New Zealand seizing Latam Boeing 787 black boxes after mid-air plunge injured 50 people
- On Monday, the plane travelling from Sydney to Auckland with 263 passengers and nine crew members on board dropped abruptly mid-flight – without explanation
- Safety experts say most aeroplane accidents are caused by a cocktail of factors that need to be thoroughly investigated.
New Zealand’s Transport Accident Investigation Commission said on Tuesday it was seizing the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder of a Latam Airlines Boeing 787 after an incident that left more than 50 people injured.
The airline and passengers aboard the Sydney-Auckland flight on Monday said the plane with 263 passengers and nine crew members on board dropped abruptly mid-air.
“My neighbour who was in the seat two over from me, there was a gap in between us, as soon as I woke I looked, and he was on the ceiling and I thought I was dreaming,” Brian Adam Jokat, a Canadian citizen living in the UK who was travelling on the plane said on Tuesday.
Photos taken by Jokat after the incident showed damage sustained to the ceiling of the aeroplane where he said fellow passengers had hit it.
The New Zealand accident investigator said Chilean authorities had confirmed they had opened a probe into the flight, and it was assisting with their enquiries.
A spokesperson for TAIC said because the incident on the Sydney-Auckland flight on Monday occurred in international airspace, it fell to Chilean accident investigation authority Direccion General de Aeronautica Civil (DGAC) to open an inquiry.
