Authorities seize flight recorder
Auckland – New Zealand investigators yesterday seized the flight recorder from a Boeing-made Latam Airlines plane, searching for the cause of a mid-air plunge that injured dozens of terrified travellers.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner was en route from Sydney to Auckland on Monday when it lurched earthward without warning, slinging some unrestrained passengers out of their seats and smashing others into the cabin ceiling.
“Everyone started screaming, crying,” said Australian receptionist Ellie Addison, one of 263 passengers aboard flight LA800. “People were launched out of their seats, there was blood pouring from people’s faces.”
It is the latest in a string of headline-grabbing safety incidents to trouble US plane maker Boeing.
Both Boeing and Chilebased Latam Airlines have promised to cooperate with authorities to pinpoint the cause of the unspecified “technical event”.
New Zealand accident investigators said they had started gathering evidence, “including seizing the cockpit voice and flight data recorders”.
But, a spokesperson added: “It is Chile’s investigation”.
Emergency crews raced to Auckland Airport to meet the incoming flight, dispatching more than a dozen ambulances and other medical vehicles.
Paramedics said they treated about 50 patients. Four people were still in hospital yesterday morning, health officials told AFP.
The flight arrived on time, Latam said in a statement.
Passenger Brian Jokat said he spoke to one of the pilots after the plane touched down.
“I asked him what happened and he said to me: ‘I lost my instrumentation briefly and then it just came back all of a sudden,’” he told national broadcaster Radio New Zealand.
Ashok Poduval, a commercial airline pilot for 15 years and now chief executive of the Massey University School of Aviation, said the incident appeared to be an ultra-rare “black swan event”.
“A malfunction of the autopilot or unexpected clearair turbulence are some of the possibilities that could cause an upset of this nature,” he said. –