Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Springfield, Virginia 22150
Monday, April 9, 2001 22:00 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
As the flight approached its destination, it entered an area of convective activity. The first officer contacted the flight attendant and advised her that she should secure the cabin due to possible turbulence. While descending through 4,000 feet, the airplane encountered "moderate or greater chop." During the encounter, the flight attendant was thrown to the floor while attempting to secure the galley. The captain elected to divert the flight to another airport, where it landed uneventfully. The weather recorded at the destination airport, about the time of the accident, included surface winds at 17, gusting to 22 knots, decreasing thunderstorms, scattered cumulonimbus clouds at 4,200 feet, a broken cloud layer at 9,500 feet, and an overcast layer at 11,000 feet.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An inadvertent encounter with turbulence during descent.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/9/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 2200 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Springfield |
| Event State | VIRGINIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 22150 |
| Event Date Year | 2001 |
| 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 | 2200 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 0 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | DCA |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 15 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 12 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 9500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 4200 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 21 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 14 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 17 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 22 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.82 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | Light |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 13 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11345 |
| NTSB Notification Source | PSA Airlines Inc., |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 11 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 900 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 23 2002 7:13AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA FSDO-21 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N423JS |
| NTSB Number | NYC01LA096 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Dornier |
| Aircraft Model | 328-100 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 3032 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 27800 |
| 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 | 35 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 7 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 14 |
| Airframe Hours | 15864 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | PSA AIRLINES INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 3400 Terminal Drive |
| Aircraft Owner City | Vandalia |
| Aircraft Owner State | OH |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 45377 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | -- |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | -- |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | VNAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| 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) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | CHS |
| Departure City | Charleston |
| Departure State | SC |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 2005 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | DCA |
| Destination City | Washington |
| Destination State | DC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 29 2001 8:06AM |
| User who most recently changed record | COXP |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |