Original Source: Here

Authorities investigating the plunge of Latam flight LA800 have proven a pilot’s seat moved forward involuntarily before the loss of altitude.

Fifty people were injured when the flight from Sydney to Auckland on March 11 suddenly dropped from 41,000 to 40,692 feet about 55 minutes before landing.

Three cabin crew and 10 passengers were taken to hospital.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation in Chile has released a preliminary report into the incident.

It stated it has proven that the seat on the left side of the cabin, “with the captain in his position, began an involuntary forward movement.” (as translated from Spanish).

It proved the recovery of the aircraft after the descent, “did not exceed the loads positive or negative permitted by the manufacturer for this type of flight condition.”

It also said the weather conditions and the lack of turbulence on the route at the time of the event, “were not causal or contributing factors in the operation.”

The report said inspections were carried out on the aircraft at Auckland Airport.

The New Zealand Transport Accident Investigation Commission (TAIC) provided aeronautical communications information, meteorological information and time, delivered the Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder (EAFR) equipment, to the Chilean investigation authority.

The DGAC obtained accounts from the entire crew involved in the event, including the crew that were on that same Boeing 787-9 aircraft flying from Chile to New Zealand the day before.

Still to be completed is sending the black box to the US National Transportation Safety Board for analysis.

The US Federal Aviation Administration and the manufacturer, Boeing, has been asked to carry out the physical inspection of the seat.

The preliminary report goes some way to explaining what might have happened on board after multiple theories circulated.

The Wall Street Journal reported a week after the incident that a flight attendant serving a meal in the cockpit hit a switch on the back of a seat that pushed the pilot into controls on the 787, pushing down the nose of the plane.

The newspaper cited anonymous US industry officials who were briefed on preliminary findings from the investigation.

A passenger on board the LA800 flight, Brian Jokat told Stuff once the plane landed the pilot came to the back of the plane in “shock”.

“I asked ‘what happened?’ and he said ‘my gauges just blanked out, I lost all of my ability to fly the plane’.”

However, Professor of Aviation at the University of Southern Queensland Kan Tsui told Stuff Travel it was “very doubtful and unlikely the pilot lost instrumentation, due to the redundancy of the flight systems integrated in Boeing 787 Dreamliner.”

Chile is a member state of the Montréal 1999 Convention, which establishes airline liability in the case of injury to passengers, which pays up to NZD$279,000 for proven losses like medical expenses, loss of amenities of life and income loss for proven bodily injury.

Aviation lawyer Peter Carter said after the incident passengers on the flight could get compensation “in the millions.”

Carter said many passengers on the Latam flight will need compensation for medical treatment.

Latam has been approached for comment.