A pilot on a Boeing plane that plummeted midair said his 'gauges just kind of went blank on me,' passenger says
- A LATAM Airlines pilot reportedly told a passenger that he had momentarily "lost control" of the plane.
- Around 50 passengers were injured on Monday when a plane dropped suddenly.
A passenger on a terrifying flight between Sydney and Auckland said that the pilot admitted he momentarily "lost control of the plane," CNN reported.
LATAM Airways Flight 800 was subject to a "strong shake" midair on Monday, which is being investigated, the airline said in a statement.
Around 50 passengers were injured in the incident, which one passenger said saw the plane, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, plunge downwards, The New Zealand Herald reported.
The airline said 10 passengers and three cabin crew were taken to a medical center upon landing.
After the flight landed, passenger Brian Jokat told CNN that he spoke to the pilot, who he said told him: "My gauges just kind of went blank on me."
Jokat told CNN that he had been sleeping when the plane "dropped something to the effect of 500 feet instantly."
Opening his eyes, he said he saw "various individuals at the top of the plane. Just stuck to the roof and then they fell to the floor."
"And then I just realized I'm not in a movie, this is actually for real," he said.
Speaking to New Zealand outlet Stuff, Jokat added: "The ceiling's broken from people's heads and bodies hitting it."Another passenger, Lucas Ellwood, told Australian outlet ABC that the plane jolted without warning, which "took us all by surprise."
"It felt like an earthquake had just hit," he said.
The whole plane applauded when they finally landed, Ellwood added.
Jokat told CNN that after they were safely on the ground, the pilot checked in on the passengers. He said that the pilot told him that "for a brief moment" he had lost control of the plane, just before it fell.
"Then he said the gauges came back and it reengaged, the plane just reengaged to its normal flight pattern," Jokat said.
The flight landed in Auckland on schedule, the airline said in its statement, while apologizing for "any inconvenience and discomfort" from the incident.
LATAM Airlines did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
New Zealand's Transport Accident Investigation Commission announced on Tuesday that it will assist in an investigation into the incident being led by Chile's civil aviation authority.