(New York) Pilot seats on hundreds of Boeing 787s will have to be inspected after an incident in March on a flight operated by Chilean airline Latam in which the plane suddenly lost altitude, injuring about 50 passengers, the US regulator announced Monday.
The incident came after a series of malfunctions on Boeing aircraft, which raised doubts about the American aircraft manufacturer’s quality controls.
Passengers who were not wearing seat belts were thrown into the ceiling after the plane suddenly lost altitude. The Boeing 787 Dreamliner, operated by Chilean airline Latam, was flying from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland, New Zealand.
The US aviation regulator FAA requested the inspections after a report of “uncontrolled forward movement of the captain’s seat that resulted in a rapid descent,” according to a statement.
Some 158 aircraft registered in the United States are affected by this airworthiness directive, and 737 worldwide, the FAA indicates.
Since the incident, four other instances of “uncontrolled horizontal movement” of the pilot or co-pilot seats have been reported by Boeing to the FAA, the FAA said. In three of those cases, the adjustment levers on the seat were too “loose.”
“Unintentional and prolonged seat movement” can result in “unintentional and abrupt flight control manipulation, which could cause the airplane to descend rapidly and seriously injure passengers and flight attendants,” the FAA said in justifying its directive.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.