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A Qantas plane - Source: ONE News -
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More than a dozen people were injured when a Qantas Airbus
struck severe turbulence on a flight from Hong Kong to Perth.
The Qantas A330-300 Airbus, with 206 passengers and 13 crew on
board, was four hours out of Hong Kong en route to Perth on Monday
when it hit an air pocket over Borneo, a Qantas spokesman said.
One passenger described the brief but terrifying plunge as "like falling out of a 30-storey building".
Although several passengers without their seatbelts fastened were hurled around the cabin, most of the injuries are believed to have been minor.
Eight patients were taken to Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) and two adults and three children were reported in a stable condition at Swan Districts Hospital in Perth's east.
An RPH spokeswoman said it was uncertain if anyone would be admitted as patients as they were still being assessed in the hospital's emergency department.
Spinal injuries were a concern, she said.
A spokeswoman for Swan Districts said the five patients at the hospital were all in a stable condition. They were being treated but none had not been admitted.
No link to Air France
Qantas said the incident was in no way linked to any recent problems with its own A330 fleet, or the Air France A330-200 which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on May 31 with the loss of all 228 people on board.
Qantas spokesman David Epstein said there had been no problems
with the aircraft involved in the latest incident, and there was
only minor damage to two overhead cabin panels.
"There is nothing to link the aircraft to anything untoward," he
said.
Passengers aboard the plane told of their horror as some who had not been strapped in were flung around the cabin.
Perth mother Michelle Knight, who was travelling in a group of 12 including six children, said a friend had been taken to hospital after slamming into the ceiling of the cabin.
"My friend Vicky has cracked her head on the roof," Ms Knight told AAP.
"She's got a big 'egg' on her head and has gone to hospital complaining of neck pain."
She said Vicky's children were not strapped in when the plane dropped.
"They ended up in the aisle but they weren't injured," she said.
Panic onboard
Knight said there was some panic.
"There was a big flash of light outside the window. I thought it was like lightning but they (the crew) said it was just the lights reflecting on the clouds.
"Things went everywhere.
"It was pretty scary and everyone was sort of panicking for a
second, not knowing what to do or expect next."
She said Qantas staff told passengers the plane had dropped about
30 metres.
"It didn't last very long at all. It was quite bumpy all the
way, but that up and down, was just that," she said.
Passenger Keith Huxtable said it felt as though the plane had
"turned upside down" when it hit the air pocket.
"It appeared like we'd just dropped out of a 30-storey building," he said.
Monday's incident was said to be similar to one that occurred on a Perth-bound flight from Singapore on October 7 last year, when almost 50 of the 313 people on board a Qantas A330-330 were injured as the plane plunged at least 100 metres.
There have been several other incidents involving A330s in recent months, including a cockpit fire aboard a Qantas Jetstar A330-200 flying from Japan to Australia on June 11 which forced the pilot to land in Guam.
On January 21, an A330-200 carrying 80 Australian defence personnel and supplies to the Middle East was forced to make an emergency landing in Darwin after fumes filled the cabin. Three people were hospitalised.
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