Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Chicago O-Hare Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Chicago, Illinois 60018
Friday, February 23, 2007 12:22 UTC
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
A flight attendant was seriously injured during an in-flight encounter with unforecast moderate to severe turbulence. The international air carrier flight was in cruise flight at the time of the accident. The captain stated the flight "encountered a brief (2-3 second) but very intense moderate-to-severe turbulence event" at flight level 340. He noted that continuous moderate turbulence continued for approximately 30 seconds, and periods of occasional-to-continuous moderate chop continued for about 10 minutes after the initial encounter. He added that there were no returns on the weather radar, and no pilot reports or adverse ride reports received from air traffic control. The fasten seat belt sign was on at the time of the encounter because the flight had encountered light chop after leveling off at cruise altitude. He reported that the ride had been smooth for approximately 10 minutes prior to the turbulence event. The injured flight attendant stated that she was working in the aft galley when the turbulence began. She reported that she hit her head on the ceiling and landed on the galley floor with her leg bent under her. The Flight Data Recorder (FDR) revealed that the airplane encountered a vertical acceleration ranging from 0.245 G to 1.246 G. The data also indicated that the autopilot was engaged, and no pitch inputs were made from the cockpit at the time of the encounter. Postaccident inspections did not reveal any damage to the airplane.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An in-flight encounter with turbulence during cruise flight.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 2/23/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Friday |
| Time of Event | 1222 |
| Event Time Zone | Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Event City | Chicago |
| Event State | ILLINOIS |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 60018 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 2 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 415843N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0875417W |
| Event Location Airport | Chicago O-Hare Intl |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | ORD |
| 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 | -- |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Night |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | -- |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 103 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 23012 |
| NTSB Notification Source | American Airlines |
| NTSB Notification Date | Feb 24 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 28 2008 3:59PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | FAA-O'Hare FSDO |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N779AN |
| NTSB Number | CHI07LA078 |
| 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 | 777 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 29955 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 648000 |
| 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 | -- |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | American Airlines Inc |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Fort Worth |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| 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 | AALA |
| 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 | PVG |
| Departure City | Shanghai |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | CH |
| Departure Time | 951 |
| Departure Time Zone | UTC |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | ORD |
| Destination City | Chicago |
| Destination State | IL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Cruise |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jan 25 2008 1:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | SULP |
| 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 | -- |