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.

  • 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.