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17-03-2024
WELLINGTON/ PARIS: Boeing has told airlines operating 787 Dreamliners that pilots need to check their seats as an investigation into an incident on a Latam flight continues.
It comes after 50 people were hurt this week when a 787 dropped suddenly during a Latam Airlines flight.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a flight attendant accidentally hit a switch on the pilot’s seat, which pushed the pilot into the controls, forcing down the plane’s nose.
Latam is supporting investigations.
During the incident people were thrown against the roof of the plane, which was travelling from Australia to New Zealand.
Passenger Brian Jokat said at the time that a number of people suffered head injuries.
Speaking to media, Jokat revealed that people had hit the ceiling with such force “some of the roof panels were broken”.
The person next to him, he added, appeared to be “glued to the ceiling”.
“I did think for a split second: ‘This is it’,” he said.
Emergency services later said one person was in a serious condition.
Boeing said: “The investigation of Flight LA800 is ongoing and we defer to the investigation authorities on any potential findings.”
“We have taken the precautionary measure of reminding 787 operators of a service bulletin issued in 2017 which included instructions for inspecting and maintaining switches on flight deck seats.”
It recommended that operators perform an inspection of the switches “at the next maintenance opportunity”.
Chilean-Brazilian carrier Latam Airlines said it “continues to work in coordination with the authorities in order to support the ongoing investigation”.
The aircraft was scheduled to fly on from Auckland to Santiago, the capital of Chile.
The departure was cancelled and a new flight scheduled for Tuesday.
The incident comes after a door panel came off a Boeing plane in January this year, with a report in February finding bolts meant to secure the panel were missing.
And this week, a former Boeing employee known for raising concerns about the firm’s production standards was found dead in the US.
Lawyers for the Boeing employee-turned-whistleblower found dead by apparent suicide have hailed him as “a brave, honest man of the highest integrity”.
Authorities are currently investigating the death of John Barnett, from what appeared to be a self-inflicted wound.
Barnett retired after working more than 30 years at Boeing in 2017. He was giving evidence in a lawsuit against the company before his death.
Two of his attorneys called on police to fully investigate how he had died.
“John was in the midst of a deposition in his whistleblower retaliation case, which finally was nearing the end,” Robert Turkewitz and Brian Knowles said in a statement to media. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
