Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Beatty, Nevada 89003
Thursday, September 16, 1999 21:47 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While descending toward the destination airport, the pilot was deviating around thunderstorms and using his airborne radar to identify severe cells. It was a dark night and he was unable to make visual contact with the severe weather. The captain turned on the seat belt sign 45 minutes before the accident due to 'light chop' that he had encountered earlier in the flight. He made a PA announcement in which he told the passengers to return to their seats and to fasten their seat belts. About 20 minutes prior to the accident, he directed the flight attendants to suspend service and to secure the cabin. Once again, he made a PA announcement advising passengers of the increased chance of turbulence during the remainder of the flight. The aircraft encountered turbulence that lasted a few seconds with one large 'bump' that was accompanied by a sudden altitude gain that lasted a couple of seconds. After the event, flight attendants reported injuries to several passengers. According to the flight attendants, one or more of the injured passengers were out of the seats at the time of the turbulence encounter.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
the failure of the injured passengers to remain seated with their seat belts fastened as directed by the captain.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/16/1999 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 2147 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | BEATTY |
| Event State | NEVADA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 89003 |
| Event Date Year | 1999 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2056 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 120 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | LAS |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 2179 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 110 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Bright |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 0 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | 0 |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | 0 |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 26 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 7 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| 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 | 10 |
| Injury Total None | 128 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 11 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 1826 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 30 1999 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1550 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 5 2001 4:05AM |
| User who most recently changed record | dbo |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N628AW |
| NTSB Number | LAX99LA323 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | N |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | -- |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Airbus Industrie |
| Aircraft Model | A-320-231 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | A320-231 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 067 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 164569 |
| 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 | 156 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Aug 17 1999 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 374 |
| Airframe Hours | 31622 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | WILMINGTON TRUST COMPANY, TRUS |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | RODNEY SQUARE NORTH |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19898 |
| Operator is an individual? | -- |
| Operator Name | AMERICA WEST AIRLINES, INC. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 4000 EAST SKY HARBOR BOULEVARD |
| Operator City | PHOENIX |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | |
| Operator Zip code | 85034 |
| Operator Code | AWXA |
| 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 | Domestic |
| 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 | SEA |
| Departure City | SEATTLE |
| Departure State | WA |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 1955 |
| Departure Time Zone | PDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LAS |
| Destination City | LAS VEGAS |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 28 2001 1:03PM |
| 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 | -- |