Aruba, Netherlands Antilles Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report

Caribbean Sea
Wednesday, September 29, 2004 13:45 EDT

NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident

The captain said the seat belt sign was illuminated and he made a public address requesting that passengers stay seated with their seat belts fastened. He said they encountered very brief moderate turbulence and a flight attendant was injured. The first officer/pilot-not-flying stated that prior to the turbulence event the captain had illuminated the seat belt sign, and had made a public address. The first officer also said that he had contacted the flight attendants and told them to stay seated. He said he then requested and received clearance to deviate around known weather ahead of their flight path. He said they did not penetrate any weather as seen on the airplane's display, but that they were in instrument meteorological conditions, and returned to visual meteorological conditions momentarily, after which another cloud was in front of them, but there was no precipitation associated with it on the radar display. He said there was not enough time to maneuver, and they were within the cloud for about 5 seconds at which time the turbulence occurred. One flight attendant stated that the time between the captain's announcement and the actual turbulence was a mere few seconds. A second flight attendant stated that she along with two other flight attendants were in the aft galley when the seat belt light was turned on to indicate initial approach when about 20 minutes away from Aruba. She further stated that there was normal light chop as they prepared the galley for landing. The second flight attendant said that the passengers were seated, when suddenly they encountered severe turbulence and the airplane dropped and jolted several times. A third flight attendant said that approximately 100 miles out from Aruba the captain turned on the seat belt sign and asked every one to be seated. She said the two flight attendants in the back were cleaning and stowing catering items and were not seated. Examination of the flight data recorder showed multiple vertical acceleration cycles between about positive 1.8 and 0.0 Gs, associated with the event.

NTSB Probable Cause Narrative

An inadvertent encounter with severe turbulence during cruise, which resulted in a flight attendant being injured.

Event Information

Type of Event Accident
Event Date 9/29/2004
Event Day of the Week Wednesday
Time of Event 1345
Event Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Event City Caribbean Sea
Event State --
Event Country --
Zipcode of the event site --
Event Date Year 2004
Event Date Month 9
MidAir Collision Indicator No
On Ground Collision occurred ? No
Event Location Latitude 130000N
Event Location Longitude 0713000W
Event Location Airport Aruba, Netherlands Antilles
Event Location Nearest Airport ID AUA
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
Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) --
Weather Observation Facility ID TNCA
Elevation of weather observation facility --
Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) --
Time Zone of the weather observation --
Lighting Conditions Day
Lowest Ceiling Height 30000
Lowest Non-Ceiling Height 1800
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) 31
Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) 24
Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) 70
Variable Wind Indicator Wind direction could be determined
Wind Speed (knots) 11
Wind Velocity Indicator --
Wind Gust Indicator Unknown
Wind Gust (knots) --
Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) 29.77
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 144
Injury Total Serious 1
Injury Total All 1
Investigating Agency NTSB
NTSB Docket Number (internal use) 18319
NTSB Notification Source FAA ATL Comm. Center
NTSB Notification Date Sep 29 2004 12:00AM
NTSB Notification Time 1600
Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information DMS
Date of most recent change to record Sep 13 2005 12:54PM
User who most recently changed record NTSB\JOHB
Basic weather conditions Visual Meteorological Cond
FAA District Office FAA International Office

Aircraft Involved

Aircraft #1

Aircraft Registration Number N109DL
NTSB Number MIA04LA134
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 Boeing
Aircraft Model 767-232
Aircraft Series Identifier --
Aircraft Serial Number 22221
Certified Max Gross Weight 300000
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 213
Number of Engines 2
Fixed gear or retractable gear Retractable
Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection Continuous Airworthiness
Date of Last Inspection Aug 1 2004 12:00AM
Airframe hours since last inspection --
Airframe Hours 67045.5
ELT Installed No
ELT Activated No
ELT Aided Location of Event Site No
ELT Type --
Aircraft Owner Name Delta Air Lines Inc.
Aircraft Owner Street Address Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport
Aircraft Owner City Atlanta
Aircraft Owner State GA
Aircraft Owner Country USA
Aircraft Owner Zipcode 30320
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 DALA
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 KATL
Departure City Atlanta
Departure State GA
Departure Country USA
Departure Time 1029
Departure Time Zone EDT
Destination Same as Local Flt --
Destination Airport Code TNCA
Destination City Oranjestad
Destination State --
Destination Country AA
Specific Phase of Flight Descent - normal
Report sent to ICAO? Yes
Evacuation occurred No
Date of most recent change to record Jul 12 2005 11:05AM
User who most recently changed record KENJ
Since inspection or accident Time of Accident
Event Location Runway Number and Location NA
Runway Length --
Runway Width --
Sight Seeing flight No
Air Medical Flight No
Medical Flight --