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Cases › CEN09LA256 · Part 121 airline

BOEING 737-724CONTINENTAL AIRLINES INC

McAllen, TX, USA · 2009-04-18·N27722

0
fatal
1
serious
Serious injury
highest injury
—
damage
AnalyseThe analystOne timeline · precedents · ask the docket · what the record saysGenerateInvestigation briefFacts, cause, recorder extremes, sequence, sourcesSourceNTSB docket6 documents on data.ntsb.gov

What happened

NTSB summary, verbatim

Before departure the captain briefed all crew members not to perform any services and remain in their jump seats for the duration of the flight due to the possibility of severe weather. The lead flight attendant then made a public address announcement to the passengers that due to possible bad weather there would be no service and the seat belt sign would remain on during the entire flight, stressing the need for the passengers to remain in their seats. In addition, the first officer made a similar announcement to the crew and passengers stressing the need to remain seated for their safety. While descending to the destination airport, a passenger who had gotten up and went into the lavatory sustained serious injuries when the airplane encountered an area of severe turbulence. In addition, two passengers and a flight attendant not wearing their seatbelts sustained minor injuries.

Photographs

1the aircraft, and what the investigators found
The aircraft before the accident
Continental Airlines B737-724, N27722 (5743392863)
Charles from Port Chester, New York · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Probable cause

the Board's determination
The injured passenger's failure to comply with the requirement to remain seated with a fastened seatbelt.

Occurrence sequence

2 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy
  1. 1 · Enroute-descent
    Turbulence encounter
    defining event
  2. 2 · Enroute-descent
    Cabin safety event

Findings

1 causal · 2 contributing
  • CAUSE
    Personnel issues › Task performance › Communication (personnel) › Following instructions — Passenger
  • FACTOR
    Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence — Compliance w/ procedure
  • FACTOR
    Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence — Effect on personnel

NTSB analysis

from the final report

Before departure the captain briefed all crew members not to perform any services and remain in their jump seats for the duration of the flight due to the possibility of severe weather. The lead flight attendant then made a public address announcement to the passengers that due to possible bad weather there would be no service and the seat belt sign would remain on during the entire flight, stressing the need for the passengers to remain in their seats. In addition, the first officer made a similar announcement to the crew and passengers stressing the need to remain seated for their safety. While descending to the destination airport, a passenger who had gotten up and went into the lavatory sustained serious injuries when the airplane encountered an area of severe turbulence. In addition, two passengers and a flight attendant not wearing their seatbelts sustained minor injuries.