Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Dallas, Texas 79601
Sunday, April 2, 2000 22:06 CDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While cruising at FL310, the captain observed on radar that the airplane was approaching a line of thunderstorm cells, which had been forecast. The captain advised the first flight attendant to expect turbulence. He turned on the fasten seat belt sign, and he directed that cabin service be suspended and the service carts stowed. The first flight attendant notified the other flight attendants of the captain's instructions. She stated that she directed them to "stop service and take their seats immediately." The flight attendants secured the cabin, which took a few minutes. However, they had not taken their seats when the airplane encountered several jolts of moderate turbulence. The airplane's flight data recorder indicated that within a 1/2-second period the vertical acceleration changed from -0.05G to +2.37Gs. The first flight attendant (front cabin) was knocked off her feet. The three flight attendants in the aft galley were thrown upward but did not strike the ceiling before coming back down and falling to the floor. One was seriously injured. The operator's "InFlight Operations Manual" required the flight crew to use standard terminology during briefings to the flight attendants. The descriptive terms include usage of the words "light, moderate, or severe" when describing expected turbulence. Neither the captain nor any of the flight attendants reported having used/heard these terms regarding the anticipated turbulence intensity.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The en route cruise encounter with forecast moderate turbulence.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/2/2000 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 2206 |
| Event Time Zone | Central Daylight Time |
| Event City | DALLAS |
| Event State | TEXAS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 79601 |
| Event Date Year | 2000 |
| 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 | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 2053 Central Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 350 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DFW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 559 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 38 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | CDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 10000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 3600 |
| 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) | 9 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 57 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 52 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 120 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 4 |
| 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 | 2 |
| Injury Total None | 196 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 10882 |
| NTSB Notification Source | -- |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 3 2000 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 145 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 1 2001 7:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N910AW |
| NTSB Number | LAX00LA146 |
| 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 | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 757-2G7 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 757-2G7 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24523 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 240000 |
| 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 | 190 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 27 2000 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 42917 |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | AMERICA WEST AIRLINES, INC. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | WILMINGTON TRUST, TRUSTEE |
| Aircraft Owner City | WILMINGTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| 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 BLVD. |
| 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 | MCO |
| Departure City | ORLANDO |
| Departure State | FL |
| Departure Country | |
| Departure Time | 2037 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | LAS |
| Destination City | LAS VEGAS |
| Destination State | NV |
| Destination Country | |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2002 12:42PM |
| 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 | -- |