Air China plane loses cabin pressure mid-flight

SHANGHAI (Reuters) — Chinese authorities are investigating after an Air China aircraft made an emergency descent to 10,000 feet, during which oxygen masks were deployed, and then climbed again to continue on to its destination.

The northeast bureau of the Civil Aviation Administration said on its website that the Boeing 737 flight CA106 from Hong Kong to Dalian was cruising on Tuesday with 153 passengers and nine crew.

No injuries were reported and the plane was not damaged, it said, adding that it was examining the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder to determine what happened.

The plane descended from 35,000 feet to 10,000 feet in 10 minutes as is standard practice in a decompression event, according to FlightRadar24 data, then ascended and continued the flight at a peak altitude of 26,600 feet rather than heading to a nearby airport to land.

Industry experts said the decision to climb and continue the flight was unusual given the oxygen masks had already been deployed and there was a risk another decompression event could occur after the one-time supply of 12-20 minutes from the oxygen masks was used up.

“The crew would not have been able to accurately assess the amount of emergency oxygen available,” said a former Qantas head of safety, Ron Bartsch. “In my opinion the pilot in command should have landed at the nearest suitable airport.”