Airbus has dispatched a technical team to support Chinese and French authorities leading the investigation into an incident in which a cockpit window separated from a Sichuan Airlines Airbus A319.
The aircraft, with MSN4660 and registered B-6419, was built in 2011 and delivered to Sichuan Airlines in July the same year. It has accumulated 19,942h to date, says Airbus.
Airbus declines to comment on the nature of the windshield failure or its origins, citing the ongoing investigation, but says it will provide all necessary support to the Civil Aviation Administration of China and French investigation authority BEA.
FlightGlobal understands that the aircraft was assembled at the Tianjin plant in China.
The A319 was en route from Chongqing to Lhasa on 14 May, when the forward right-hand windshield pane broke away, forcing a diversion to Chengdu Shuangliu International airport.
Sichuan Airlines has so far only said that the jet suffered a “mechanical failure”. Local media reports, quoting the pilot, have since said that the first officer was “sucked halfway” out of the jet.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that the International Aero Engines V2500-powered aircraft is owned and managed by Sichuan Airlines.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
