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Cases › DCA12FA069 › The analyst

AIRBUS A319-112FRONTIER AIRLINES INC

What the docket says, assembled. No language model is involved, so nothing on this page can be invented — every line traces to a recorder, a report page or the Board's own record.

3
timed facts
8
precedents
14
passages to ask

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passages, not paraphrases
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Every answer is a passage of the docket with the page it came from, or the words “not in the docket”. Nothing is summarised or reasoned for you — read the source.

One timeline

3 timed factsthe recorder events from the FDR report, with the transcript's warnings, callouts, the words nearest each event and the final seconds — on one clock, as printed in each report
  1. 07:10 MSTFDRtakeoffp.1
    Departure from Denver
  2. 12:24 EDTFDRdescentp.2
    Turbulence encounter descending through about 12,400 ft about 45 miles west of FLL; recorded position at the event about N26:20:04.868, W81:13:26.935 at about 12,000 ft pressure altitude and about 300 knots
  3. 12:24 EDTFDRdescentp.3
    Vertical acceleration dropped to about 0.4 g then spiked to about 2.1 g, followed by several more drops and spikes between 0.5 g and 1.6 g over the next 30 to 45 seconds; autopilot engaged throughout with no sidestick inputs; pitch deviations less than 2 degrees from the steady -2 degrees; roll between +6 and -4 degrees
Flight Data Recorder 10 - Specialist's Factual Report · 3 events extracted by claude-fable-5-1 (in-session)
How the Board coded the sequence
  1. Enroute-descent: Turbulence encounter→
  2. Enroute-descent: Cabin safety event

Precedents

8 closest casesranked by what happened, in the Board's words, and by the findings and occurrences it coded
  • DCA19CA2132019-09-06no fatalitiesmatch 67
    Airbus A319 · SPIRIT AIRLINES INC
    Fort Myers, FL
    • ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
    Turbulence encounter
  • DCA16IA2152016-08-12no fatalitiesmatch 67
    AIRBUS A320 232 · JetBlue Airways
    Wood, SD
    • ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
    Turbulence encounter
  • DCA11CA0602011-05-23no fatalitiesmatch 67
    BOEING 757 · Delta Airlines
    Boone, NC
    • ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Turbulence encounter
  • ERA09LA4882009-08-27no fatalitiesmatch 67
    BOEING 717-200 · Airtran Airways
    Inverness, FL
    • ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
    Cabin safety eventTurbulence encounter
  • DCA23LA4622023-09-25no fatalitiesmatch 66
    AIRBUS A320-232 · JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORP
    Caribbean Sea , AO
    • ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
    Turbulence encounter
  • ERA12LA4982012-08-05no fatalitiesmatch 65
    EMBRAER S.A. ERJ 170-200 LR · REPUBLIC AIRLINES, INC.
    Hilton Head, SC
    • ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Cabin safety eventTurbulence encounter
  • DCA25LA2392025-06-22no fatalitiesmatch 65
    AIRBUS A320 · Spirit Airlines
    Nashville, TN
    • ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
    Turbulence encounter
  • DCA23LA1962023-03-02no fatalitiesmatch 65
    AIRBUS A320-251N · Frontier Airlines
    Dallas, TX
    • ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
    Turbulence encounter

What the record says

a pattern, not a findingacross the 8 closest cases · 8 carry coded findings · 8 have a probable cause
Findings the Board cited in those cases
Occurrences it coded
  • 8 of 8Turbulence encounter
  • 2 of 8Cabin safety event
Set against the Board’s own findings for this case
Cited here, and common in the precedents
  • Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
  • Action/decision › Action
Cited here, not seen in the precedents
  • Aircraft systems › Navigation system
  • Management › Resources
Common in the precedents, not cited here
  • —

A teaching device, not a verdict: what the record would have looked at, next to what the Board found.

In the Board’s words — the closest cases
  • DCA19CA2132019-09-06 · Airbus A319 · SPIRIT AIRLINES INC
    an encounter with convectively induced turbulence associated with towering cumulus clouds during descent.
  • DCA16IA2152016-08-12 · AIRBUS A320 232 · JetBlue Airways
    an inadvertent encounter with convective turbulence while in cruise flight.
  • DCA11CA0602011-05-23 · BOEING 757 · Delta Airlines
    Inadvertant encounter with convective turbulence while in cruise. Contributing to the severity of the accident was the unrestrained status of the passenger, contrary to the lighted seat belt sign.
  • ERA09LA4882009-08-27 · BOEING 717-200 · Airtran Airways
    The flight crew's encounter with convective turbulence. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the operator's dispatch department to provide the flightcrew with current adverse weather information along the planned route of flight. Also contributing was the failure of the flightcrew to provide relevant forecast information to the cabin crew, and their failure to detect and avoid the existing convective conditions.
  • DCA23LA4622023-09-25 · AIRBUS A320-232 · JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORP
    An inadvertent encounter with convectively induced turbulence during cruise that was not depicted by the airplane’s weather radar system.

This is the pattern in the NTSB’s own record across similar accidents — which findings it cited, what it coded, what it recommended. It is drawn from the record, not written about this case, and it never assigns blame: investigations exist to prevent the next accident (ICAO Annex 13).