Cases › WPR12LA144 › The analyst
BOEING 737-7H4SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO
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.
12
timed facts
8
precedents
17
passages to ask
Ask the docket
passages, not paraphrasesTry
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
12 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- 05:45FDRPre-departure/climbp.3Figure 1 basic parameter plot begins, covering entire flight through landing at 10:05
- 08:17:15 through 08:30:45FDRCruise at FL380p.4Expanded scale plots (Figures 3 and 4) show aircraft at FL380 experiencing fluctuations in vertical and lateral accelerations for about 6 minutes from 08:22 until 08:28
- 08:22 to 08:28 (about 5-6 minutes)FDRCruise at FL380p.3Vertical accelerations fluctuated between about 0.75g and 1.2g; lateral accelerations fluctuated between about +/- 0.05g
- 08:24FDRCruise at FL380p.3Winds aloft speed calculated by the FMC was about 140 knots from about 160 degrees true
- 08:27FDRDescentp.3Aircraft descended from flight level 380 to flight level 340
- 08:27:15FDRDescentp.4Shortly after starting a descent to flight level 340, the fluctuating accelerations decreased significantly
- after descent to FL340 (approx 08:28 onward)FDRCruise at FL340p.3Fluctuations in vertical and lateral accelerations decreased, fluctuating between 0.997g and 1.004g and +/- 0.01g, respectively
- 08:35:30 through 08:42:00FDRCruise at FL340/descent to FL320p.4Expanded scale plots (Figures 5 and 6) show the time period around the 0.255g to 1.7g vertical acceleration encounter at about 08:38:20
- 08:38:20FDRCruise at FL340p.3During otherwise decreased vertical and lateral accelerations at FL340, the vertical acceleration varied from about 0.255g to 1.7g within a 1 second period of time
- 08:38:20 (1 second period)FDRCruise at FL340p.4Elevator surface deflection varied between 2.78 to -5.07 degrees; rudder surface varied between about -1.5 and 1.8 degrees
- about 15 seconds after 08:38:20FDRDescentp.4Altitude hold mode was disengaged and the aircraft began a descent to flight level 320
- about 20 minutes after 08:38:20FDRCruise at FL320p.4FMC calculated a decrease in winds aloft at flight level 320 to under 30 knots for about 12 minutes; during this period the winds aloft shifted from about 160 degrees true to 340 degrees true
Recorder events without a clock time
- shortly after departureAircraft climbed to flight level 380
Flight Data Recorder 10 - Specialist's Factual Report · 13 events extracted by claude-sonnet-5
How the Board coded the sequence
- Enroute-cruise: Turbulence encounter
Precedents
8 closest casesranked by what happened, in the Board's words, and by the findings and occurrences it coded- BOEING 767 · International Lease Finance CorpPago Pago, AQ
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
Turbulence encounter - BOEING 737-7H4 · SOUTHWEST AIRLINES COOrlando, FL
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
Turbulence encounter - BOEING 737-7H4 · SOUTHWEST AIRLINES COPawnee, NE
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
Turbulence encounter - BOEING 737-924ER · UNITED AIR LINES INCPlevna, KS
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
Turbulence encounter - BOEING 767-322 · UNITED AIRLINES INCGulf of America , GM
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
Turbulence encounter - BOEING 737-800 · SOUTHWEST AIRLINES COParis, TN
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
Turbulence encounter - BOEING 767-3P6 · DELTA AIR LINES INCUnknown, AR
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
Turbulence encounter - BOEING 757-2B7 · U.S. Airways, Inc.Cheltenham, MD
- ●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 causeFindings the Board cited in those cases
- 8 of 8Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulencecited here too
Occurrences it coded
- 8 of 8Turbulence encounter
Set against the Board’s own findings for this case
Cited here, and common in the precedents
- Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
Cited here, not seen in the precedents
- —
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
- WPR11LA0712010-12-03 · BOEING 767 · International Lease Finance Corp
The airplane’s encounter with convectively-induced turbulence, which resulted in serious injury to one flight attendant.
- DCA22LA0012020-07-05 · BOEING 737-7H4 · SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO
An encounter with moderate turbulence during descent.
- WPR12LA1192012-02-23 · BOEING 737-7H4 · SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO
The airplane's encounter with moderate turbulence during cruise flight, which resulted in a serious injury to a flight attendant.
- DCA16CA0102015-10-24 · BOEING 737-924ER · UNITED AIR LINES INC
An inadvertent encounter with clear air turbulence resulting in a serious injury to a flight attendant.
- DCA25LA0912024-12-29 · BOEING 767-322 · UNITED AIRLINES INC
An encounter with an area of clear air turbulence during cruise, which resulted in a serious injury to a flight attendant.
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).