A Plane Almost Crashes Because the Pilot was…Smoking?

This is ridiculous!

The Daily Mail reports that a pilot on a Air China flight nearly caused an accident, all due to him trying to hide something from passengers. The co-pilot on the flight wanted to take a smoke break. If you've ever flown, smoking is strictly forbidden on flights, as it could tamper with many important parts of a plane. However the copilot had an idea.

He decided that turning off the ventilation system would be the best idea, so that way no one would catch him smoking! However he made one huge mistake. Instead of turning off the ventilation system, he turned off the air conditioning. With the air conditioning off, the electronics in the plane believed that the oxygen inside the plane's cabin was going too low, and told the pilots to lower the altitude, but that made the plane fly at dangerous levels. The other pilot eventually realized things were awry, and returned the plane to a safe altitude.

Seriously? Whoever the copilot is, you didn't need to have a smoke break in the middle of your flight. Be smarter.