Up in smoke
An Air China jet made a rapid emergency descent after a co-pilot mistakenly turned off air-conditioning systems in a bid to conceal his e-cigarette smoke, Chinese media quoted the country's civil aviation authority as saying yesterday.
The incident, which resulted in the deployment of passenger oxygen masks, occurred Tuesday on a flight by the Chinese flag carrier from Hong Kong to the city of Dalian in northeastern China.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in a press conference in Beijing that the drama was triggered when the co-pilot sought to turn off a ventilation system to prevent his smoke spreading into the main cabin, the respected news site Caixin said.
Smoking is not allowed aboard Chinese commercial passenger flights.
But the co-pilot accidentally switched off air-conditioning instead, leading to a decrease in cabin oxygen levels.
That set off an emergency warning system indicating that the 737 jet may have flown too high and instructing the pilots to quickly descend.
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