A baby had the tip of its toe sliced off when its parents tried to stow away an in-flight entertainment screen on an Air New Zealand flight from Sydney in October.
The accident was among more than 2000 serious or critical events on planes reported to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 2011.
Other incidents included at least three people dying on flights, a passenger requiring medical treatment after duty-free bottles fell on her head, and a crew member falling asleep on the flight deck.
The CAA's investigation into the accident involving the "amputation" of the baby's toe is ongoing.
The CAA would not say which airline was involved, however, Air New Zealand confirmed the incident happened on one of its flights, Fairfax New Zealand reported.
More than half of the serious or critical events reported to the CAA in 2011 involved bird strikes or near-misses with birds.
There were also at least 15 reports of people smoking on planes and 20 people being drunk, drugged or disorderly.
Aviation Industry Association chief executive Irene King said drunk and disorderly people were a common source of trouble for airlines.
"It happens just about daily where passengers are escorted off aircraft," she said.
Front page
RSS Feed