#Airliner plunges 10,000 feet in three minutes after cockpit window cracks

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A Ruili Airlines plane docked at Taiyuan Wusu International Airport.
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A Chinese airliner with 178 passengers aboard plummeted 10,000 feet in three minutes after the cockpit window cracked – sending their meals and belongings tumbling onto the aisle as they put on oxygen masks, according to a report.

The mayhem aboard the Ruili Airlines Boeing 737 erupted 30 minutes after it took off Tuesday from Xi’an for a domestic flight to Kunming when the electrically heated windscreen began to spark and then suddenly cracked, The Sun reported.

Flight 6558 was forced to make an emergency landing at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport, according to the news outlet.

The passengers were put on another plane that was sent to Chongqing from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province in southwest China where the low-cost carrier is based.

The plane returned to Kunming after a delay of about six hours, The Sun reported.