Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Payson, Arizona 85541
Thursday, June 5, 2003 15:28 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
About 25,000 feet during climb out, a flight attendant was injured during an encounter with moderate turbulence. The flight attendant was out of her seat in the aft galley preparing to provide cabin service. The flight crew deviated to the closest airport, the flight attendant was transported to the hospital, and the flight departed 30 minutes later for its intended destination. Prior to departure, the captain was provided with a weather package that indicated there would be a buildup of cumulonimbus clouds and thunderstorm activity up to 33,000 feet along their route of flight. During the climb out, the flight crew reported visually seeing the cumulus buildup, and verified it via their onboard weather radar. The flight crew asked for, and received, an ATC clearance to deviate to the right around the building cumulonimbus clouds. The deviation to the right of course placed the flight's path directly downwind of the buildups and potentially in the vicinity of turbulent eddies. The in-flight turbulence event occurred after the flight diverted around a primary buildup and entered into a secondary buildup that was partially masked by the primary buildup.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight's encounter with convectively induced turbulence associated with developing thunderstorms while the flight crew attempted to deviate around an area of adverse weather. The turbulence event occurred while the crew was attempting to maneuver around the identified primary buildup, and a secondary system that was partially masked by the primary cell visually and on radar was encountered.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 6/5/2003 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1528 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Payson |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85541 |
| Event Date Year | 2003 |
| Event Date Month | 6 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 341541N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1112036W |
| 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 | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1505 Mountain Standard Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 30 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | INW |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 4941 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 54 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | MST |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 35 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 13 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 240 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 9 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.73 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| 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 | 139 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 19195 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 5 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 2020 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2006 12:35PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | WP-SDL-FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N644AW |
| NTSB Number | LAX03LA181 |
| 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 | Airbus Industrie |
| Aircraft Model | A320-321 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 317 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 166400 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| 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 | Apr 1 2002 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | 4135.2 |
| Airframe Hours | 34545.5 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Wilmington Trust Company |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | Rodney Square North |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| 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 |
| Operator City | Phoenix |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 85034 |
| Operator Code | AWXA |
| 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 | PHX |
| Departure City | Phoenix |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1512 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | HFD |
| Destination City | Hartford |
| Destination State | CT |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Climb - to cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 9 2005 6:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |