Horrified passengers saw people hurled around the cabin of a Qantas Airbus as it hit severe turbulence during a flight from Hong Kong to Perth on Monday.
A dozen people were treated for minor injuries after the plane lifted and dropped about 250 metres due to "convective turbulence".
QF68, an A330-300 with 206 passengers and 13 crew on board, was four hours out of Hong Kong when it hit the turbulence over Borneo about 2.30am (WST), a Qantas spokesman said.
"The aircraft most likely encountered what is known as convective turbulence, which led to it rapidly gaining around 800 feet in altitude before returning to its cruising altitude of 38,000 feet," Qantas spokesman David Epstein said.
One passenger described the incident as a brief but terrifying plunge that felt "like falling out of a 30-storey building".
Others told of their horror as they saw passengers flung around the cabin, some hitting the ceiling and crashing back into seats and the cabin floor.
After the injured received first-aid treatment on board, paramedics were waiting to treat them when the plane landed in Perth about 8am (WST) on Monday.
Seven people were taken to Royal Perth Hospital, while a further five, including three children, were treated at Swan Districts Hospital, in Perth's east.
Spokeswomen for both hospitals said all 12 people were treated for injuries including bruising and neck and back pain and had been discharged by mid-afternoon.
Qantas said the aircraft's difficulties were not linked to any recent problems it has had with its A330 fleet, or the Air France A330-200 that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on May 31, killing all 228 passengers and crew.
Mr Epstein said Qantas remained confident in the A330 aircraft and would work closely with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau to determine what might be learned from this incident.
He said there had been no problems with the aircraft and only minor damage was sustained, to two overhead cabin panels.
"There is nothing to link the aircraft to anything untoward," he said.
Passengers said there were signs of panic when people who had not been strapped in were thrown around the cabin.
Perth mother Michelle Knight, who was travelling in a group of 12, including six children, said a friend had been taken to hospital after slamming into the ceiling of the cabin.
"My friend Vicky has cracked her head on the roof," Ms Knight told AAP.
"She's got a big egg on her head and has gone to hospital complaining of neck pain."
She said Vicky's children were not strapped in when the plane dropped.
"They ended up in the aisle but they weren't injured," she said.
Ms Knight said there was some panic when there "was a big flash of light outside the window".
"I thought it was like lightning but they (the crew) said it was just the lights reflecting on the clouds.
"Things went everywhere. It was pretty scary and everyone was sort of panicking for a second, not knowing what to do or expect next."
Qantas staff told passengers the plane had dropped about 100 feet, she said.
"It didn't last very long at all. It was quite bumpy all the way, but that up and down was just that."
Passenger Keith Huxtable said it felt as though the plane had "turned upside down" when it hit the air pocket.
"It appeared like we'd just dropped out of a 30-storey building," he said.
The incident was said to be similar to one during a flight from Singapore to Perth on October 7 last year, when almost 50 of the 313 people on board a Qantas A330-330 were injured as the plane plunged up to 2,000 metres.
Mr Epstein said although some media reports had suggested the aircraft was travelling through thunderstorms at the time of Monday's incident, there was no evidence of this.
Air safety authorities said two investigators had inspected the plane. Flight recorder data had been downloaded as part of the inquiry.
A preliminary report into the incident is expected within 30 days.
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