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Cases › CEN11LA250 · Part 121 airline

EMBRAER EMB-145LRAMERICAN EAGLE AIRLINES INC

Kansas City, MO, USA · 2011-03-26·N931AE

0
fatal
1
serious
Serious injury
highest injury
—
damage
Replay the flight data4,380 samples · 22 parameters07:00:00.0 – 08:12:59.0AnalyseThe analystOne timeline · precedents · ask the docket · what the record saysGenerateInvestigation briefFacts, cause, recorder extremes, sequence, sourcesSourceNTSB docket7 documents on data.ntsb.gov

What happened

NTSB summary, verbatim

During climb to cruise flight, the flight attendant was returning to her jumpseat when the airplane encountered convectively induced turbulence associated with developing thunderstorms under the flight path. The flight attendant lost her footing and hit her head on the service galley door. While trying to find something to grab, the flight attendant fell again and injured her wrist and knee. She advised the flight crew that she would be unable to complete her duties and the flight was diverted to seek medical attention for the flight attendant. The operator subsequently confirmed that the flight attendant was seriously injured when her wrist and hand sustained fractures. The flight’s flight data recorder data showed that an upset event occurred during climb; the vertical acceleration ranged from 1.54g to 0.60g in a 1-second period.

Photographs

1the aircraft, and what the investigators found
The aircraft before the accident
American by Envoy N931AE ERJ145LR GSO
NS777 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Probable cause

the Board's determination
An in-flight encounter with convectively induced turbulence associated with developing thunderstorms under the flight path during the airplane's climb to cruise flight.

Occurrence sequence

1 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy
  1. 1 · Enroute-climb to cruise
    Turbulence encounter
    defining event

Findings

1 causal · 0 contributing
  • CAUSE
    Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence — Effect on personnel

Sequence of events

3 timed eventsfrom the FDR factual report · claude-fable-5-1 (in-session)
  1. about 07:05 CDTtakeoffp.3
    Departed Oklahoma City
  2. about 07:29:35 CDTclimbp.3
    Upset/turbulence event in the climb through 29,900 ft pressure altitude at about N37:54:44 W93:35:23; vertical acceleration ranged from 1.54 g to 0.60 g within one second
  3. after the eventdiversion/landingp.1
    Diverted to MCI where the flight attendant received medical attention

NTSB analysis

from the final report

During climb to cruise flight, the flight attendant was returning to her jumpseat when the airplane encountered convectively induced turbulence associated with developing thunderstorms under the flight path. The flight attendant lost her footing and hit her head on the service galley door. While trying to find something to grab, the flight attendant fell again and injured her wrist and knee. She advised the flight crew that she would be unable to complete her duties and the flight was diverted to seek medical attention for the flight attendant. The operator subsequently confirmed that the flight attendant was seriously injured when her wrist and hand sustained fractures. The flight’s flight data recorder data showed that an upset event occurred during climb; the vertical acceleration ranged from 1.54g to 0.60g in a 1-second period.