United A320 near New Orleans on Jan 10th 2020, turbulence injures flight attendant

Last Update: March 27, 2021 / 20:05:46 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of United N1902U, Airbus A320 — United N1902U, Airbus A320 (Photo credit: JTOcchialini / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jan 10, 2020

Classification
Report

Cause
Turbulence injures flight attendant

Airline
United

Flight number
UA-1754

Departure
New Orleans, United States

Destination
Newark, United States

Aircraft Registration
N1902U

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

A United Airbus A320-200, registration N1902U performing flight UA-1754 from New Orleans,LA to Newark,NJ (USA) with 159 people on board, was climbing out of New Orleans near the top of climb to FL370 when the aircraft encountered turbulence causing a flight attendant to sustain serious injuries. The aircraft continued to Newark for a safe landing about 1:45 hours later.

The NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

an encounter with convectively induced turbulence while overflying an area of known convective activity.

The NTSB reported:

On January 10, 2020, at about 2245 universal coordinated time, United Airlines flight 1754, an Airbus A320, N1902U, encountered turbulence near the top of climb from New Orleans International Airport (KMSY), New Orleans, Louisiana. Of the 159 passengers and crew onboard, one flight attendant sustained serious injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from the KMSY to Newark Liberty International Airport (KEWR), Newark, New Jersey.

According to the flight crew, they advised the flight attendants (FA) to expect some light turbulence during the climb out, and stated they would leave the seatbelt sign illuminated for passengers until they had reached smooth air. During the climb to their assigned altitude of flight level (FL) 370, the weather radar was active and air traffic control advised of weather directly in front of the flight. As the flight was climbing through about FL 305 , the flight was in clear air but the crew realized they were not going to stay above the clouds ahead of the airplane and requested, and were approved, to deviate to the right to avoid the buildups. During the turn, the captain made an announcement on the public address (PA) system for the FAs to “take their jumpseats” and subsequently encountered “a couple bumps of light chop.” Almost immediately after, they received a call from the cabin, that the purser had been injured.

According to the FAs, they were preparing for cabin service when the turbulence was encountered. The forward FA fell to the floor as she was walking through the first-class cabin. Subsequently, the flight crew’s announcement for the “flight attendants take your jump seats” came over the PA system. The injured FA was assisted by medically qualified passengers and remained in a passenger seat for the remainder of the flight. Paramedics met the airplane at the gate and the FA was transported to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a fractured ankle.

Post accident examination of the weather data determined that the turbulence was encountered when the airplane was flying over an area of general thunderstorms. Cloud tops up to FL400 were located within 10 miles of the turbulence encounter but there were no pilot reports (PIREPs) in the vicinity indicating turbulence prior to the event. There was a Center Weather Advisory current for the area for isolated thunderstorms, which was included in the flights weather briefing.