Easyjet A319 near Barcelona on Jan 1st 2018, turbulence injures flight attendant

Last Update: June 5, 2019 / 16:32:58 GMT/Zulu time

Bookmark this article

Photo of Easyjet G-EZII, Airbus A319 — Easyjet G-EZII, Airbus A319 (Photo credit: airlines470 / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 1, 2018

Classification
Accident

Cause
Turbulence injures flight attendant

Airline
Easyjet

Flight number
U2-2767

Departure
Milan Malpensa, Italy

Destination
Barcelona, Spain

Aircraft Registration
G-EZII

Aircraft Type
Airbus A319

ICAO Type Designator
A319

An Easyjet Airbus A319-100, registration G-EZII performing flight U2-2767 from Milan Malpensa (Italy) to Barcelona,SP (Spain) with 145 passengers and 6 crew, was descending through FL195 on approach to Barcelona about 70nm northeast of Barcelona when the aircraft encountered turbulence causing a serious injury to a flight attendant. The aircraft continued to Barcelona for a safe landing on runway 25R about 20 minutes later.

On Jan 19th 2018 Spain's CIAIAC reported the flight attendant was standing at that time, lost his balance and fell into the aisle. He only felt a little pain and decided to continue working following the turbulence encounter, he also decided to work on the return flight, that departed about 65 minutes after landing. Only back in Milan he went to a medical center which diagnosed a broken left wrist. There were no other injuries, the aircraft remained undamaged. The injury was rated serious, the CIAIAC opened an investigation into the accident.

On Jun 4th 2019 Spain's CIAIAC released their final report in Spanish only (Editorial note: to serve the purpose of global prevention of the repeat of causes leading to an occurrence an additional timely release of all occurrence reports in the only world spanning aviation language English would be necessary, a Spanish only release does not achieve this purpose as set by ICAO annex 13 and just forces many aviators to waste much more time and effort each in trying to understand the circumstances leading to the occurrence. Aviators operating internationally are required to read/speak English besides their local language, investigators need to be able to read/write/speak English to communicate with their counterparts all around the globe). The report concludes the probable cause of the accident was:

the cause of the accident was a flight attendant rose from the seat while the fasten seat belt signs were on with a warning of turbulence ahead, when the turbulence suddenly increased.

Contributing factor was the overconfidence of the flight attendant that present flight conditions wouldn't change suddenly.

The CIAIAC analysed that the flight crew had warned cabin crew to expect turbulence during the flight prior to the flight. During the descent into Barcelona the aircraft encountered light to moderate turbulence, the crew had already secured cabin and cockpit, the fasten seat belt signs were already illuminated and the cabin crew had already taken their seats, when a flight attendant rose from the seat due perform a task not essential to cabin safety, when the turbulence suddenly increased to severe. The flight crew made an announcement to passengers and cabin crew to sit down immediately, the flight attendant however could not return to the seat due to the effects of the turbulence.

The flight attendant only complained about light pain and decided to continue duties for the remainder of the flight as well as the return flight to Milan. After arrival in Milan the flight attendant went to a hospital, where a fracture of the right wrist was diagnosed (in the preliminary report the CIAIAC had identified the left wrist).

In the testimony the flight attendant reported he stood up to bring a bottle of water back to the aft galley when the aircraft suddenly jolted so that the flgiht attendant fell to the floor and twisted the right wrist, another flight attendant was trying to protect the head. It was impossible to get back to the seat due to the repeated jolts until the turbulence was over. Then the flight attendant returned to the seat, felt little pain in the wrist and told the captain that he/she was fit to continue duties also for the return flight.

The CIAIAC analysed that METARs and TAFs suggested possible moderate and occasional severe turbulence between FL210 and FL350 along the descent into Barcelona. Once the flight was airborne the crew's ability to detect turbulence was limited to visual as well as weather radar observations. Neither crew detected any indications suggesting possible turbulence nor did the weather radar indicate any area of concern (the weather radar has limitations however).