Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Bavaro
Monday, August 3, 2009 3:55 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Captain stated that the ride had been smooth at their cruise altitude of 36,000 feet and he was able to see lights on the ground below with good forward visibility as well. The autopilot was engaged, both weather radar devices were on and functioning normally, and the seat belt sign was illuminated. Seconds after he initiated a climb to 38,000 feet, the aircraft encountered an initial severe bump followed by a few seconds of moderate turbulence and a final severe bump within the span of about ten seconds. The aircraft continued to climb and level off at 38,000 feet.
The Captain was notified that there were some passenger and flight attendant injuries and made the decision to declare a medical emergency diversion to Miami International Airport in Florida where the aircraft landed one hour and forty minutes later.
The FDR data indicated that, upon a climb from 36,000 feet to 38,000 feet, the vertical acceleration changed from 1.0 g’s to 2.0 g’s in one second, continued to oscillate from 2.0 g’s to 0.9’s for seven seconds before returning to 1.0 g’s and then immediately accelerating to -1.0 g’s in 0.5 seconds. No pilot reports near the location and close to the time of the turbulence encounter were found on record, and the weather document issued for the incident flight showed no predicted turbulence activity at the time of the turbulence event in the turbulence region. In addition, a meteorological study using satellite weather imagery at the time of the incident indicated the presence of isolated, rapidly developing cumulus congestus to cumulonimbus clouds under the airplane’s flight path.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The flight crew's inadvertent flight through the top of a convective updraft that resulted in an encounter with convective induced turbulence. Contributing to the severity of the incident was the unrestrained status of several passengers, contrary to the lighted seat belt sign.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 8/3/2009 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 355 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Bavaro |
| Event State | -- |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2009 |
| Event Date Month | 8 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 194413N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0683315W |
| 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 | Unknown |
| 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 | -- |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 33 |
| Injury Total None | 146 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | 33 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 27 2011 3:01PM |
| User who most recently changed record | schd |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N76156 |
| NTSB Number | DCA09IA071 |
| 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 | 767-224 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 30435 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 395000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 4 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | 8 |
| Passenger Seats | 174 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 186 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Jul 31 2009 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 38844 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INC |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1600 SMITH ST |
| Aircraft Owner City | HOUSTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | TX |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 77002-7362 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | 1600 SMITH ST |
| Operator City | HOUSTON |
| Operator State | TX |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 77002-7362 |
| Operator Code | CALA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | GIG |
| Departure City | Rio de Janeiro |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | BR |
| Departure Time | 2145 |
| Departure Time Zone | UTC |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | IAH |
| Destination City | Houston |
| Destination State | TX |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | May 20 2011 9:23AM |
| User who most recently changed record | lovj |
| 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 | -- |