Investigation team established for emergency landing at Noi Bai

Regarding the incident in which a Vietnam Airlines plane on a trip from Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh had to divert to land at Noi Bai Airport (Hanoi) on the evening of December 16, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has established an investigation team to find out the cause and re-evaluate the entire incident on flight VN1266.

Vietnam Airlines aircraft at Noi Bai International Airport. (Photo: Huy Hung/VNA)

Mr. Lai Xuan Thanh, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, said: "The investigation team to find out the cause of the incident will be led by Mr. Do Quang Viet, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, Mr. Ho Minh Tan, Head of the Flight Safety Standards Department - Civil Aviation Authority as Deputy Head of the team, along with members of the Authority," said Mr. Lai Xuan Thanh.

Regarding the above incident, Deputy Minister of Transport Pham Quy Tieu said that the cause of the incident is being investigated and clarified by the authorities. The plane's black box has been retained for decoding by the authorities today (December 17).

In addition, the Ministry of Transport has directed all relevant units to complete the report on the morning of December 17 to submit to the Government.

Previously, flight VN1266, departing from Ho Chi Minh City to Vinh at 5:12 p.m. (local time), encountered technical problems when approaching Vinh airport.

After the incident, Vietnam Airlines Corporation issued a statement stating that the cause was a sudden drop in cabin pressure, forcing the plane to make an emergency descent from 35,000 FT (equivalent to about 11,000m) to 13,000 FT (equivalent to about 4,000m) and oxygen masks were deployed to assist passengers and crew.

The flight crew immediately requested an emergency landing at Noi Bai to provide the best possible assistance. The plane, along with all 135 passengers and 7 crew members, landed safely at Noi Bai airport at 7:15 p.m.

After landing safely, Vietnam Airlines proactively transferred all passengers to another plane to continue the journey to Vinh, departing at 9:40 p.m.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam confirmed that there was no security threat to the flight.

According to a representative of Vietnam Airlines, this is an Airbus A321 aircraft, registration number VNA357, put into operation by Vietnam Airlines in 2008. The most recent technical inspection of this aircraft was on November 12, 2014.

According to VNA