Cockpit Mishap Might Have Caused Plunge on Latam Boeing 787: Flight Attendant Hit a Seat Switch
Wall Street Journal | March 14, 2024 | Andrew Tangel & Sharon Terlep

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 motorized 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.

[How about we change that to “cannot be used”?]

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.”

Is she . . . busty?

So the pilot wasn’t in a locked and upright position, huh? Rules for thee, but not for me.