(Auckland) New Zealand investigators on Tuesday seized the black box of a New Zealand-bound Boeing that suddenly lost altitude, injuring many passengers, as part of their investigation into the causes of the ‘incident.
Passengers reported that the aircraft, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner operated by the Chilean company Latam between Sydney and Auckland, had suddenly lost altitude over the Tasman Sea on Monday evening. This stall propelled everyone whose seat belt was not fastened to the ceiling.
“Everyone started screaming, crying,” described Ellie Addison, an Australian receptionist who was among the 263 passengers aboard flight LA800.
“People were thrown out of their seats, blood was streaming down their faces.”
The plane “suffered a technical incident during the trip which caused a strong movement”, indicated the Chilean company Latam without further details.
This incident is the latest in a series for the American manufacturer Boeing.
Boeing and Latam promised to cooperate with authorities to identify the cause of the incident.
After conflicting statements about which country would lead the investigation, New Zealand investigators announced Tuesday that they had begun gathering evidence, “including seizing cockpit voice and flight data recorders.” But “this is Chile’s investigation,” said a spokesperson.
Sales employee Veronica Martinez described the incident as if the plane stopped mid-flight and then “we just dove.” “People were flying, babies were falling, it was horrible, a lot of people were injured,” she told AFP.
Around fifty patients were treated after landing in Auckland and four people were still hospitalized Tuesday morning, health authorities told AFP.
“Only one passenger and one crew member suffered injuries which required additional treatment, but their prognosis is not life-threatening,” the company said.
The passengers will be transferred to Santiago, Chile, their final destination, “aboard a new flight (LA1130) on March 12,” noted the company.
One of the passengers, Gabriel Felipe de Oliveira Adaime, described the flight as “traumatic”, while his traveling companion Agustin Ramonda noted that the moment was “among the three worst seconds of my life”.
” As in The Exorcist »
Brian Jokat, who was also on board, said he saw a passenger thrown to the ceiling fall heavily and hit his ribs on an armrest. “He was on the ceiling, on his back, looking at me. It was like in (the movie) The Exorcist “, Mr Jokat told public broadcaster Radio New Zealand.
According to this passenger, the pilot went to the passengers after landing. “I asked him what happened and he said ‘I lost my instrumentation briefly and it suddenly came back,'” Mr. Jokat said.
“The flight recordings will be essential to understanding this incident. They will tell investigators whether it was an atmospheric event or a technical problem with the plane,” Joe Hattley, air accident safety investigator, told AFP.
PHOTO BRIAN ADAM JOKAT, BRIAN ADAM JOKAT VIA REUTERS
Around fifty patients were treated after landing in Auckland.
“These kinds of incidents highlight the absolute need for passengers to keep their seat belts fastened,” he added.
Data from FlightAware, an airline tracking tool, shows the plane lost altitude about two hours after takeoff.
Serial malfunctions
Boeing declared itself “ready to provide support for activities related to the investigation as required”, after this incident which follows a series of malfunctions on its aircraft.
At the beginning of January, a door of a Boeing 737 MAX 9, operated by Alaska Airlines, came loose a few minutes after takeoff, causing a few minor injuries.
The 737 MAX had previously been grounded for almost two years after the crashes of two aircraft, the first, at the end of 2018, of the Indonesian company Lion Air, the second, at the beginning of 2019, of the Ethiopian company Ethiopian Airlines, causing more than 350 dead. In both cases, a problem with new software was the cause of the crashes.
Last week, a Boeing 777 had to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff from San Francisco after a wheel came off before hitting cars in an airport parking lot.
Earlier this month, US aviation regulators gave Boeing 90 days to present a plan to address quality control issues, with the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) urging the company to “commit to making real and profound improvements”.