Passenger on Boeing flight that suddenly dropped says pilot told him he lost control after instrument failure | CNN
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The pilot of a terrifying flight from Australia to New Zealand told those on board he temporarily lost control of his Boeing 787 after one of its instruments failed, a passenger said Monday, as authorities investigate what caused a sudden drop that threw terrified travelers around the cabin, injuring dozens.

The pilot of a terrifying flight from Australia to New Zealand told those on board he temporarily lost control of his Boeing 787 after one of its instruments failed, a passenger said Monday, as authorities investigate what caused a sudden drop that threw travelers around the cabin, injuring dozens.

In accordance with rules outlined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Chile’s Directorate General of Civil Aeronautics (DGAC) have sent investigators from the agency’s Operations and Airworthiness team to look into the incident, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

  • mkwt@lemmy.world
    0·
    8 months ago

    I read the article and this definitely doesn’t sound like any autopilot or manual pilot malfunction. I don’t see how any hardover disturbance on the primary flight controls could pull the kind of negative Gs needed to pin people to the ceiling nearly instantly.

    This sounds like freak clear air turbulence to me, but I will be awaiting the reports on this intently.

    • casmael@lemm.ee
      0·
      8 months ago

      Fair enough, Boeing rapidly turning into Clown Cars ‘R’ Us tho. Wonder if they’ll make one where all the luggage falls out when it takes off and the airport staff have to run after it collecting the suitcases in a big bag with a hole in it or smthn.

    • TheRealKuni@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      8 months ago

      Sounds vaguely similar to Qantas Flight 72 which also saw people pinned to the ceiling. That was a glitch in the data interpreted by the plane, potentially due to bit flip from cosmic rays.

      It’s pretty crazy what these planes are capable of if operated outside the normal parameters. They aren’t nimble by any means, but they have pretty big flight surfaces and can really dive hard when they need to.

      Same thing almost happened again with another Qantas A330 in the area, but the new procedures in place after Flight 72 prevented it from being injurious to the crew and passengers. Autopilot disconnected and alerted the crew to an error in the relevant Air Data Inertial Reference Unit in that case, rather than acting on it.

      Edit: That said, I would trust any plane from Airbus LONG before I’d trust a 787 Dreamliner. No fatal Dreamliner crashes yet but that plane was a shitshow in design.