Aviation giant Airbus is one of the defendants in a class action which has been filed in the U.S. after a computer glitch on one of its A330-300s caused significant injury to a number of passengers. In October 2008 a Qantas flight from Singapore to Perth nose-dived twice in quick succession causing passengers to fly into overhead lockers. Amongst the injuries sustained were broken teeth, torn ligaments, cuts and broken bones.
Although a final report has not yet been released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau it is believed that one of the aircraft’s data units fed the wrong information to computers causing the autopilot to fail. This in turn led to two dramatic plunges in altitude. The first was a fall of 650 feet followed quickly by a second nosedive of 400 feet.
More than a third of those on board sustained injuries and 37 of the plane’s passengers are being represented by Illinois law firm Wisner Law who specialize in aviation litigation. The class action claims that the mental and physical suffering sustained by the passengers was due to dangerous and defective circumstances. Two off-duty Qantas employees are amongst the plaintiffs.
Qantas are not a defendant in the U.S. action. They are however being sued in Australia by several passengers. Lawyer at the firm Turner and Freeman, Michael Hyland said that the airline had been cooperating fully and had already paid the treatment expenses of those who were injured. He said that this included overseas expenses as well as transport and accommodation for the victim’s families.
Since the incident Qantas has replaced the software responsible for the glitch.