Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Los Angeles Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Los Angeles, California 90045
Thursday, April 12, 2007 13:15 PDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
While at flight level FL400 (40,000 feet) the flight deck received information about turbulence below 12,000 feet. The captain advised the flight attendants to have the cabin secured and be in their seats within 15 minutes. The first officer gave the 'prepare for landing' announcement in the descent around flight level FL250 (25,000 feet), which was after the captain had notified the flight attendants to prepare the cabin, but before the end of the stated 15 minutes. While descending through 15,500 feet, the airplane experienced a moderate 'jolt' lasting 1-2 seconds. By this time it had been more than 15 minutes since the captain gave the flight attendants the secure cabin instructions. The cabin crew reported injuries to all flight attendants and no injuries to passengers. All six flight attendants received medical attention after landing. One flight attendant was seriously injured with a closed fibular fracture; the five other flight attendants had minor injuries. The first officer said that turbulence during their departure had been very bad, therefore, in order to mitigate any passenger anxiety, when he made the 'prepare for landing' announcement, he added that the turbulence would not be as bad as it was on departure. He understood the captain's instructions to the flight attendants, and this announcement was aimed solely at the passengers. The flight attendants confirmed that they understood the captain's instructions to have the cabin cleaned up and be seated within 15 minutes. As they were finishing the cabin clean up, the first officer's 'prepare for landing' announcement indicated that the turbulence would not be as bad as they had been told to expect. The flight attendants may have interpreted this added information concerning turbulence as a relaxation of the captain's earlier instructions. The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) indicated the turbulence occurred as the aircraft was coming out of a 12-degree right bank and descending through 15,400 pressure altitude. The event lasted approximately 10-11 seconds. The bank angle of the aircraft was between 8 and 1 degrees right wing down during the event. Vertical acceleration fluctuated between .5 and 2.06 G's. Longitudinal acceleration spiked up to .2 G's about the same time as the 2 G vertical spike. Lateral acceleration fluctuated between .1 G left and .05 G's to the right during the incident. The data showed that the autopilot was engaged and in control of the aircraft during the incident.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight's encounter with a turbulence event that occurred while the flight attendants were unseated. Contributing to the accident was the apparent conflicting information provided by the flight deck to the flight attendants and the flight attendants' interpretation of that information.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/12/2007 |
| Event Day of the Week | Thursday |
| Time of Event | 1315 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Daylight Time |
| Event City | Los Angeles |
| Event State | CALIFORNIA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 90045 |
| Event Date Year | 2007 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 335633N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1182429W |
| Event Location Airport | Los Angeles |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KLAX |
| 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 | 2050 Pacific Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KLAX |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | PDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 700 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 7 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 19 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -6 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 320 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 20 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 32 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.84 |
| 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 | 5 |
| Injury Total None | 106 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 6 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 22784 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Apr 13 2007 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 20 2007 6:59AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\johb |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Los Angeles, CA |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N525UA |
| NTSB Number | LAX07LA127 |
| 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 | 757-200 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24978 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 236800 |
| 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 | 120 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Mar 1 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 54600 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | -- |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Finova Capital Leasing |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Scottsdale |
| Aircraft Owner State | AZ |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 85258 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | UNITED AIRLINES |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Chicago |
| Operator State | IL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 60666 |
| Operator Code | UALA |
| 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 | KJFK |
| Departure City | New York |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1151 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KLAX |
| Destination City | Los Angeles |
| Destination State | CA |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Descent - normal |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 30 2007 4:11PM |
| User who most recently changed record | COOS |
| 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 | -- |