My understanding is that the turbulance occurred 4 hours into a 7 1/2 hour flight. It is perfectly reasonable to expect 6 passengers of 206 to be out of their seats midflight, perhaps answering nature's call or stretching (as you should do to prevent emboli). Alright, at least one of these six were seated and decided the seatbelt was too much hassle (Vicky, see link below). However, I have noticed over the last fifteen years an increasing proportion of the passengers I have had seated in my vicinity keep their belts on when seated, to the point now where I cannot remember the last time I saw someone who decided to leave it undone. So the message is getting through, but there will always be morons!
The scare-mongers are out in full-force for this incident. The first article I saw was in the Daily Mail (don't ask). Don't forget to click link to see dramatic footage of the Air France wreckage! *sigh*:
New Airbus plunge leaves seven injured as Qantas passengers smash into ceiling
Passengers, crew and loose articles were thrown towards the ceiling as the aircraft suddenly dropped, an experience that some likened to 'falling into a hole'.
One of the people to hit the ceiling was mother Vicky Richards, from Rockingham, south of Perth, who was with a group of family and friends returning from a holiday in Hong Kong.
Miss Elsie Hudson, who was part of the group, said Vicky was not wearing a seat belt when the aircraft ran into heavy turbulence.
'There was this massive drop and Vicky who was with us, didn't have a seat belt on, hit the roof, the console, and she actually cracked it and took one of the light covers off,' said Miss Hudson.
'She was in a lot of pain in the end,' Miss Hudson told The Australian when the plane landed. 'Her headache progressed worse and worse and her neck got worse and worse and by the end she couldn't move.'
Miss Richards was taken to hospital with suspected head and neck injuries.
Miss Hudson said the captain, Paul Flack, informed passengers as they were landing in Perth that the Airbus had run into a storm which the radars had not picked up
'He said because of the temperature issue, crystals sometimes form on the instruments that pick up the radars, that pick up the clouds.
'Apparently it didn't pick it up until they were in it.'
Another man received a cut on his head when he hit the ceiling. Other passengers not wearing seat belts were also thrown from their seats.
Although a storm is being blamed for the sudden plunge, air safety investigators have begun a thorough inquiry, aware that the aircraft is the same type as the doomed Air France jet.
'It was a severe meteorological incident,' said Mr David Epstein, Qantas' corporate affairs manager.