Jetliner's plunge leaves eight hurt

By SCOTT INGLIS and JASON COLLIE

Korean passengers smashed into overhead lockers when their New Zealand-bound airliner plummeted up to 100m during severe turbulence.

Seven passengers and one crew member suffered chest, neck, back and leg injuries when the Korean Air Boeing 777 struck heavy clear-air turbulence yesterday about five hours after takeoff from Seoul.

Clear-air turbulence occurs when a plane hits a sudden change in air conditions in no cloud, much like a boat hitting a huge wave. The plane was 33,000ft (10,000m) over the equator and the terror lasted several seconds.

Ambulances took the injured to Middlemore Hospital emergency department after a 10.20 am touchdown in Auckland.

The injuries were minor and included a broken rib. One passenger with chest injuries was kept overnight for observation.

Flight KE823's 279 other passengers were belted in after an earlier turbulence warning from the captain. It is understood that most of the injured were walking about or going to the toilet.

The five men and two women do not speak English and refused to talk about their terrifying experience through interpreters.

But another passenger, Korean Air 747-400 pilot Jong Ki Park, told the Herald last night that it was one of the worst cases of turbulence he had experienced in 35 years' flying.

Mr Park was a first-class passenger and asleep when the turbulence struck.

"Yeah, it was bad - severe turbulence. It's very, very dangerous."

The injured were part of a 21-strong tourist group headed for Rotorua, then Christchurch and Queenstown for six days before flying on to Sydney.

Airport operations general manager David Hansen said: "We do not have this happen very often.

"More often it is for other medical conditions that we get a call advising us that somebody on board needs some assistance."

An ambulance spokeswoman added: "They said there were up to 21 initially, but we transported seven very stable patients to Middlemore.

"They were walking wounded and those who needed observation."

Soojeon Park, Korean Air manager in New Zealand, said the turbulence was the worst he had heard of between South Korea and New Zealand.

"Some people hurt were on their way to the toilet and others, who had not fastened their seatbelts, hit their heads on the overhead bins.

"It was very heavy turbulence. Sometimes there is a little bit, but never this much from Seoul to New Zealand."

The plane was not damaged and flew on to Christchurch, he said.

A number of factors can cause clear-air turbulence from different temperatures or pressures in an area. It is sometimes associated with jet streams between Australia and Indonesia.

In 1996, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747-400 hit severe turbulence over the Southern Alps, leaving 11 crew with moderate injuries, including a fractured wrist and broken arm.

The plane plunged dramatically when it hit clear-air turbulence in strong northwest winds at a height of 2440m.

The passengers had been asked to buckle their seatbelts for landing, but the crew were still making preparations when the plane hit turbulence.

Two years ago, a 32-year-old Japanese woman died when a United Airlines flight dropped 300m on a flight between Tokyo and Honolulu. Eighty-three people, including nine attendants, were also injured.

The flight, two hours out of Tokyo, was buffeted by strong winds over the northern Pacific. Serving carts - the meal had just finished - were flung to the ceiling and crashed back down, passengers were hurled about the cabin and the ceiling was damaged.