The Air Current, an aviation industry publication, reported on Wednesday that the movement of a flight deck seat is a key focus of the probe into a sudden mid-air dive by a LATAM Airlines Boeing 787 plane that resulted in over 50 people injured.
The plane heading from Sydney to Auckland on Monday suddenly dropped before stabilizing, scattering passengers around the cabin.
Cockpit Seat Movement Under Scrutiny
According to a senior aline safety official briefed on the incident, it was determined that the movement of a cockpit seat was "pilot induced, not intentional."
A current report said that the seat movement caused the nose down and cited another anonymous source who added the possibility of an electrical short was also under scrutiny.
The ABC has gathered information consistent with these reports, although it was impossible to verify the material independently.
Veteran aviation journalist Jon Ostrower described how the 787's pilot chairs are movable with a button on the chair's back in an article on Air Current.
In videos captured inside the Boeing plane's flight deck, the switch that moves the seats forward and backward is visible. LATAM Airlines has not responded to ABC's inquiry about any potential seat change.
The airline said it was inappropriate to comment on any rumors and that it continues to work in coordination with the authorities to support the investigation.
Passenger Brian Joket told ABC earlier this week that a pilot had mentioned that the gauges went blank, but the Air Current sources report that was not the main focus of the investigation.
Professor Doug Drury, head of Aviation at Central Queensland University and former pilot of 40 years, said that although he had not dismissed the report of a potential electrical failure, a key piece of evidence was missing.
He said there are too many variables because a cockpit going blank and shutting the autopilot off is the main issue, and the seat moving forward without the pilot caused the event.
Furthermore, he added that if it was not an electrical failure, the only other thing that could have caused that would be the disengagement of the autopilot system and somebody bumping the controls forward. He said that the black boxes would be able to assist the investigators with this.
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New Zealand, Chilean Authorities Lead Investigation
On Tuesday, New Zealand authorities seized the flight's cockpit voice and data recorders on behalf of Chilean authorities.
According to Dr. Drury, if the settings on the back of the seat had been changed, that sound would have been recorded because the flight deck microphones are made to pick up even the smallest sounds.
He said microphones are all over the flight deck to pick up all these noises, and they will be used in the investigation.
Chilean authorities are handling the investigation because the incident occurred in international airspace, and LATAM is a Chilean airline.
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