Smoke In Cockpit Forces Guangzhou Flight Into Emergency Landing

Natalie Wang , January 24, 2015 4:41pm (updated)

A China Southern Airlines jetliner

A China Southern Airlines flight bound for Cambodia from Guangzhou Baiyun Airport aborted its journey and returned after smoke filled the cockpit shortly after take-off, reported Nanfang Metropolis Daily.

Flight CZ6059 departed yesterday (July 30) at 11:35 am bound for Phnom Penh, but just a few minutes after takeoff smoke was seen coming out of the cockpit. At that point, the plane was only 1,500 meters off the ground. According to a verified Weibo account on flight information, the plane “smelled like some electronics got burned”, alluding to a possible technical malfunction.

The plane landed safely at Guangzhou airport 19 minutes later with no injures reported. There was no reason given for the malfunction, and the airline arranged for another plane to take the passengers to Cambodia.

This is not the first time that China Southern Airlines has had to abort flights due to a system malfunction. In 2012, a flight from Hangzhou to Guangzhou returned to the airport due to an atmospheric circulation failure that also resulted in smoke in the cockpit, Xinhua reported.

Photos: China News

Natalie Wang

Journalist based in Hong Kong.