Over 50 passengers on a LATAM Airlines flight from Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand were injured when the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner suddenly dove into a nosedive, causing people to hit the ceiling.
Witnesses reported the plane dropping dramatically for a few seconds with about an hour left in the flight.
Many of the unrestrained passengers were thrown into the roof of the cabin.
“The plane dipped so dramatically into a nose dive for a couple of seconds and around 30 people hit the ceiling hard,” one passenger said.
“None of us knew what had happened until after the flight, I was just trying to keep everyone calm,” he added. “We never heard any announcement from the captain.”
Around 13 injured people were transported to the hospital.
“I had just dozed off and I luckily had my seatbelt on, and all of a sudden the plane just dropped,” passenger Brian Jokat said. “It wasn’t one of those things where you hit turbulence and you drop a few times … we just dropped.”
“I thought I was dreaming. I opened my eyes and he was on the roof of the plane on his back, looking down on me. It was like The Exorcist,” he said.
“I felt the plane take a nosedive – it felt like it was at the top of a rollercoaster, and then it flattened out again,” he added.
“LATAM regrets the inconvenience and injury this situation may have caused its passengers, and reiterates its commitment to safety as a priority within the framework of its operational standards,” the airline stated.
The pilot later told a passenger he had briefly lost instrumentation before it came back.
The flight was diverted to Auckland for medical treatment and canceled flights were rescheduled.
“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,’” Jokat said.
This incident comes after recent mishaps involving Boeing planes, including an engine failure on an Alaska Airlines flight and wheel detachment on a United Airlines flight.
Aviation authorities are investigating multiple recent issues with Boeing aircraft.
Read Also:
Bombshell Decision from Michelle Obama on 2024 Run
Former Border Chief Shreds Biden With 4 Simple Words
