In response to a flight in March in which the plane’s abrupt descent caused injuries to passengers, US officials announced on Monday that they had requested inspections of the pilot seats on hundreds of Boeing 787 aircraft.
Following a report “of uncommanded movement of the captain’s seat in the forward direction that caused a rapid descent,” the Federal Aviation Administration announced in a statement that it is now requiring inspections.
The FAA stated that the airworthiness directive, which impacts 158 US-registered 787 Dreamliner models and 737 aircraft globally, also requires operators to carry out the appropriate corrective actions.
The action was taken in reaction to a March flight on a LATAM Airlines aircraft headed for New Zealand that abruptly plummeted while in route from Sydney to Auckland, injuring about fifty people.
Since that incident, the FAA has received reports from Boeing of four additional instances of “uncommanded horizontal movement” of the captain and first officer’s seats, the agency said.
Three of the incidents were due to “loose” switch caps on the seat, while the other two incidents are under investigation, the FAA said.
The “unintended and sustained movement of the seat” can lead to “in-flight upset from unintended and abrupt flight control inputs, which could result in a rapid descent of the airplane and serious injury to passengers and crew,” the FAA said.
“The FAA is issuing this airworthiness directive to address the unsafe condition on these products,” the agency added.
Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
