Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Atlantic Ocean
Thursday, July 8, 1999 14:10 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was in cruise flight at 29,000 feet in smooth air with the seat belt sign turned off. The crew reported two jolts, and the airplane descended 600 feet. Due to possible injuries, the crew diverted to Bermuda (BDA) and landed. Readout of the flight data recorder indicated cruise flight at 29,000 feet with no change in heading, airspeed, or altitude for several minutes approaching the accident sequence. The altitude graph showed a slight climb before the airplane descended to 28,400 feet. The graph line indicated a slow recovery to 29,000 feet with no oscillations. The elapsed time between the first altitude excursion to recovered cruise flight was approximately 75 seconds. Of the 155 passengers on board, one passenger received serious injuries and 67 received minor injuries. The flight was scheduled for Flight Level 330 to Flight Level 370. Therefore, no information concerning forecast turbulence at Flight Level 290 was available to the flight crew. The High Level Significant Weather Prognosis chart for that period revealed that no significant weather was shown in the area where the turbulence was encountered.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the aircrew's inadvertent encounter with unforecast clear air turbulence.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 7/8/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1410 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | ATLANTIC OCEAN |
| Event State | ATLANTIC OCEAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 7 |
| 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 | Unknown |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | -- |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Full |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1355 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 180 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | TXK |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 12 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 180 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 5000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 3 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 28 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 25 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 220 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 14 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | 6 |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| 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 | 71 |
| Injury Total None | 89 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 72 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1846 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jul 8 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1450 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2001 8:55AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N12221 |
| NTSB Number | IAD99FA052 |
| 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 | 737-824 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 737-824 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 28770 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 173000 |
| 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 | 155 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 3 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 51 |
| Airframe Hours | 3639 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | FIRST SECURITY BANK |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 79 SOUTH MAIN STREET |
| Aircraft Owner City | SALT LAKE CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84111 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | CONTINENTAL AIRLINES, INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O. BOX 4607 |
| Operator City | HOUSTON |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 77210 |
| Operator Code | |
| 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 Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | Unknown |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | EWR |
| Departure City | NEWARK |
| Departure State | NJ |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1221 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | SJU |
| Destination City | SAN JUAN |
| Destination State | PR |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 9 2001 8:55AM |
| 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 | -- |