Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
N/A Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Buena Vista, Colorado
Sunday, April 15, 2012 5:49 UTC
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On 15 April 2012, at approximately 0549 UTC, US Airways flight 496, an Airbus A319-132, registration N808AW, encountered severe mountain wave turbulence at flight level 320 in the vicinity of Buena Vista, Colorado. Of the 98 passengers and crew onboard, two flight attendants received serious injuries and one passenger received minor injuries during the encounter. There were no pilot reports of turbulence in the area prior to the encounter. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight between Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (KPHX), Phoenix, Arizona, and Denver International Airport (KDEN), Denver, Colorado.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Not Yet Reported
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 4/15/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 549 |
| Event Time Zone | Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Event City | Buena Vista |
| Event State | COLORADO |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 4 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | N/A |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | -- |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | -- |
| 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/Dark |
| 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 | Serious |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | 1 |
| Injury Total None | 95 |
| Injury Total Serious | 2 |
| Injury Total All | 3 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | USAirways |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 13 2013 12:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sedj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N808AW |
| NTSB Number | DCA12FA062 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | AIRBUS INDUSTRIE |
| Aircraft Model | A319-132 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1088 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | -- |
| 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 | 179 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | -- |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | Unknown |
| ELT Activated | Unknown |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | Unknown |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | U S BANK NA TRUSTEE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | CORPORATE TRUST SERVICES |
| Aircraft Owner City | BOSTON |
| Aircraft Owner State | MA |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 02110 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | US AIRWAYS INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | Yes |
| Operator Street Address | CORPORATE TRUST SERVICES |
| Operator City | BOSTON |
| Operator State | MA |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 02110 |
| Operator Code | USAA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | USAA105A |
| 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 | KPHX |
| Departure City | Phoenix |
| Departure State | AZ |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 450 |
| Departure Time Zone | UTC |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | -- |
| Destination City | Denver |
| Destination State | CO |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Nov 13 2013 12:18PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sedj |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | -- |
| Air Medical Flight | -- |
| Medical Flight | -- |