An investigation has been launched into what caused a plane flying from Sydney to Santiago via Auckland to suddenly “drop”.
About 12 passengers were taken to hospital when the plane landed, after a technical issue on LATAM Airlines flight LA800 caused a sudden drop in altitude.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Passengers describe moment plane suddenly ‘drops’.
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The Chilean airline said there was “a technical event during the flight which caused a strong movement”.
Shocking footage shows damage to the ceiling of the plane after passengers hit the roof during the incident.
“It was like a scene out of a movie, when you’re actually in a movie,” passenger Brian Jokat told CNN.
Jokat said he spoke to the pilot after they landed in Auckland, who told him he had “lost control”.
“He said ‘I lost control of the plane, my gauges went blank on me’.”
The eight-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliner had 272 passengers on board. LATAM officials have ruled out weather turbulence.
There has been speculation of a possible autopilot malfunction, similar to an event with a Qantas plane in 2008.
Ashok Poduval of the School of Aviation at NZ University said events like this were “extremely rare”.
NZ air investigators said they were “gathering evidence … including seizing the cockpit voice and flight data recorders.”
It’s the latest in a series of incidents for Boeing after a wheel fell off a United Airlines Boeing Triple 7 in San Francisco last week.
Last month, a door blew off an Alaskan airlines 737, with investigations finding Boeing failed 33 of 89 safety audits.
A replacement aircraft was on Tuesday sent to Auckland to take passengers to Chile.
