Passenger shares what pilot told him after airplane’s mid-air descend

It's like living through a terrifying movie scene.That is how passengers are describing the moments on board a flight from Australia to New Zealand,when the airline says the plane encountered a technical event, one which sent people flyingthrough the cabin banging up against the ceiling, injuring at least 50 people. Now onepassenger is now talking to CNN and telling CNN that the pilot came back into thecabin and said he lost control of the plane. >> He openly admitted, he said, I lost control ofthe plane. My gauges just kind of went blank on me. And that's when the plane just took a dive.>> Other passengers described feeling a massive jolt before the plane suddenly dropped,throwing some passengers out of their seats. There was a two and a half yearold sleeping on the seat next to us.

[7:26:50 AM] seat next to us.>> On the other side. He went up in the air and landed onthe ground, but his mother was nursing a one year old so she couldn't control both.>> You know, when you are in a roller coaster and you just go like this, that's sensation.And then everything flew up. It went down and it was like very shocking. Very shocking. Yeah.>> In front of my girlfriend, she was pretty much on the roof of the cabin, the girlnext to me hit her head on the cabin. >> Today in New Zealand, the investigationinto exactly what happened continues, and they're still working to retrieve the blackboxes. Joining us now to talk more about this is.

CNN transportation analyst, the former inspectorgeneral with the department of transportation, Mary Schiavo. Mary, thank you for coming on. Sothe airline let's walk through this a bit. Some of the more some of the new details we're getting,the airline is calling it a technical event. This passenger that we just heard, speaking to CNN'sErin Burnett, says that the pilot reported to him, his gauges went blank. Then the plane took a dive.And then the pilot told the these passengers that [7:27:51 AM] the these passengers that briefly afterthe dive, the gauges came back on and everything went back to normal. What kindof malfunction could this sound like to you? >> Well, it sounds like what the pilot describeda technical malfunction. Now, ordinarily,.

When something like this happens in flight,particularly over a, you know, an ocean, they say it's clear air turbulence or turbulence thatisn't visible on the weather radar. And usually that's what this gets blamed on. But by saying itwas a technical event and the instruments briefly went blank and that he lost control of the plane,three huge clues here that does suggest there was something wrong with the plane and what that couldbe is, is obviously the mystery, but this should be a major investigation, particularly since it'sa very, you know, it's a new plane, a 787. And I searched the databases. I went back through what'scalled airworthiness directives, where Boeing has to put out warnings about its aircraft. And therewas one way back in 2015, 2016 where if they [7:28:51 AM].

Back in 2015, 2016 where if they left a787 powered continuously, this is unlikely, but powered continuously for 248 daysthat the instruments that the that the power could go blank to all the instrumentsand it would have to reset. So that's the closest thing that I can find. But it doessound like a technical event with the plane. >> How much danger do you think thisflight and these passengers were in this? >> They were in grave danger. And the pilotsaid it best himself or herself. The pilot said, I briefly lost control of the plane wheneverthat happens, that's what I call an upset event, meaning you're flying along in a, you know,an aircraft and no one is really able to control it. That is a very big deal. It's a hugeissue. The plane could have been lost. In fact,.

That's really what that means. Andwhen we've lost control of the plane, the plane itself could have been lost. It's anupset event. And I think it will get a major [7:29:52 AM] think it will get a major investigation.>> Yeah. And the fact that at least has the pilots telling through this passenger is that the gaugesgo blank and then just came back on the fact that it was kind of just left up to if the gaugeswere going to come back on. That seems absolutely terrifying. Let me ask you also, in a separatesituation with, with with the airline industry, the FAA recently audited the production of Boeing737 max jets. After that door plug incident. We've talked so much about and the FAA administratorsays that they found through this audit,.

Production, plant hygiene issues, what theydescribed as that like issues that are key to producing a quality airplane in the New YorkTimes adds to this that the company failed 33 of the 89 audits during that FAA review. And here'sBoeing, Boeing's response to the report, in part, we continue to implement immediate changesand develop a comprehensive action plan to [7:30:52 AM] comprehensive action plan to strengthensafety and quality and build the confidence of our customers and their passengers.Mary, can you add this all up for me, if you will? What do you make of this?>> Now, this is a quality control crisis for Boeing. You know, it's really inexcusablethat the FAA has waited for, you know,.

Problem and disaster and, you know, in accidentafter accident to go in and do these audits. Now they have the power to do these auditsall the time. You know, my old office, when I was inspector general, we did these kindsof audits. But to make this kind of a finding, these many problems and these many failures, Imean, you know, they failed about half of their audits, is really troubling for Boeing because,remember, they're supposed to follow their own procedures. You know, however you assemble youraircraft, there's a, you know, there are all kinds of approved edures and you must do it thatway every time. You cannot freelance. And a lot of what they found is they're just freelancing.I think one of the investigations was that they [7:31:52 AM].

Investigations was that theywere using a hotel door card and dawn dish soap instof the procedures.

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