Individually Owned: 151,845
Corporate Owned: 143,699
Charlotte-Douglas Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Sophia, North Carolina 12345
Tuesady, September 18, 2012 12:30 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
On September 18th, 2012 at approximately 1230 EDT, an Airbus A330, N273AY, operated by US Airways as flight 707 from Frankfurt, Germany (FRA) to Charlotte, NC (CLT) encountered severe turbulence on descent into CLT. During the encounter, a flight attendant was seriously injured.
According to the operator, on descent into CLT the flight crew received an ACARS message from the company dispatcher handling the flight. The dispatcher indicated that a SIGMET was issued for the North Carolina area with strong winds and embedded thunderstorms. The International Relief Officer (IRO) contacted the flight attendants to advise them they would be entering an area of possible turbulence in approximately 15 minutes. An announcement was also made to the passengers over the public address system advising them to remain seated and fasten their seat belts. The seat belt sign was illuminated. The airplane was descending through approximately 16,000 feet when it entered the clouds and encountered moderate turbulence.
In the cabin, the flight attendants began preparing the cabin for arrival after receiving the turbulence advisory from the IRO. Several flight attendants were still out of their seats collecting service items and securing the galley when the turbulence encounter occurred. The "C" flight attendant was securing the aft galley during the encounter. She was lifted into the air, fell back down onto the cabin floor, and landed on her back. The "D" and "G" flight attendants also sustained minor injuries.
The flight crew contacted the flight attendants after the encounter and were notified of their injuries. The flight crew arranged for paramedics to meet the flight and remove the injured flight attendants.
The "C" flight attendant received a fracture to the distal tibia at the medial and lateral malleoli.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
an encounter with moderate turbulence while the flight attendant was securing the cabin for arrival.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/18/2012 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 1230 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Sophia |
| Event State | NORTH CAROLINA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 12345 |
| Event Date Year | 2012 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 350000N |
| Event Location Longitude | 0790000W |
| Event Location Airport | Charlotte-Douglas |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | KCLT |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 50 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 1000 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Pilot |
| Time of the weather observation | 1647 Coordinated Universal Time? Same as GMT |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KGSO |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 50 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 1700 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 1300 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Broken |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 3 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 22 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 21 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 230 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 12 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 22 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.76 |
| 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 | 158 |
| Injury Total Serious | 1 |
| Injury Total All | 1 |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 31172 |
| NTSB Notification Source | USA |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Mar 27 2013 2:28PM |
| User who most recently changed record | sedj |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N273AY |
| NTSB Number | DCA12CA149 |
| 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 | -- |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | AIRBUS INDUSTRIE |
| Aircraft Model | A330-323 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 0337 |
| 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 | 379 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| 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 | WELLS FARGO BANK NORTHWEST NA TRUSTEE |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 299 S MAIN ST FL 12 |
| Aircraft Owner City | SALT LAKE CITY |
| Aircraft Owner State | UT |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 84111 |
| 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? | No |
| Operator Street Address | -- |
| Operator City | Phoenix |
| Operator State | AZ |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | USAA |
| 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 | USAA105A |
| 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 | EDDF |
| Departure City | Frankfurt |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | GE |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | -- |
| Destination Airport Code | KCLT |
| Destination City | Charlotte |
| Destination State | NC |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Oct 22 2012 12:03PM |
| User who most recently changed record | engb |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | N/A |
| Runway Length | -- |
| Runway Width | -- |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |