Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633

The aircraft involved was an Airbus A319-133, serial number 4660, registration B-6419.{{cite news|date=16 May 2019|title=川航客机脱落玻璃未进行过维修更换|language=zh|trans-title=The fell glass of Sichuan Airlines has not been repaired or replaced|publisher=The Beijing News|url=http://www.bjnews.com.cn/inside/2018/05/16/487135.html|access-date=3 October 2019|df=dmy-all}} The aircraft was delivered to Sichuan Airlines on the 26 July 2011. {{Cns|It was powered by two IAE V2524-A5 engines|date=June 2024}}. As of 14 May 2018, the aircraft had recorded more than {{commas|19900}} flight hours and {{commas|12920}} cycles before the incident.{{cite news|url=https://e.chengdu.cn/html/2018-05/15/content_624283.htm|title=三个数字 7700、32000英尺、13秒 还原史诗级备降震撼细节|newspaper=Chengdu Economic Daily|language=zh|date=15 May 2018|access-date=10 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191010124854/https://e.chengdu.cn/html/2018-05/15/content_624283.htm|archive-date=10 October 2019|trans-title=Three numbers: 7700, 32,000 feet, 13 seconds, Restore epic-level diversion shocking details|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} In addition to the 3 pilots, the jetliner also carried 6 cabin crew and 119 passengers.

File:Liu Chuanjian-20240305.png

The pilots were Captain Liu Chuanjian ({{lang|zh|刘传健}}, 45), who had logged 11,400 flight hours including 9,200 on A319; Captain Liang Peng ({{lang|zh|梁鹏}}, 33), who had logged 8,700 flight hours including 6,700 on A319; and First Officer Xu Ruichen ({{lang|zh|徐瑞辰}}, 27), who had logged 2,800 flight hours including 1,100 on A319. Before Liu joined Sichuan Airlines in 2006, he worked as a flight instructor for ten years in Sichuan's Second Aviation College of People's Liberation Army Air Force.{{cite news|last=Zhuang|first=Pinghui|date=16 May 2018|title='Best of the best': pilot said to have drawn on air force training to land Sichuan Airlines jet|work=South China Morning Post|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2146438/best-best-pilot-said-have-drawn-air-force-training-land-sichuan|access-date=6 November 2019}}

On 14 May 2018, Flight 8633 took off from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport at 6:25 CST (22:25 UTC). Approximately 40 minutes after departure while over Xiaojin County, Sichuan at the altitude of {{convert|9|km|ft m|abbr=on}}, the right front segment of the windshield separated from the aircraft followed by an uncontrolled decompression.{{cite news|last1=Wilkinson|first1=Bard|last2=Wang|first2=Serenitie|date=16 May 2019|title=Sichuan Airlines co-pilot sucked halfway out of cockpit window|work=CNN|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/15/asia/chinese-airline-accident-intl/index.html|access-date=3 October 2019}}{{cite news|url=https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2131830|title=空客：已派出技术团队，川航风挡玻璃破裂航班已飞近2万小时|publisher=The Paper|language=zh|date=15 May 2018|access-date=3 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328024407/https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2131830|archive-date=28 March 2019|trans-title=Airbus: A technical team has been dispatched, and the Sichuan Airlines flight of windshield bursting has flown nearly 20,000 hours|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} As a result of the sudden decompression, the flight control unit was damaged, and the loud external noise made spoken communications extremely difficult. The co-pilot, however, was able to use the transponder to squawk 7700, alerting Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport control about their situation. Because the flight was within a mountainous region, the pilots were unable to descend to the required 8,000 ft (2,400 m) to compensate for the loss of cabin pressure.

About 35 minutes later, the jetliner made an emergency landing at 7:42 CST (23:42 UTC) at Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport.{{cite press release|url=http://xn.caac.gov.cn/XN_DQYW/201805/t20180514_187936.html|title=川航航班因驾驶舱风挡破裂安全备降成都|publisher=Southwest Regional Administration of Civil Aviation Administration of China|lang=zh|date=14 May 2018|access-date=3 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180514141751/http://xn.caac.gov.cn/XN_DQYW/201805/t20180514_187936.html|archive-date=14 May 2018|trans-title=Sichuan Airlines flight safely diverts to Chengdu due to cockpit windshield rupture|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} The aircraft was overweight on landing. As a result, the plane took a longer distance to come to a stop.{{cite report|url=https://fearoflanding.com/accidents/sichuan-flight-8633-blown-windshield|date=18 May 2018|access-date=6 November 2019|title=Sichuan flight 8633 blown windshield|publisher=Sylvia Wrigley's Fear Of Landing}}

Despite wearing a seatbelt, first officer Xu was partially sucked out of the aircraft.{{cite news|url=https://e.chengdu.cn/html/2018-05/15/content_624271.htm|title=英雄机长 副驾半身被吸出窗外 靠手动和目视继续开|newspaper=Chengdu Economic Daily|language=zh|date=15 May 2018|access-date=13 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191013131439/https://e.chengdu.cn/html/2018-05/15/content_624271.htm|archive-date=13 October 2019|trans-title=Heroic captain: the half-body of copilot was sucked out of the window and keep flown by manual and sight|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}} He suffered facial abrasions, a minor right eye injury and a sprained wrist.{{cite news|url=http://zqb.cyol.com/html/2018-05/15/nw.D110000zgqnb_20180515_1-04.htm|title=川航3U8633航班经历空中惊魂|newspaper=China Youth Daily|language=zh|date=15 May 2018|access-date=3 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180518020050/http://zqb.cyol.com/html/2018-05/15/nw.D110000zgqnb_20180515_1-04.htm|archive-date=18 May 2018|trans-title=Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8633 experienced an airborne crash|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news|url=http://www.cdrb.com.cn/epaper/cdrbpc/201805/17/c18345.html|title=川航举行3U8633航班当班机组人员媒体见面会 27名旅客留院观察后已全部出院|newspaper=Chengdu Daily|language=zh|date=17 May 2018|access-date=3 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180519114222/http://www.cdrb.com.cn/epaper/cdrbpc/201805/17/c18345.html|archive-date=19 May 2018|trans-title=Sichuan Airlines hosted flight 3U8633 crew members's media conference, 27 passengers has been discharged after them were hospitalized|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} One of the flight attendants on the aircraft, Zhou Yanwen ({{Lang|zh|周彦雯}}), also suffered a wrist injury and received treatment.{{cite news|date=14 May 2018|title=川航超高难度备降机长刘传健：非常荣幸能保证所有旅客的安全|language=zh|trans-title=Liu Chuanjian, captain of Sichuan Airlines' super-high difficulty diverted, said very honored to guarantee the safety of all passengers|work=The Paper|url=https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2129942|url-status=live|access-date=3 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002125418/https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2129942|archive-date=2 October 2019|df=dmy-all}} Owing to the insulation design of the Airbus A319, the temperature did not drop immediately for the passengers, despite the cockpit's exposure to the outside environment, saving them from frostbite. Even though the plane was unable to descend at the time of the incident due to the surrounding terrain, the flight crew remained conscious and did not experience hypoxia or frostbite. No other crew member or passenger was injured.

{{Commons|File:Final report of Sichuan Airlines 3U8633 windshield failure accident by Civil Aviation Administration of China.pdf|Final report of Sichuan Airlines 3U8633 windshield failure accident by Civil Aviation Administration of China}}

The incident was investigated by the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Airbus and Sichuan Airlines. In accordance with the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation's Annex 13 regulation, Airbus refrained from any further comment on their progress.{{cite news|date=16 May 2018|title=Airbus responds after Sichuan Airlines windshield blowout|work=China Daily|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201805/16/WS5afbf39ba3103f6866ee8c21.html|access-date=6 November 2019}} On 2 June 2020, the final report was released. The root cause of the incident was damage to the seal on the right-hand side windshield, which caused moisture to penetrate and remain in the cavity on the bottom edge of the windshield. The insulation of wires in the windshield heating system was reduced after being soaked for a long time, resulting in continuous arc discharges at the bottom left corner of the windshield. This led to local high temperatures and breakage of the windshield's double-layer structure. As a result, the windshield could no longer withstand the pressure difference between inside and outside the cockpit and burst off from the fuselage. In addition, the flight control problems were found to be caused by the cockpit door opening as designed to prevent a pressure difference between the cockpit and cabin. The force of the door opening however, resulted in 17 circuit breakers to be popped, leading to a loss of utility from linked systems.{{Cite web|last=Hradecky|first=Simon|title=Accident: Sichuan A319 near Chengdu on May 14th 2018, burst windshield|url=http://avherald.com/h?article=4b890953&opt=0|access-date=2020-08-28|website=avherald.com|publisher=The Aviation Herald}}{{Cite web|date=2020-06-02|title=Final report|url=https://safety.caac.gov.cn/index/download.act?checkSum=476b398b2566a79925725841d65c2b70&fileName=SWCAAC-SIR-2018-1_%25E6%259C%2580%25E7%25BB%2588%25E6%258A%25A5%25E5%2591%258A_%25E6%25AD%25A3%25E6%2596%2587.pdf|access-date=2020-08-28|publisher=Civil Aviation Administration of China|language=zh}}

The crew of Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 were hailed as heroes by the public media and the captain, Liu Chuanjian was given a prize of 5 million yuan (£569,400).{{cite news |date=28 August 2018 |title=Heroic flight of Chinese pilot to be -film/ |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/china-watch/culture/pilots-heroic-actions-film/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191106070822/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/china-watch/culture/pilots-heroic-actions-film/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=6 November 2019 |access-date=6 November 2019}}

The crew and pilots continue to work for Sichuan Airlines and the airline continues to keep flight 3U8633 in operation, flying the same route.{{cite web|url=https://www.flightstats.com/v2/flight-tracker/3U/8633?year=2019&month=11&date=07&flightId=1020341672|title=(3U) Sichuan Airlines 8633 Flight Tracker|website= Flight stats |access-date=6 November 2019}} The aircraft B-6419 was repaired and returned to service with Sichuan Airlines on 18 January 2019.{{Cn|date=June 2024}}

The incident was adapted into the film The Captain, directed by Andrew Lau. The film, released during the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in 2019, ranked second at the box office during the national holiday.{{cite news|last=Yau|first=Elaine|date=2 October 2019|title=Chinese national day holiday box office winners and losers: from My People, My Country to The Captain, patriotism rules|work=South China Morning Post|url=https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/entertainment/article/3031224/chinese-national-day-holiday-box-office-winners-and-losers|access-date=2 October 2019}}

The incident was also featured in season 23 of the Canadian documentary series Mayday, titled "Cockpit Catastrophe".{{Citation |title="Air Crash Investigation" Sichuan Airlines Flight 8633 (TV Episode) - IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt20863460/ |language=en-US |access-date=2022-06-07}}

• British Airways Flight 5390, a similar incident

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons|File:Final report of Sichuan Airlines 3U8633 windshield failure accident by Civil Aviation Administration of China.pdf|Final report of Sichuan Airlines 3U8633 windshield failure accident by Civil Aviation Administration of China}}

• [https://safety.caac.gov.cn/index/download.act?checkSum=476b398b2566a79925725841d65c2b70&fileName=SWCAAC-SIR-2018-1_%25E6%259C%2580%25E7%25BB%2588%25E6%258A%25A5%25E5%2591%258A_%25E6%25AD%25A3%25E6%2596%2587.pdf Final report of this accident] by Civil Aviation Administration of China {{in lang|zh}}
• {{YouTube|title=Air traffic control recording of flight 3U8633/CSC8633 communications|id=WFXTutGw30s}} - via VASAviation
• [https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/wiki.php?id=211013 Accident description] at the Aviation Safety Network

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 2018}}

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in China}}

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Category:2018 disasters in China

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in China

Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 2018

Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A319

Category:Airliner accidents and incidents involving in-flight depressurization

Category:May 2018 in China

Category:History of Sichuan