Spirit A320 at Las Vegas on Dec 1st 2018, flight attendant injured in turbulence
Last Update: February 24, 2022 / 21:24:06 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Dec 1, 2018
Classification
Accident
Airline
Spirit Airlines
Flight number
NK-1069
Departure
Cleveland, United States
Destination
Las Vegas, United States
Aircraft Registration
N632NK
Aircraft Type
Airbus A320
ICAO Type Designator
A320
Airport ICAO Code
KLAS
The FAA reported the flight attendant received serious injuries, a broken ankle, the occurrence was rated an accident.
On Mar 26th 2020 the NTSB reported the occurrence was rated an accident and is being investigated by the NTSB
On Feb 24th 2022 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:
The airplane’s encounter with severe turbulence.
The NTSB summarized the sequence of events:
The captain was the pilot flying, and the first officer was the pilot monitoring. According to the flight crew, there was reports of moderate turbulence during the initial descent. During the decent, the flight passed through stratiform cloud layers experiencing continuous light and occasional moderate chop, but no precipitation was depicted on the weather radar. At about flight level (FL) 260, the first officer turned on the seatbelt sign and contacted the lead flight attendant (FA) to have all the FAs take their seats.
As the airplane descended through about FL230, the flight experienced moderate turbulence which lasted for about 15-20 seconds. Shortly thereafter, the flight crew received a call from the lead FA that a FA had broken her ankle.
At the time of the turbulence encounter, the FAs were preparing the cabin for landing. Two FAs were in the aft galley and were thrown into the air and onto the floor. One FA severely injured her left ankle and was subsequently helped into an aft passenger seat, where she remained for landing. After landing, emergency medical personnel met the flight at the gate and transported the injured FA to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured left fibula.
Metars:
KLAS 020356Z 20004KT 10SM FEW080 11/M02 A2970 RMK AO2 SLP054 T01111017=
KLAS 020256Z 21006KT 10SM FEW080 12/M02 A2972 RMK AO2 SLP060 T01171017 53006=
KLAS 020156Z 21011KT 10SM CLR 12/M02 A2968 RMK AO2 SLP048 T01221017=
KLAS 020056Z 21007KT 10SM FEW070 FEW250 13/00 A2969 RMK AO2 SLP049 T01280000=
KLAS 012356Z 19009G17KT 10SM FEW070 SCT250 13/M01 A2970 RMK AO2 SLP054 T01331011 10161 20117 56020=
KLAS 012256Z 23014G22KT 10SM FEW070 SCT250 15/01 A2971 RMK AO2 SLP055 T01500011=
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Dec 1, 2018
Classification
Accident
Airline
Spirit Airlines
Flight number
NK-1069
Departure
Cleveland, United States
Destination
Las Vegas, United States
Aircraft Registration
N632NK
Aircraft Type
Airbus A320
ICAO Type Designator
A320
Airport ICAO Code
KLAS
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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