The mystery surrounding the Latam plane that went down for a few moments, causing a dozen injuries after several passengers hit the roof, continues to cause intrigue.
After focusing on possible technical failures, the last hypothesis points to
human error, between one of the pilots and a stewardess in the cabin.
This was stated by the Wall Street Journal
, based on industry sources who had access to the preliminary evidence revealed by the accident investigation.
The incident occurred last Monday when the device, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, rapidly lost altitude while flying over the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand,
and propelled all the people who were not wearing seat belts to the roof
.
It was a flight that had Santiago de Chile as its final destination.
According to the North American newspaper's report, which cites officials who spoke off-screen, they believe that a flight attendant may have
"mistakenly" pressed a switch in the pilot's seat
while serving food.
This triggered a function that gave the pilot back control of the aircraft, which immediately began to sink.
Eventually, the pilot regained control and landed the plane safely.
Several passengers were ejected and hit the roofs (Brian Adam Jokat)
A passenger told the media that a pilot had told him that he had lost control of the plane when
"the indicators went blank
. "
That comment suggested a new safety problem for Boeing, which has been struggling with safety and quality issues surrounding its commercial airplanes for years.
This week, the passengers of the flight told how they experienced those moments of confusion.
“There was no prior turbulence, we just sailed smoothly the entire way.
I had fallen asleep and fortunately I had my seat belt on and, suddenly, the plane fell (...) I thought I was dreaming
.
I opened my eyes and someone was on the roof of the plane face up, looking at me.
It was like The Exorcist,”
said Brian Jokat, a Canadian passenger who spoke to New Zealand radio station RNZ about how he saw another passenger.
“Suddenly everything went off and (the plane) went flat on its face, like a roller coaster, and then went up,” said Verónica Martínez, a passenger who spoke to the Chilean press upon arriving at the Santiago Airport.
“The people who were not wearing seat belts, who were coming out of the bathroom, the same stewardesses who were walking.
What impressed me the most was that a woman behind me was with a baby, and I saw the baby fly.
It was terrible,” she said.
Another passenger, chef Lucas Ellwood, told AFP that everything "happened in an instant," he told AFP.
"
The collision of people against the ceiling caused the plates to come off
. The man behind me was in the bathroom when it happened, poor thing. He explained to me that he had gone through the ceiling," he added.
Chilean authorities have not specified when they will have a clear idea of what happened to that plane while it was flying in international airspace, although according to Mary Shiavo, former head of the US National Transportation Board, they may have a clear idea of this incident in about 30 days when the evidence is analyzed and the preliminary report of what happened is presented.