Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Atlantic Ocean
Saturday, April 18, 1998 14:37 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The flight was crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Paris France, to New York, New York. The flight crew had been briefed on the possibility of encountering clear air turbulence. The seat belt sign was turned on about 30 to 45 minutes prior to the encounter, and announcements were made in both French and English for the passengers to fasten their seat belts. An additional announcement was made about 10 minutes before the encounter. Meal service was taking place in the main cabin and the flight attendants were not seated. The airplane encountered clear air turbulence and several unsecured passengers and flight attendants were tossed about. In addition two seat belt fitting failed under the loads. Metallurgical examination of the failed fittings found intergranular failure. A check of additional fittings revealed specified metallurgy.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The injured passengers failure to follow the directions to fasten their seat belts, prior to an encounter with clear air turbulence.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/18/1998 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1437 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | ATLANTIC OCEAN |
| Event State | ATLANTIC OCEAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | |
| Event Date Year | 1998 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 0 |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 0 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 0 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 20 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -53 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 250 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 0 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Unknown |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | 0 |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 18 |
| Injury Total None | 399 |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 20 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1766 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 18 1998 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1500 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 28 2001 4:04AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N623FF |
| NTSB Number | NYC98FA094 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 747-200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 747-200 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 22382 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 820000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | U.S. Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 494 |
| Number of Engines | 4 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 6 1998 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 155 |
| Airframe Hours | 626 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | POLARIS HOLDING COMPANY |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 201 HIGH RIDGE ROAD |
| Aircraft Owner City | STAMFORD |
| Aircraft Owner State | CT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 06927 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | TOWER AIR INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | HANGAR 17, JFK INTL ARPT |
| Operator City | JAMAICA |
| Operator State | NY |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 11430 |
| Operator Code | TWRA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | Unknown |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger/Cargo |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | LFPO |
| Departure City | PARIS, FRANCE |
| Departure State | OF |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 711 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KJFK |
| Destination City | NEW YORK |
| Destination State | NY |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 28 2001 4:04AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 0 |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |