WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday it was adopting an airworthiness directive for Boeing 787 Dreamliners following an incident in March when a LATAM Airlines plane went into a sudden mid-air dive that injured more than 50 passengers.
The FAA said the apparent reason for the dive was the uncommanded movement of the captain’s seat, which caused the auto-pilot to disconnect. The agency said it had received a total of five reports of similar problems with the captain and first officer’s seats on 787s, the most recent in June.
The FAA said airlines flying Boeing’s 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10 airplanes should inspect the seat switches.
Boeing and LATAM Airlines did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Eric Beech and David Shepardson; editing by Rami Ayyub)