FlarePathAir-accident investigation intelligence

Investigation brief · generated 2026-10-09 · source: NTSB public docket and accident database

BOEING 737-7H4 — Pawnee, NE, USA, 2012-02-23

NTSB number

WPR12LA119

Operator

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO

Registration

N915WN

Highest injury

Serious injury

Regulation

Part 121

Damage

—

Cohort

Part 121 airline

Recorder data

Tier 1 — decoded recorder tables

Every sentence below is taken directly from NTSB records — the accident database, the docket's recorder reports and the Board's findings — with its source noted. Nothing is paraphrased or inferred.

NTSB summary

The airplane had been cruising in smooth air conditions for over 30 minutes when it suddenly encountered 2 to 3 seconds of moderate turbulence. The momentary altitude and roll deviation of the airplane, which was corrected by the autopilot, threw one of the flight attendants against the airplane structure, which resulted in a serious injury to her hand. The flight crew had not been given any turbulence advisories by air route traffic controllers, and the flight crew had not overheard any airplanes in the area reporting moderate turbulence. Immediately after the encounter, the airplane continued in smooth air conditions.

Verbatim, NTSB aviation accident database (narratives.narr_accf).

Probable cause

The airplane's encounter with moderate turbulence during cruise flight, which resulted in a serious injury to a flight attendant.

Verbatim, NTSB determination.

Flight data recorder

— 1,182,747 samples, 28 parameters, 13:13:18.0 to 17:43:19.9.

Parameter	Max	at	Min	at	Final	at
Pressure altitude ft	38,034.0	16:24:32.7	104.0	17:36:53.7	224.0	17:43:19.7
Computed airspeed kts	306.0	13:34:03.7	45.0	13:13:18.7	45.0	17:43:19.7
Vertical acceleration g	1.3	17:36:48.6	0.8	16:24:28.4	1.0	17:43:19.9

Computed from the docket's tabular attachment; times as recorded (local or SRN as published).

Sequence of events (FDR factual report)

Time	Event	Page
1924:30 GMT	Start of data shown in Figure 1, aircraft initially climbed to flight level 340 and then continued to flight level 360	2
2030 GMT	Crew reported upset time; assumed to occur at flight level 360 in level, cruise flight, about 1 hour after take-off	2
2354:30 GMT	End of data shown in Figure 1	2

Extracted by claude-sonnet-5; 1 of 3 stated events verified against the raw recorder data.

Recorder documents in the docket

Group	Title	Pages	Type
fdr	Flight Data Recorder 10 - Specialist's Factual Report	9	pdf
fdr	Flight Data Recorder 10 - Attachment 1 - Tabular Data - Flight - (CSV Format)		csv

Docket: data.ntsb.gov/Docket/?NTSBNumber=WPR12LA119. This brief is an analytical aid assembled from public records; it is not an investigative finding.