Medical staff on the plane after the incident
News.com.au reported on March 12 that the pilot of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that suddenly lost altitude, injuring 50 people, was said to have informed passengers after the incident.
The incident happened on flight LA800 of LATAM Airlines en route from Sydney (Australia) to Auckland (New Zealand) on March 11.
Twelve passengers were hospitalised and dozens more were injured after a “major incident” on the flight. The Chilean airline said an unspecified “technical problem” caused “strong movements” of the plane in the air.
Passengers who were not wearing seatbelts were thrown across the cabin and into the ceiling, some of them bleeding. In-flight footage showed many passengers looking worried and helping each other. Some were holding their heads.
Passenger Brian Jokat told RNZ that the plane "just fell off" two-thirds of the way through the flight. "There was no turbulence, we were sailing smoothly the whole way," he said, adding that the incident happened in just a few seconds.
Another passenger two rows away was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown into the ceiling and stayed there before falling, breaking his ribs. "I thought I was dreaming. I opened my eyes and he was facing the ceiling of the plane, looking down at me. It was like The Exorcist," he said.
Notably, after the plane landed, the pilot came out to the passenger cabin and Mr Jokat asked what had happened. According to Mr Jokat, the pilot said that "all my gauges were off, I lost all ability to fly the plane".
A LATAM Airlines plane
According to Reuters, the New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) said on March 12 that it had seized the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder on the plane.
The agency said Chilean authorities confirmed they had opened an investigation into the flight and were supporting New Zealand's investigations.
A TAIC spokesman said that because the incident occurred in international airspace, the investigation would be left to Chilean authorities.
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