Live data from Hacker News

Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

rnz.co.nz

51–60 of 158 posts

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#51
post #25
post #5

What I don't get is why people are not using seatbelts. The only time I'm not using it is when I'm on the way to and from the bathroom. If I'm seated I'm using the seatbelt.

I was under the impression that seatbelts are basically mandatory at all times. On my recent turkish airlines flight the safety video requested you put it on and leave it on, ans the staff would come by and ask you to put your seatbelt on, even when theres no turbulence. The "seat belt" indicator light should actually be changed to "dont get up and walk around"

On the half dozen (European) airlines I’ve flown, it’s always been “seatbelts are recommended at all times”. Never a requirement.

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#52
post #10
post #5

What I don't get is why people are not using seatbelts. The only time I'm not using it is when I'm on the way to and from the bathroom. If I'm seated I'm using the seatbelt.

After the recent incidents, I’d love to see zip line style safety lines in planes. When you get up to use the lavatory, you’d connect your carabiner to the aisle ceiling and floor lines to keep you level in case of a sudden movement.

This idea wouldn’t actually solve most of the biggest problems during turbulence, which is people hitting their heads on the ceiling, and people getting hit by luggage falling out of the overhead storage.

I think having a cable flying around would actually be dangerous in itself. Wouldn’t want to get it caught around your neck…

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#53
post #11
post #5

What I don't get is why people are not using seatbelts. The only time I'm not using it is when I'm on the way to and from the bathroom. If I'm seated I'm using the seatbelt.

This. Clear Air Turbulence can strike at any time, and you - as in your body - can get seriously damaged even with moderate turbulence. Few people have ever seen severe or extreme turbulence, including the flight crews, but that can happen as well.

When I was 5 or 6 years old I was flying-sitting with my dad, as passengers, though he was an airline pilot, when we hit a pocket of "dead" air. Meals and drinks were just served. For what was at least 3-5 seconds all of the meal trays floated up, hovered and then thankfully relatively gently settled back down. My dad estimated we dropped 200 feet or so.

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#54
post #9
post #6

This seems to be attributed to a technical problem and not turbulence so far. Probably should be a bit skeptical about any explanation this early, but I'm wondering which systems would be powerful enough to cause something like this. For example, would a pilot be able to manually fly the airplane and cause this kind of incident? Or would the control surfaces of the plane be able to cause this assuming that any safety…

It's very easy to get to slightly below 0g by just pushing on the stick or yoke, and that would be enough to cause what the passengers describe here. You could even get well below 0g. Almost all turbulence of the sort that you can experience in flight are not even 10% of the durability limits of the airframe. EDIT: I was also thinking about "well why should the airplane allow the pilot for such movements then?". And…

What about flight laws/flight control modes that prevent this thing from happening?

Unless the aircraft was flying in a degraded state, these limits are supposed to prevent the aircraft from suffering damage during flight.

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#55
post #5

What I don't get is why people are not using seatbelts. The only time I'm not using it is when I'm on the way to and from the bathroom. If I'm seated I'm using the seatbelt.

Probably the same reason people don't use seatbelts in buses, I'm very often the only one wearing a seatbelt when I travel by bus

I've seen aftermath videos and photos, I'm not taking my chances

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#56
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Latam is Chilean. I am not as well traveled in all SA countries but the exposure I have had suggested that seatbelts in cars are fairly optional still, I suspect on a plane you have less incentive.

In BsAs it's common to hop in a cab and find, as a courtesy, that they've tucked the safety belts in-between the seat cushions so you have a comfortable ride.

Yeah, we tried (and failed) to dig out the buried cab seatbelts in Lima and Cusco.

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#57
post #5

What I don't get is why people are not using seatbelts. The only time I'm not using it is when I'm on the way to and from the bathroom. If I'm seated I'm using the seatbelt.

My god could you imagine if this happened when you were in the bathroom?

It's not the worst place actually, you can't pick up too much momentum since the cabin is so small

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#58
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After the recent incidents, I’d love to see zip line style safety lines in planes. When you get up to use the lavatory, you’d connect your carabiner to the aisle ceiling and floor lines to keep you level in case of a sudden movement.

This idea wouldn’t actually solve most of the biggest problems during turbulence, which is people hitting their heads on the ceiling, and people getting hit by luggage falling out of the overhead storage. I think having a cable flying around would actually be dangerous in itself. Wouldn’t want to get it caught around your neck…

> This idea wouldn’t actually solve most of the biggest problems during turbulence, which is people hitting their heads on the ceiling, …

It’s two cable lines, one on the ceiling and one on the floor. Each would be separately attached to the passengers harness so the freedom of movement is only up and down, limited to the amount of slack in the short length that connects the passenger to the plane.

> … and people getting hit by luggage falling out of the overhead storage.

We can give everyone a hard hat too.

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#59
post #44
post #23

Interestingly, this flight (Sydney-Santiago, via Auckland) is one of a few that many flat-earthers insist does not exist, since it contradicts a theory they have. They'd plot the paths of long-distance flights on a polar azimuthal equidistant projection of earth[0], and note that some one-stop flights look like a straight line on this projection. But those which don't look like a straight line (i.e. that suggest they…

I flew many times between South America and NZ/Australia (and once from LA to Sydney, one of the longest flights you can get), including this exact flight, and find that's hilarious.

Yeah I've known someone (a family, actually) who did the same. In case you want a bit of light entertainment, the video where I learned about this is here - don't worry it's debunking flat earth, not in favour it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gFsOoKAHZg

Re: Latam Airlines SYD to AKL flight: 50 people treated after mid-air incident

#60
post #5

What I don't get is why people are not using seatbelts. The only time I'm not using it is when I'm on the way to and from the bathroom. If I'm seated I'm using the seatbelt.

What I don't get is why they serve hot coffee on planes with these ever present risks.
Post reply on HN