Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Atlantic Ocean, --
Thursday, April 26, 2001 14:35 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The captain reported that while flying at 16000 feet in visual flight rules conditions with scattered precipitation, air traffic control (ATC) advised of an area of turbulence that was located approximately 25 to 30 miles from their present position. The flight crew was advised of a heading to fly which led the airplane into a cloud that was not depicted on the weather avoidance radar. "In this cloud we encountered moderate to severe turbulence...." According to the American Eagle Safety/Flight Service Trip Report (FSTR) which is an attachment to this report, "[flight attendant] Alvarez was finishing her beverage service and they hit turbulence. She flew into the air twice and cart came down on her right leg. She was on her way to the galley to stow cart." The captain also reported that the autopilot which was on at the time, did not disengage. A passenger who is an emergency medical technician (EMT), attended to the passenger and was assisted initially by the first officer. A medical emergency was declared and the flight continued to the destination airport and landed uneventfully. The first report to ATC occurred at 1448 local, when, while approaching the JUNUR intersection, a flightcrew member declared a medical emergency and advised the controller that the flight had encountered turbulence 50 miles back.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The in-flight encounter with moderate to severe turbulence in clouds resulting in the serious injury to the flight attendant. A contributing factor in the accident was the poor in-flight planning by the captain for his allowing beverage service to continue after being advised by ATC of an area of turbulence that was approximately 4 minutes ahead of their position.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/26/2001 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1435 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Atlantic Ocean |
| Event State | ATLANTIC OCEAN |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| 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 | 1400 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MYNN |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 22000 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1500 |
| 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) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 27 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 19 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 330 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30 |
| 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 | 11 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 11512 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Atlanta Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 26 2001 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1507 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | IMAGE |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 20 2002 1:46PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Miami International Field Office |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N223AT |
| NTSB Number | MIA01LA131 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | No |
| Damage | None |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Aerospatiale |
| Aircraft Model | ATR 42-300 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 223 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 37632 |
| 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 | 46 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Apr 10 2001 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 932 |
| Airframe Hours | 19375 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | GPA ATR II, Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 100 NE 3rd Ave., Suite 800 |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Lauderdale |
| Aircraft Owner State | FL |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 33301 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | AMERICAN EAGLE AIRLINES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 1700 W. 20th St. |
| Operator City | Dallas-Fort Worth Airport |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 75261 |
| Operator Code | SIMA |
| 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 | International |
| 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 | MEYF |
| Departure City | Georgetown |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | BF |
| Departure Time | 1355 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KMIA |
| Destination City | Miami |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 22 2002 1:14PM |
| User who most recently changed record | KENJ |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | -- |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |