Cockpit mishap might have caused plunge on Latam Boeing 787

A Latam Airlines flight attendant hit a switch on the pilot’s seat while serving a meal, leading a motorised feature to push the pilot into the controls and push down the plane’s nose, officials say.

A cockpit seat mishap might have pushed a pilot into the controls on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that took a sudden, terrifying plunge on a flight to New Zealand this week, according to U.S. industry officials briefed on preliminary evidence from an investigation of the incident.

A Latam Airlines flight attendant hit a switch on the pilot’s seat while serving a meal, leading a motorised feature to push the pilot into the controls and push down the plane’s nose, these officials said. The switch has a cover and isn’t supposed to be used when a pilot is in the seat.

Around 50 passengers on the flight from Sydney to Auckland required medical attention, and some passengers were pinned to the ceiling as the airplane suddenly declined. Latam, a Chile-based airline, has said the Dreamliner suffered a “technical event during the flight which caused strong movement.” A spokesman for Latam said the company is working with authorities on the investigation, but declined to comment further until the investigation is finished.

Latam’s pilots union declined to comment. The company’s flight-attendant union didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

“We are in contact with our customer, and Boeing stands ready to support investigation-related activities as requested,” Boeing said in a statement.

The investigation is ongoing and evidence can emerge later to contradict preliminary findings.

Two investigators from Chile’s civil aviation agency arrived in New Zealand on Wednesday to lead the investigation, which also includes an expert from New Zealand, a spokeswoman for the agency said Thursday. The Latam aircraft that took the sudden plunge returned to Chile during a flight with just crew on board. It is parked at Santiago’s airport, the spokeswoman said.

“It was a horrible experience,” Verónica Martínez, a passenger on the flight, told Chilean media after she returned to Santiago on another aircraft. She said flight attendants as well as passengers who weren’t wearing their seat belts were thrown to the ceiling of the plane. “I saw a baby fly up. It was terrible.” Boeing is expected to issue a memo related to the seat switch to airlines that operate the 787 Dreamliner, a popular wide-body aircraft often used on long-haul international flights. Industry publication the Air Current earlier reported a cockpit seat movement was a focus of the investigation.

Boeing faces scrutiny for separate manufacturing and safety lapses after a Jan. 5 accident involving a fuselage panel that flew off an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX jet midflight.

Dow Jones