EMBRAER ERJ 190 100 IGWJetBlue Airways
Orlando, FL, USA · 2017-04-14·N373JB
What happened
NTSB summary, verbatimOn April 14, 2017, about 1600 eastern standard time, JetBlue Airlines flight 240, an Embraer E-190, N373JB, encountered turbulence during approach to land at Orlando International Airport (KMCO), Orlando, Florida. One flight attendant sustained serious injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau Bahamas. The captain stated that, during the approach to land, the passenger seat belt sign was illuminated and that he could see a scattered/broken cumulous layer of clouds between about 8,000 and 10,000 feet. He expected to encounter turbulence, so he called the flight attendants and told them it was going to be bumpy during the descent and that they were to sit down. Shortly after, the airplane encountered moderate turbulence for about 4 to 7 seconds. A flight attendant then informed the flight crew that one of the aft flight attendants had fallen. After landing, the flight attendant was transported to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a broken fibula.
Photographs
1the aircraft, and what the investigators foundProbable cause
the Board's determinationan inadvertent encounter with convective turbulence, which resulted in a serious injury to a flight attendant.
Occurrence sequence
1 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy- 1 · Enroute-descentTurbulence encounterdefining event
Findings
1 causal · 0 contributing- CAUSEEnvironmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence › Convective turbulence — Effect on personnel
Sequence of events
4 timed eventsfrom the FDR factual report · claude-sonnet-5- 23:35:33 UTCDescentp.2Turbulence encounter seemed to happen while the aircraft was descending through a pressure altitude of 7,870 feet
- 23:35:33 UTC (approx., over a 2-second period)Descentp.2Vertical g's varied between -0.21 to +1.38 over a 2-second period
- 23:35:33 UTCDescentp.2The autopilot was engaged during the turbulence encounter and during the flight surrounding this time
- 23:35:33 UTCDescentp.2Roll, pitch, and airspeed fluctuated around the time of the assumed encounter
NTSB analysis
from the final reportOn April 14, 2017, about 1600 eastern standard time, JetBlue Airlines flight 240, an Embraer E-190, N373JB, encountered turbulence during approach to land at Orlando International Airport (KMCO), Orlando, Florida. One flight attendant sustained serious injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau Bahamas. The captain stated that, during the approach to land, the passenger seat belt sign was illuminated and that he could see a scattered/broken cumulous layer of clouds between about 8,000 and 10,000 feet. He expected to encounter turbulence, so he called the flight attendants and told them it was going to be bumpy during the descent and that they were to sit down. Shortly after, the airplane encountered moderate turbulence for about 4 to 7 seconds. A flight attendant then informed the flight crew that one of the aft flight attendants had fallen. After landing, the flight attendant was transported to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a broken fibula.