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Cases › ERA09LA396 · Part 121 airline

AIRBUS A320-232JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORP

Fort Myers, FL, USA · 2009-07-10·N606JB

0
fatal
2
serious
Serious injury
highest injury
—
damage

What happened

NTSB summary, verbatim

The airplane was descending through 12,500 feet on approach to the airport. The airplane was jolted as it flew through a small cumulus cloud. Specifically, the airplane dropped about 20 feet instantaneously, experiencing a positive g-load of 1.98, followed by a negative g-load of -0.43, less than 1 second later. During that time, a seated passenger did not have her seatbelt fastened. She fell forward into the stowed tray table in front of her, fracturing two ribs. A second passenger was in an aft lavatory and suffered two spinal fractures. The captain had made a passenger announcement during initial descent and prior to the turbulence encounter, emphasizing the need for passengers to take their seats and fasten their seatbelts when the seatbelt sign was illuminated. Additionally, a flight attendant made a public announcement when the seatbelt sign was illuminated. The seatbelt sign had been illuminated since 19,000 feet (about 4 minutes prior) and the airplane was not flying through any precipitation. The captain had also instructed the flight attendants via intercom to sit down a few minutes prior to the turbulence encounter.

Photographs

1the aircraft, and what the investigators found
The aircraft before the accident
JetBlue Airways Airbus A320-232 N606JB (cn 2384) "Idlewild Blue" (4664989493)
Tomás Del Coro from Fabulous Las Vegas, Nevada, USA · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Probable cause

the Board's determination
An inadvertent in-flight encounter with turbulence during approach. Contributing to the accident was the passengers' failure to follow the instructions of the illuminated seatbelt sign.

Occurrence sequence

1 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy
  1. 1 · Approach
    Turbulence encounter
    defining event

Findings

2 causal · 0 contributing
  • CAUSE
    Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence — Not specified
  • CAUSE
    Personnel issues › Task performance › Communication (personnel) › Following instructions — Passenger

NTSB analysis

from the final report

The airplane was descending through 12,500 feet on approach to the airport. The airplane was jolted as it flew through a small cumulus cloud. Specifically, the airplane dropped about 20 feet instantaneously, experiencing a positive g-load of 1.98, followed by a negative g-load of -0.43, less than 1 second later. During that time, a seated passenger did not have her seatbelt fastened. She fell forward into the stowed tray table in front of her, fracturing two ribs. A second passenger was in an aft lavatory and suffered two spinal fractures. The captain had made a passenger announcement during initial descent and prior to the turbulence encounter, emphasizing the need for passengers to take their seats and fasten their seatbelts when the seatbelt sign was illuminated. Additionally, a flight attendant made a public announcement when the seatbelt sign was illuminated. The seatbelt sign had been illuminated since 19,000 feet (about 4 minutes prior) and the airplane was not flying through any precipitation. The captain had also instructed the flight attendants via intercom to sit down a few minutes prior to the turbulence encounter.