Smoking is bad for your career
An emergency descent by an Air China B737, similar to that pictured above, carrying 153 passengers and nine crew members, after it lost cabin pressure on 10 July had experts puzzled. But a preliminary investigation by China’s aviation regulator has attributed the incident to the copilot smoking an e-cigarette in the cockpit during the flight.
Air China flight CA106 was en route from Hong Kong to Dalian in China when it abruptly descended from 35,000ft to 10,000ft, prompting oxygen masks to be deployed. It then climbed and continued to its destination at a peak altitude of 26,600ft.
According to Reuters, the decision to climb again and continue the flight rather than divert to a nearby airport was described as unusual by industry experts, given the risk of another decompression event after the one-time supply of about 12–20min to the oxygen masks was exhausted.
Although there were no injuries and the B737 landed safely, the northeast bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) launched an investigation into the incident and found the copilot had been smoking an e-cigarette during the flight.
“Smoke diffused into the passenger cabin and relevant air conditioning components were wrongly shut off without notifying the captain, which resulted in insufficient oxygen,” Qiao Yibin, an official of the CAAC’s aviation safety office, was quoted as saying at CAAC’s news conference by China News.
Air China reported both pilots were placed under investigation for suspicion of having been smoking on the flight deck which ultimately resulted in the cabin pressure problem and emergency descent.
The airline alleges that while smoking in the cockpit the crew mistakenly shut down both bleed air supplies, causing the cabin to lose pressure and oxygen masks to be released. Believing the cabin pressure could not be controlled, the crew thus initiated an emergency descent. After levelling off at safe altitude, high temperatures in the cabin resulting from air being merely recirculated prompted the crew to undertake further checks.
They found both bleed air systems switched off and reactivated them, whereupon the cabin repressurised, the crew climbed back to 26,000ft and continued to Dalian.
Qiao promised to hand down “severe punishment in accordance with laws and regulations” if the regulator’s final conclusion on the incident matches its initial finding. Meanwhile, state-backed Air China on its part said it would terminate the contracts of the flight crew involved in the incident, suggesting the CAAC cancel their licenses.
In 2006 China’s aviation regulations prohibiting flight crew from “smoking on all phases of operation”, also banned passengers from smoking e-cigarettes on flights.
- Report by John King.
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