Passengers recount terrifying experience on Boeing flight in mid-air incidentInvestigation into Chilean Boeing flight continues as black box seized

On Tuesday, investigators in New Zealand confiscated the flight recorder from a LATAM plane manufactured by Boeing in an effort to determine the cause of a mid-air incident that left many passengers injured and terrified.

The flight in question, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner traveling from Sydney to Auckland, suddenly plummeted towards the ground without warning, causing unrestrained passengers to be thrown from their seats and others to hit the ceiling of the cabin.

Among the traumatized passengers was Australian receptionist Ellie Addison, who recalled the chaos on board: "Everyone was screaming, crying. People were thrown from their seats and there was blood everywhere."

This safety incident marks yet another in a series of noteworthy incidents for Boeing, the American aircraft maker. Both Boeing and LATAM Airlines, based in Chile, have pledged to cooperate with authorities in determining the cause of the "technical event" that occurred but have not yet been able to pinpoint.

One passenger, sales administrator Veronica Martinez, described the experience of being on the flight as feeling like the plane had stopped mid-air before plunging downward. "People were flying, babies fell, it was horrible. Lots of people were injured," she told AFP.

Emergency services were dispatched to meet the flight upon its arrival at Auckland Airport, with over a dozen ambulances and medical vehicles on standby. Support worker Gabriel Felipe de Oliveira Adaime described the flight as "traumatizing", while fellow passenger Agustin Ramonda labeled it as "one of the worst three seconds of my life".

According to paramedics, about 50 patients were treated at the scene, with four remaining hospitalized as of Tuesday morning, according to health officials.

Despite the ordeal, the flight landed on time as stated by LATAM in a statement. Passenger Brian Jokat even had the opportunity to speak with one of the pilots after the plane touched down. "I asked him what happened and he said to me that he had lost his instrumentation briefly but it came back all of a sudden," he recounted to Radio New Zealand.

Joe Hattley, an air accident safety investigator, noted that technical issues are rare in modern aircraft and that the flight recorder would be essential in understanding the event. "It will tell investigators if it was an atmospheric event or a technical problem with the aircraft," said Hattley, who also teaches at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Ashok Poduval, a commercial airline pilot and now chief executive of Massey University's School of Aviation, believes that this incident is a rare and unpredictable "black swan event". He suggested that a malfunction in the autopilot or unexpected turbulence could have caused the plane to experience such a sudden drop.

Data from FlightAware, an airline tracker, shows that the plane began losing altitude about two hours into the three-hour flight, but it is unclear if this was part of the planned descent into Auckland.

Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft, has issued a statement saying that they are prepared to aid in the investigation as needed. However, the company has been plagued by a series of safety concerns in recent years, most notably the fatal crashes of Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX planes in 2018 and 2019, which claimed over 350 lives.

In January of this year, a Boeing 737 MAX 9 Alaska Airlines jet experienced a near-catastrophic event when a fuselage panel blew off mid-flight, and just last week, a Boeing 777 jet bound for Japan had to make an emergency landing after a wheel fell off and landed in an airport parking lot, damaging several cars.

As a result, US regulators have given Boeing a 90-day ultimatum to address quality control issues, with the Federal Aviation Administration chief stating that the company must commit to making significant improvements.

Despite these recent mishaps, Boeing has not lost its status as one of the leading manufacturers of commercial aircraft, accounting for about half of the global jet fleet. While some may question the company's reputation, Upstream Aviation consultant Tim Collins believes that similar concerns would arise if an Airbus were to experience a similar incident.

Ann Castro
Ann Castro Author
Ann Castro carries a total of 7 years experience in the healthcare domain. She owns a Master’s of Medicine Degree. She bagged numerous awards by contributing in the medical field with her ground-breaking notions. Ann has developed her own style of working and known for accuracy in her work. She loves trekking. She visits new places whenever she gets free time.