Compass E175 near Reno on Feb 13th 2019, severe turbulence injures 8
Last Update: January 27, 2021 / 22:02:52 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 13, 2019
Classification
Accident
Airline
Compass Airlines
Flight number
DL-5763
Departure
Santa Ana, United States
Destination
Seattle, United States
Aircraft Registration
N613CZ
Aircraft Type
Embraer ERJ-175
ICAO Type Designator
E175
The FAA reported a flight attendant and seven passengers were injured when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence enroute.
Passengers reported one fellow passenger was in the toilet at the time and came out bleeding from his head. A flight attendant was moving the trolley to provide drink service, trolley and flight attendant lifted up and collided with the cabin ceiling.
On Mar 7th 2019 the NTSB reported they have opened an investigation into the occurrence rated an accident.
On Jan 27th 2021 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:
an inadvertent encounter with convective turbulence that resulted in a TCAS RA, which required an abrupt control input by the flight crew to resolve the conflict.
The NTSB summarized the sequence of events:
According to the flight crew, about 40 minutes into the flight when the airplane was in smooth air and “between cloud layers”, the captain informed the flight attendants that they could begin cabin service but left the seatbelt sign illuminated for passengers because there was a report of ”occasional light chop”. About 20 minutes later, the flight encountered an area of severe turbulence that lasted about 8 seconds and caused the airplane to rapidly gain altitude and the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) to issue a resolution advisory (RA) for oppositedirection traffic 1,000 ft above them. The first officer (FO) , who was the flying pilot, disengaged the autopilot and applied forward control pressure to comply with the RA. The FO could not obtain the target flight path vector directed by the TCAS, so the captain assisted on the controls to obtain the desired pitch attitude. After the airplane descended back to its assigned altitude, the TCAS RA cleared, and the captain informed air traffic control of the turbulence and TCAS RA.
According to the flight attendants (FA), the turbulence was encountered as they were beginning the beverage service. Two of the FAs impacted the ceiling before falling to the floor and one passenger, who had been in the lavatory at the time of the encounter had a small head laceration. As a result of the injuries, the captain declared an emergency and the flight diverted to KRNO. The FA in the aft galley was assisted by a medically qualified passenger and remained on the floor until landing due to her injuries. She was transported to the hospital and diagnosed with a broken arm.
Post accident examination of the weather satellite data depicted cloud patterns aloft consistent with the presence of a convective updraft coincident with the flight’s location at the time of the turbulence encounter. The convection appeared to be “embedded” with stratiform clouds and may not have been visually identifiable by the flight crew.
The NTSB reported there was one serious and 4 minor injuries, the aircraft sustained minor damage.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 13, 2019
Classification
Accident
Airline
Compass Airlines
Flight number
DL-5763
Departure
Santa Ana, United States
Destination
Seattle, United States
Aircraft Registration
N613CZ
Aircraft Type
Embraer ERJ-175
ICAO Type Designator
E175
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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