Thomas Cook A332 over Atlantic on Aug 2nd 2019, turbulence injures 2 cabin crew

Last Update: December 11, 2019 / 21:40:44 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Thomas Cook Airlines G-MLJL, Airbus A330-200 — Thomas Cook Airlines G-MLJL, Airbus A330-200 (Photo credit: Craig Sunter / Flickr / License: CC by)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Aug 2, 2019

Classification
Accident

Cause
Turbulence

Airline
Thomas Cook Airlines

Flight number
MT-2915

Departure
Varadero, Cuba

Destination
Manchester, United Kingdom

Aircraft Registration
G-MLJL

Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-200

ICAO Type Designator
A332

A Thomas Cook Airbus A330-200, registration G-MLJL performing flight MT-2915 from Varadero (Cuba) to Manchester,EN (UK) with 320 passengers and 11 crew, was enroute at FL370 over the Atlantic Ocean about 150nm northeast of Grand Bahamas Airport (Bahamas) when the aircraft entered a denser area of cloud with increasing turbulence, the captain instructed cabin crew to immediately take their seats over PA, about 5 seconds later the aircraft encountered severe turbulence causing an altitude deviation of up to +500 feet, the autopilot disconnected, the sounds of hail impact occurred at the same time. About 90 seconds after the onset the severe turbulence ceased, however, light to moderate turbulence was observed throughout the next hour of flight. Immediately after the PA a flight attendant in the aft galley, who was unable to immediately stow her galley cart, applied the brake on the cart and attempted to wedge it into a safe place, however, her foot and ankle became trapped underneath the galley cart. When the turbulence sufficiently subsided other crew member came to assist and free her foot. In consultation with Medlink it was determined the ankle was fractured and it was decided to continue the flight to Manchester. Later it turned out another flight attendant had received a minor back injury not apparent during the flight. The aircraft landed safely in Manchester about 7:20 hours later. One cabin crew received serious, another cabin crew minor injuries, the aircraft received minor damage to the radome during the turbulence encounter.

The UK AAIB released a brief bulletin concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

This was an unexpected turbulence encounter while avoiding areas of known CB activity. It is likely that the number of injuries would have been greater had passengers been moving around the cabin at the time.

The AAIB reported that the captain had observed a number of thunderstorm clouds during departure from Varadero which did not paint on their weather radar #1, the crew switched to weather radar #2 which seemed to solve the problem. At the time of the turbulence encounter they were in cloud at FL370, the crew was maneouvering to avoid weather returns on their radar. The captain had illuminated the fasten seat belt signs about 5 minutes prior to the turbulence encounter. While being clear of all weather returns by at least 30nm the aircraft entered a denser area of cloud, the turbulence increased prompting the captain to make a PA instructing cabin crew to immediately take their seats, 5 seconds later severe turbulence occurred lasting for 90 seconds.

The AAIB analysed:

The flight crew were aware of the risks associated with CB clouds and were using their aircraft’s weather radar to plan avoidance routings. The onset of severe turbulence was rapid and unexpected. Had the seat belt signs not already been illuminated, it is possible that more people would have been injured in the incident.