A319 FO windshield blowout
 

Sichuan Airlines flight 3U8633.... 14th May.

Chongqing to Lhasa.

FO windshield blowout at 9200m (30,100'), and looks like a severe FCU 1+2 failure also ! They diverted into Chengdu.

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/f...u8633#115e176d

The safety altitude around where it occurred is 22,100'. The crew will have been High Altitude Airport trained since destination was Lhasa, Tibet.

Thoughts with the crew and wish them a speedy recovery. Well done for a safe return.

That's impressive!! Poor guy! B-6419... Made in Tianjin....:E

I was expecting to read about a cracked windscreen, but this incident would have been exciting! The only other time I have heard of a windscreen departing the aircraft was the BA BAC1-11, that is going back a few years ago now.

Wow. Obviously a lot more to this story, but I'm impressed that they actually got it down ok.

Good work! The QRH procedures would definitely not be applicable in this event. A good example of why skill and airmanship is still required, despite the best efforts of the industry to make them obsolete!

Do I remember the Airbus design wrongly, or are the windshields "plug type" design, installed from the inside (contrary to the retainer design used for most other aircraft) ?
So does the windscreen has to fail completely to depart the aircraft ?

Think it does. I've just seen a video of it cracking and arcing before the event, so this it looks as if this is what happened.

they are not installed from inside but from outside.

Wow. Those guys had their big britches on. Well done.

In the Chengdu area and on the cruise level, the crew found the right windshield glass broken and then off, the emergency procedure is appilcated and finally retured Chengdu Shuangliu. All passengers and crew members are safe landing, orderly down the plane and be properly arranged. FO was injured by a waist sprain and facial scratches. A flight attendant sustained minor injuries during the descent.
Lhasa route is High-Plateau route, the first step is to emergency down to safety altitude of 24000 feet,and utill flying out of the area, the crew was then able to further down to 10000 feet. During this time, with the condition of the right window off, in the cockpit, temperature is minus dozens of degrees, the crew wear short-sleeved shirt. A lot of displays and controls failed to work.The whole process is quite thrilling and difficult to deal with.
The pilot in flying comes from the Air Force Second Air Academy as flight instructor. Psychological quality is very good, radio recordings sounded calm as normal. All flight crewmenbers are in hospital for further medical examination. Decompression may cause damage to the body, hope there will be no sequelae.

Deepest respect to a professional crew.
Job well done.

Update： The co-pilot has flown out, the return is all manual and visual operations
As a pilot, Liu Shunjian thought of all kinds of unexpected accidents, but did not expect to encounter the accident of British Airways flight 5390 almost identical. June 10, 1990, during the flight, the cockpit windshield suddenly broken, the captain was suck out the window, the FO flew back to safe landing, creating a miracle in the history of aviation.
On the afternoon of May 14, hours later after the accident, one local news reporter contacted Captain Liu and got the exclusive interview as follows. (Please forgive me for my brief translation)
Reporter: Are you now good health?
Liu: Not feel obvious discomfort by now, my company will have me and others a comprehensive medical examination.
Reporter: I just interviewed some people in the industry, they said the landing be very difficult?
Liu: A total challenge, not the daily issue. The difficulty is the cockpit windshield burst, all of us met the great bodily harm. The loss of pressure, the sudden pressure changes caused a lot of damage to the eardrum. Temperatures dropped to around -40C, and extreme cold could cause frostbite in the human body. The control panel (FCU) was lifted and the noise was so loud that you can't hear anything. Most radio and equipment were in malfunctions, you can only do your job by manual and visual.
Reporter: In such a high altitude, oxygen also very thin?
Liu: Like the cabin, when the cockpit loses pressure, the oxygen mask will automatically fall off, hypoxia problem is not big issue. And the cockpit and cabin are sealed and insulated, so the loss of pressure and cooling in cockpit do not affect passengers.
Reporter: I noticed that the flight departure time is at 6:25, when and where is the time of the incident?
Liu: It should be 7 o ' clock, I didn't notice the exact time, the distance from Chengdu is about 100 km to 150 kilometers.
Reporter: What were the signs at the time of the incident?
Liu: There is no sign, the windshield burst suddenly, windshield bursting making a loud noise. As I looked up, the co-pilot had flown half, and half the body was hanging outside the window. Luckily, he fastened his seatbelt. The cockpit items all flew up, many of the equipment failed, the noise was so loud that the radio couldn't be heard. The whole plane vibrates so much you are unable to readout any instruments; the operation is so difficult.
Reporter: What kind of difficult?
Liu: Instantaneous loss of pressure and low temperature make people very uncomfortable, every action is very difficult. You know, the speed of the plane was eight hundred or nine hundred kilometers (per hour) and at that height. I'm going to give you a metaphor: if you're driving at 200 km per hour in the street of Harbin, what can you do with your hand out the window? (My words for you: winter in Harbin is the equivalent of Russia's Siberia)
Reporter: very difficult indeed. I heard a 7700 code issued?
Liu: I did it, equivalent to means "Now I need help", the control center and other flight crew in air can know it, know the approximate situation, what happened, I did this with the keyboard.
Reporter: In the situation of automation completely failed, including the FCU damaged, you can not know the flight data, how to determine the direction, course, return to the airport and so on?
Liu: Yes, completely manual operation, visually rely on my own to judge, many of the civil aviation is automatic operation, but this time the automatic equipment can’t help. I have flown this route over 100 times. I should say everything of flying here is familiar to me.
Reporter: Did you pay attention to your physical condition while you were trying to save the plane and passengers?
Liu: At that time, I just want to be able to operate the aircraft safely, unable to pay attention to my and other’s physical condition. In order to avoid further damage to my colleague in the cockpit and passengers, the first is to reduce the speed, and then try to make the emergency height reduction. The noise was great, automatic equipment can’t help. Completely by hand and visual, rely on perseverance to grasp the stick to complete the return and safe landing. My body should have been a very big wobble.
Reporter: How much time did it take from the accident to the landing?
Liu: About more than 20 minutes.
Reporter: What's the weather like this morning? Did it affect the emergency landing?
Liu: The weather helped a lot. There was almost no cloud this morning, and the visibility was very good, and if it was accompanied by rain or bad weather, the consequences would be unpredictable.
Reporter: Insiders say when learning to fly there will be a simulated noise, low-temperature and other processes?
Liu: In the primary trainer stage, there will be an extreme situation simulation training. But neither height nor speed can be as fast as this one.
Reporter: There are rumors on the internet during the landing, you burst the tires.
Liu: No. The aircraft is overweight and the thrust reverser is not working, it is longer than the normal taxing distance, the tire rubs longer, causes the temperature too high, and then the tire automatically deflated--this is a protection, not a flat tire.
Reporter: Can you tell me something about your experience?
Liu: I had been flying in military school before. I work in Sichuan Airlines since 2006.
Reporter: Netizens say your experience is more like that of Captain Sully?
Liu: I respect Captain Sully. But this time it was more close to the accident of the British Airways.
Reporter: Is the BA flight 5390? Do you have special attention to movies or documentaries of aviation?
Liu: Yes. We usually pay attention to flight accidents, from the professional point of view, consider the cause of the accident, how they operate,to make some preparations.
Reporter: Have you ever thought that you would encounter this situation?
Liu: I have been preparing every day, from just graduated to now have flown for decades. I do some my own preparation. Who knows what happen in the next? My job, as a pilot, is going ready to deal with any abnormals. Nobody has problems in normal situations.

This is a cockpit I would not have wanted to be in. Well done.

Would like your explanation for that, not familiar with the A319

Many thanks for your translations shimin

Don't think you'd be doing much reading in an 800 km/h gale!

With what we know so far, what an incredibly good job of basic airmanship and real handling, so often not evident
in various events around the world in recent years.
A decompression involving not only critically high terrain, but damage / injury to the F/D and pilot(s), And..damage
to items such as the FCU (which would always be the preferred method of controlling the a/c )
Even the most cruel sim instructor would be hard pressed to dream up a worse training scenario.!
WELL DONE those pilots.