British Qantas passengers to receive jet plunge settlement

Two Britons are among those awarded thousands in compensation for being caught onboard a nose-diving Qantas jet.

Travel Insurance News - 02/01/2012

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More than 300 passengers were onboard the flight between Singapore and Perth in October of 2008 when faulty instrument readings caused the plane to plunge toward the ground.

Dozens of unfastened passengers were injured in the ordeal, 12 seriously and nearly 40 were taken to hospital; several testified that they were sure they were going to die before pilots recovered control of the Airbus A330. Many suffered broken bones, cuts, psychological damage and fractured vertebrae, lawyers said.

Now a class action lawsuit has resulted in payouts of as much as £250,000 to 144 of the passengers, including Henry and Doreen Bishop of Oxford. Henry told reporters from Australia’s ABC network on Friday that the experience was “horrendous”, recalling that he had turned to his wife and said that he hoped their death would be easy.

The final report from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said that at least 12 crewmembers and 110 passengers were injured in the incident, in which officials blamed malfunctions from Northrop Grumman-made computer systems.

Northrop Grumman, along with Airbus, was the subject of the US-based class action lawsuit, both of which have since modified the aircraft and its systems.

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