Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Cuba Cuba
Saturday, May 16, 2009 11:45 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The airplane was at flight level 350 with the autopilot engaged, and about 35 to 40 minutes from its destination, when it encountered severe turbulence. The captain had turned the seat belt light on 5 to 10 minutes before the turbulence, and the first officer had made the public address announcing that everyone needed to remain seated with their seatbelts fastened. Suddenly, the airplane encountered severe turbulence and climbed rapidly to about 500 feet above the assigned altitude; the autopilot then disengaged. The captain took control of the airplane and slowly lowered the nose. As the captain leveled the airplane, the nose pitched down and the airplane descended about 500 feet below the assigned altitude before leveling and departing the area of turbulence. At the time of the encounter, the airplane was in a layer of haze. There was no heavy precipitation noted on the radar, and no build-ups visible to the flight crew. One passenger was seriously injured, and two passengers and two flight attendants sustained minor injuries.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
An unanticipated inflight encounter with turbulence.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 5/16/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Saturday |
| Time of Event | 1145 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Cuba |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | CUBA |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 5 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 230700N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0811400W |
| 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 | 1252 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | MWCR |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 8 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| 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) | 17 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 11 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 360 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 13 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 19 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 30.28 |
| 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 | 4 |
| Injury Total None | 184 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 5 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 27093 |
| NTSB Notification Source | NTSB Comm Center |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 28 2010 3:07PM |
| User who most recently changed record | kenj |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N657DL |
| NTSB Number | ERA09LA418 |
| 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 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 232 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 24419 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 232000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | 3 |
| Passenger Seats | 183 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 188 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | May 9 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 63598 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Wilmington Trust Co Trustee |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | Delta Air Lines, Inc. |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Atlanta |
| Operator State | GA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 30320 |
| Operator Code | DALA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | Yes |
| 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 | ATL |
| Departure City | Atlanta |
| Departure State | GA |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1052 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | MWCR |
| Destination City | George Town |
| Destination State | -- |
| Destination Country | CJ |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 27 2010 5:44PM |
| User who most recently changed record | coxp |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |