Boeing orders airlines to check 787 cockpit seats after an incident in Latin America

Boeing has ordered airlines to check the cockpit seats of its 787 Dreamliner plane, the company said Friday, after a Latam Airlines plane suddenly crashed Monday during a flight to Auckland, New Zealand, injuring passengers.

The drop in altitude appears to have been caused when a flight attendant pressed a switch on a seat, putting a pilot in control of the plane, The Wall Street Journal reported this week, citing unnamed U.S. industry officials. Aviation regulators are investigating the incident and have not released any findings.

In a statement, Boeing said it had reminded airlines of a 2017 safety memo that instructed them on inspecting and maintaining switches on cockpit seats.

“The investigation into Flight LA800 is ongoing and we are submitting any findings to investigating authorities,” the company said. “We recommend that operators perform an inspection at the next maintenance visit,” the report said.

The harrowing fall from the Latam plane was documented in video footage taken by passengers. The plane fell abruptly and then recovered quickly, said a passenger, Brian Jokat, likening it to “coming over the top of a roller coaster and going down.”

The fall left at least one passenger in critical condition; Eleven other people were also taken to hospitals in Auckland after the plane landed there. All told, dozens of passengers suffered injuries, most of them minor.

Regulators, airlines and travelers have been intensely focused on the quality and safety of Boeing planes since a Jan. 5 incident in which a panel clipped an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 plane, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing. In 2018 and 2019, two 737 Max 8 planes crashed in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killing nearly 350 people.

The 787 Dreamliner, a twin-aisle jetliner, is one of Boeing’s flagship aircraft. The three models can carry 248 to 336 passengers, according to Boeing, and are used by airlines on international and transcontinental flights.

Latam’s plane was flying from Sydney, Australia, to Auckland and was due to travel to Santiago, Chile, where the airline is based. The company said in a statement Friday that it is cooperating with investigators.