AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A319 132American Airlines
Minneapolis, MN, USA · 2016-02-14·N827AW
What happened
NTSB summary, verbatimOn February 14, 2016, about 04:35 central standard time, American Airlines flight 476, an Airbus A319, N827AW, encountered turbulence during the initial descent to Minneapolis International Airport (MSP), Minneapolis, Minnesota. Of the 100 passengers and crew onboard, one passenger received serious injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The regularly scheduled passenger flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, Arizona, to MSP. The flight crew stated that at FL350, prior to their planned top-of-descent, Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) informed them to expect light turbulence during the descent through about FL280. The captain made a public address announcement to the passengers and cabin crew to expect light turbulence so to fasten their seatbelts. The seatbelt sign was on at that time, and had been on most of the flight due to light turbulence. As the flight was descending through about FL310, the nose of the airplane dipped down and the airspeed increased, and to avoid an overspeed the pilot flying pitched the nose up and deployed the speed brakes. Subsequently, they received a call from the flight attendants that a passenger had been injured after having stood up "to stretch" just before the turbulence. After arriving at the gate, the passenger was transported to the hospital and diagnosed with a broken leg.
Photographs
1the aircraft, and what the investigators foundProbable cause
the Board's determinationan encounter with turbulence that resulted in a serious injury to a passenger who was standing when the fasten seatbelt sign was illuminated.
Occurrence sequence
1 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy- 1 · Enroute-descentTurbulence encounterdefining event
Findings
2 causal · 0 contributing- CAUSEPersonnel issues › Task performance › Communication (personnel) › Following instructions — Passenger
- CAUSEEnvironmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence › Convective turbulence — Effect on personnel
Sequence of events
8 timed eventsfrom the FDR factual report · claude-sonnet-5- 04:25:21 CSTcruisep.2Aircraft position recorded at a pressure altitude of 34,992 feet
- 04:35:21 CSTdescentp.3Vertical acceleration variations began, ranging between 1.69 g's and -0.05 g's before settling to about 0.9 g
- 04:35:23 CSTdescentp.3Autopilot 2 (AP-2) status transitioned from Engaged to Not Engaged
- 04:35:24 CSTdescentp.3Master warning transitioned from No Warn to Warn
- 04:35:30 CSTdescentp.3Master warning transitioned back to No Warn, about 6 seconds after activation
- 04:35:54 CSTdescentp.3Vertical acceleration variations ended, settling to about 0.9 g
- 04:36:04 CSTdescentp.3Autopilot 2 (AP-2) status transitioned from Engaged to Not Engaged
- ~05:00 CST (about 25 minutes after event)landingp.3Aircraft landed
NTSB analysis
from the final reportOn February 14, 2016, about 04:35 central standard time, American Airlines flight 476, an Airbus A319, N827AW, encountered turbulence during the initial descent to Minneapolis International Airport (MSP), Minneapolis, Minnesota. Of the 100 passengers and crew onboard, one passenger received serious injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The regularly scheduled passenger flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX), Phoenix, Arizona, to MSP. The flight crew stated that at FL350, prior to their planned top-of-descent, Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) informed them to expect light turbulence during the descent through about FL280. The captain made a public address announcement to the passengers and cabin crew to expect light turbulence so to fasten their seatbelts. The seatbelt sign was on at that time, and had been on most of the flight due to light turbulence. As the flight was descending through about FL310, the nose of the airplane dipped down and the airspeed increased, and to avoid an overspeed the pilot flying pitched the nose up and deployed the speed brakes. Subsequently, they received a call from the flight attendants that a passenger had been injured after having stood up "to stretch" just before the turbulence. After arriving at the gate, the passenger was transported to the hospital and diagnosed with a broken leg.