Former Qantas flight attendant Fuzzy Maiava had physical and psychological injuries when he hit the ceiling of an A330 jet after computer failures sent the plane carrying 303 passengers into uncontrolled nosedives off the Western Australian coast. Photo / Dean Purcell
Former Qantas flight attendant Fuzzy Maiava had physical and psychological injuries when he hit the ceiling of an A330 jet after computer failures sent the plane carrying 303 passengers into uncontrolled nosedives off the Western Australian coast. Photo / Dean Purcell
The horror plunge on flight LA800 from Sydney to Auckland brought back scary memories for a Kiwi who survived a similar incident years ago.
And a former navy and civilian pilot who helped avert disaster has shared concerns about possible “cost-cutting” on some long-haul flights.
Mid-air events ofthis type are unusual. But if anyone can empathise with passengers and crew on Monday’s Latam 787-9 Dreamliner flight, Fuzzy Maiava can.
He said it was fortunate the Airbus had enough altitude, and that former US Air Force pilot Kevin Sullivan was at the controls.
“I’m used to turbulence, everyone is.”
But he witnessed a horror seemingly unfolding in slow motion as adrenaline took hold.
“Out the corner of me eye, I just saw two people floating up,” he told the Herald.
“Then, this sudden mad heat rush. All I could see is the floor disappearing away from me. Then: Bang! I was on the ceiling. I was knocked out, I’m not sure how long.”
When he came to, all he could hear was screaming. He saw blood bursting out of another passenger’s head.
“I saw the oxygen masks dangling.”
Maiava said his concerns moved to two unaccompanied minors - girls travelling without parents.
“Thank God I did my job. Their seatbelts were on.”
Maiava saw a panicking passenger choking on a lifejacket he’d attached to himself incorrectly.
He gestured to someone else, telling them to pop the lifejacket with a pen.
A few minutes after the first drop, the plane plunged again, this time by 400ft.
“We were in sheer shock. I was praying to God, to please make it quick so we don’t feel the pain.”
An ABC TV screengrab of injured passengers arriving at Exmouth hospital, Western Australia after QF72 from Singapore to Perth plunged over Western Australia, injuring some passengers and crew. Photo / AAP ABC
He said an off-duty airline customer service manager named Diana Casey and her off-duty pilot husband Peter Casey were on board nearby.
Maiva said Diana was about 5′7″. Maiava has been nicknamed The Mountain. He is a tall, big man.
Maybe it was the adrenaline, but Casey moved Maiava to safety.
More than 15 years later, Maiava said it helped him to talk about the incident, despite the trauma.
He hoped to share his experience to help other passengers.
“Stay buckled up at all times. If you’re going to go the bathroom, make it quick.”
An F/A-18F Super Hornet on the flight deck aboard imitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt. US Navy pilot training was credited for averting catastrophe after a cascade of technical errors in QF72. Photo / Krescent Peters, US Navy
He can still remember how to do safety briefings - and wished all passengers paid attention.
“People are looking down at the the floor, looking at their phones. You make our job harder if something bad was to happen.”
He said those who paid attention were better prepared for an emergency.
Flight attendants had more aviation knowledge than the public might imagine, he said.
“It’s not all about serving the chicken or beef.”
Maiava said he held no grudges over QF72.
Fuzzy Maiava, a father and grandfather, had numerous injuries after the horrific QF72 plunge. Photo / Dean Purcell
His thoughts were with the people injured on Monday’s Latam flight.
“The airlines should be helping them. Don’t abandon them.”
Maiava has required numerous surgeries and called QF72 “the terror flight from hell”.
But he has studied intellectual property and trademarks and started his own business on Auckland’s North Shore.
“I’m really getting the help I need.”
Maiava has since befriended Sullivan and credits the former US Navy pilot for saving many lives.
He also started a petition urging the Australian government, Qantas, and the Airbus Group to publicly recognise and commend the QF72 crew for contributions to aviation safety and heroism.
It has attracted more than 90,000 signatures.
Pilot warns of ‘cost-cutting’ risks
Sullivan told the Herald about his terrifying QF72 experience.
He expected US civil aviation regulator the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to send people to New Zealand soon to investigate LA800.
The flights might have two things in common.
One was “jet upset”, when a plane in flight unintentionally exceeded parameters normal for operations or training.
The second was both flights went nose-down and passengers hit the ceiling.
“Some are reporting turbulence, some are saying the captain lost his instrumentation momentarily,” Sullivan said.
“I’m not familiar with the 787 fly-by-wire system so I cannot speculate on its performance here,” he added.
He said in fly-by-wire, a pilot had no direct mechanical link to control surfaces - devices controlling a plane’s “attitude” or relation to the three dimensions.
Sullivan said he had concerns, broadly speaking, that cost-cutting or complacency about computer errors could be putting lives at risk.
“The EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency) and Airbus are saying: ‘Oh, it’s okay to have a single pilot on duty in the cruise because the automation is so good’.”
But Sullivan said the QF72 emergency happened in the cruise phase.
“We had three pilots ... and we were pushed to the limit.”
He said probes on the Airbus he flew took in raw data about airspeed, altitude, and temperature. In digitising raw data, one QF72 computer made the data more extreme.
“It’s supposed to be checking itself to say : This is good information.”
But that built-in test also failed.
“It said: ‘Yeah, it’s still extreme, so I’m going to protect myself now’.”
The scenario resembled the deranged HAL computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Sullivan said a cascading set of failures risked overwhelming the pilots.
He said the US Navy taught him “violent training scenarios” where he had to recover from stalls or spins.
“Luckily for me and for everybody... I was given dedicated loss-of-control training.”
Top Gun says keep your seatbelt on
Sullivan said passengers should always keep seatbelts on when not moving around the cabin.
A cascading set of failures might be rare, but sudden turbulence known as clear air turbulence was hard to detect, even with modern equipment.
The FAA in 2016 adopted an airworthiness directive for all Boeing 787–9 planes, relating to cycling of either plane electrical power or power to the three flight control modules (FCMs).
That directive followed concerns all three FCMs might “simultaneously reset” if left powered on for 22 days.
That prompted some speculation about the Latam flight.
But Sullivan said investigations should reveal the plunge’s cause.
“I don’t like to speculate until the preliminary report comes out, which should be technically in seven days’ time.”
John Weekes is the online business editor. He has covered court, crime, politics, breaking news and consumer affairs.
