Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Anchorage International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Anchorage, Alaska 99502
Monday, May 31, 2004 14:13 AKD
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
After a Boeing 757-251 airplane arrived at a terminal gate and was parked, a flight attendant went to door 2L of the aircraft. The customer service agent (CSA) positioned outside the airplane on the jetway knocked on the door. This is the signal to the flight attendant that the door will be opened, if the flight attendant provides a visible "thumbs-up" signal to the agent on the jetway. The flight attendant reported that in response to the knock, she gave a thumbs-up, and stepped away from the door. The door did not open, but she heard a second knock. The flight attendant gave a second thumbs-up through the cabin door window. As she was giving the signal, the door handle came down on her wrist. The CSA reported that after his first knock, he did not receive a thumbs-up, and knocked a second time. The flight attendant inside the airplane then gave a thumbs-up signal. The CSA then opened the airplane door from the outside. During the door opening procedure, the inside handle of the door struck the flight attendant on the forearm. The flight attendant was taken to a local hospital where she was initially diagnosed with a fractured wrist. On June 23, 2004, the operator informed the NTSB Investigator-In-Charge that the injured flight attendant had a follow-up examination with her own physician in Minnesota. The physician took additional x-rays of the injured wrist and determined that it was not broken, but had sustained a sprain. The flight attendant continued to have pain, and had a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of her wrist on July 2, 2004, which was normal. Airline personnel provided a copy of their cabin operating standards, which states, in part: "To prepare cabin door for opening; 1. CSA knocks on door and awaits "thumbs-up" signal from FA. 2. FA gives thumbs-up signal to CSA to indicate that door is disarmed and safe to open. 3. CSA opens cabin door after FA moves hands clear of door." Additional information provided by the airline indicated that the door opening procedure precludes a second thumbs-up signal unless the CSA knocks a second time.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the flight attendant to follow the appropriate door opening procedure by remaining clear of the door handle when the passenger door was opened from the outside by customer service personnel, which resulted in a wrist injury to the flight attendant when she was struck by the door handle.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 5/31/2004 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1413 |
| Event Time Zone | -- |
| Event City | Anchorage |
| Event State | ALASKA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 99502 |
| Event Date Year | 2004 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 611028N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1495947W |
| Event Location Airport | Anchorage International |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PANC |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 152 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | Not pertinent |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1353 Atlantic Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PANC |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 152 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | ADT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 7500 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 6000 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Overcast |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 12 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 140 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 21 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.82 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | Minor |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 187 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 17521 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NW Airlines |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jun 1 2004 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | 1023 |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Apr 28 2005 2:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\JOHB |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-AL-ANC FSDO 03 |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N550NW |
| NTSB Number | ANC04IA058 |
| 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 | Boeing |
| Aircraft Model | 757-251 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 26497 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 220000 |
| 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 | 199 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | AAIP |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Northwest Airlines Inc. |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 5101 Northwest Dr. |
| Aircraft Owner City | St. Paul |
| Aircraft Owner State | MN |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 55121 |
| 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 | NWAA |
| 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 | MSP |
| Departure City | MINNEAPOLIS |
| Departure State | MN |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 850 |
| Departure Time Zone | ADT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PANC |
| Destination City | Anchorage |
| Destination State | AK |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Standing - engine(s) not operating |
| Report sent to ICAO? | Yes |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | -- |
| User who most recently changed record | -- |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | NA |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |