand’
A former colleague and the wife of a Chinese pilot who safely landed a passenger jet on Monday after its windscreen blew out in mid-air say his air force background and self-discipline helped him to skilfully handle the crisis.
Chinese aviation authorities are investigating the cause of the incident along with plane maker Airbus, and on Wednesday ordered checks on all windscreens from the same batch of aircraft, China News Service reported.
Captain Liu Chuanjian, 46, had to make a manual emergency landing in Chengdu when the windscreen suddenly fell out as the plane was cruising at 32,000ft (9,750m). His 27-year-old co-pilot Xu Ruichen was sucked halfway out of the cockpit in the incident, but escaped with minor injuries because he was wearing a seat belt. A cabin attendant also suffered a back injury, but there were no other reported injuries to the 119 passengers and nine crew members on board.
Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8633 had been on its way from Chongqing to Lhasa.
“I've flown that route at least 100 times and I know it well. I was confident I could pull it off, but I had to decide whether to get the plane down as quickly as possible – which would put people in danger because it would mean higher speed – or lower the altitude a bit more slowly,” he said. “I went for the middle option.”