ANA Plane Makes Steep Dive over Shizuoka
Japan Today | Sep. 08, 2011
Two ANA cabin attendants were injured when the plane they were working on unexpectedly made a sharp dive over Shizuoka Prefecture on Tuesday, the airline said Wednesday.
ANA said in a statement to media that the plane went into a dive when the co-pilot hit the wrong switch while attempting to unlock the cockpit door. Flight 140, with 117 passengers and crew on board, was on its way from Naha in Okinawa to Haneda Airport in Tokyo. ANA said no passengers were injured.
According to the Transportation Ministry, the Boeing 737-700 dived approximately 1,900 meters in under 30 seconds during the incident that took place just before 11 p.m. The co-pilot was apparently moving to open the cockpit door for the captain, who was returning from the restroom, and inadvertently hit the switch for the rudder that changes the plane's heading, causing the aircraft to lose stability.