United Airlines B744 near Beijing on Jul 29th 2011, turbulence injures 5 flight attendants

Last Update: January 16, 2013 / 13:37:39 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 29, 2011

Classification
Accident

Cause
Turbulence

Airline
United

Flight number
UA-888

Departure
Beijing, China

Destination
San Francisco, United States

Aircraft Registration
N173UA

Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400

ICAO Type Designator
B744

A United Airlines Boeing 747-400, registration N173UA performing flight UA-888 from Beijing (China) to San Francisco,CA (USA) with 366 passengers including one lap child and 19 crew, was climbing out of Beijing when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence at 13:48L (05:48Z) causing serious injuries to a flight attendant and minor injuries to four flight attendants. The aircraft continued the flight to San Francisco for a safe landing about 11:10 hours later.

The FAA reported one flight attendant received unknown injuries during climb out.

The NTSB reported on Nov 24th 2011, that the one flight attendant received a broken leg when the aircraft encountered turbulence while climbing through FL230. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) have delegated the investigation to the NTSB.

On Jan 4th 2013 the NTSB released their factual report reporting the aircraft was climbing through FL230 out of Beijing near Tangshan at position N39.3308 E118.2716, when the aircraft encountered turbulence causing peak accelerations of more than 2G over a period of 20 seconds. The captain (59, ATPL, 18,500 hours total, 7,600 hours on type) reported there had been no returns on the weather radar, a small amount of rain and clouds were in the area. She stated that the fasten seat belt signs were kept illuminated when between 22,000 and 24,000 feet the aircraft encountered severe turbulence, she retarded the throttles to prevent an overspeed. After the turbulence subsided she engaged autothrottle and autopilot again and advised ATC. The NTSB reported that no communication pertinent to turbulence or injury was recorded by China's ground stations.

The flight crew further comprised the first officer (62, ATPL, 10,212 hours total, 8,557 hours on type) and two relief pilots, all four flight crew were seated in the cockpit at the time of the occurrence.

The flight attendant at door 5L received serious injuries, diagnosed on board by a doctor with a possibly broken fibula, the flight attendant thought she had a severely sprained ankle but was insistent to continue the flight to the US. The doctor also did not see a need to recommend an immediate diversion. The flight attendant was thus moved to a business class seat where the doctor applied a make-shift splint.

Four other flight attendants received minor injuries from falls and impacts with galley equipment but were able to continue duties.

A post flight severe turbulence inspection showed no damage.

A large cold front stretched from eastern Mongolia via central Mongolia into China's Shanxi province. Several embedded convective groups were identified ahead and along the front, Beijing and east of Beijing were covered with convective cloud groups. Strong thunderstorms were present 86nm east of Beijing. The air masses east of Beijing were generally instable. SIGMETs warned of embedded thunderstorms obscured with tops up to 33,000 feet south, southwest and northeast of Beijing moving northeast. The weather charts did not predict convective activity over the accident site however.

On Jan 16th 2013 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

an inadvertent encounter with convectively induced turbulence likely due to radar limitations and convective weather developing upwards into the flight path.
Aircraft Registration Data
Registration mark
N173UA
Country of Registration
United States
Date of Registration
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Manufacturer
BOEING
Aircraft Model / Type
747-422
Number of Seats
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ICAO Aircraft Type
B744
Year of Manufacture
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Serial Number
Cdigg Subscribe to unlock
Aircraft Address / Mode S Code (HEX)
Mmkfch Subscribe to unlock
Engine Count
D Subscribe to unlock
Engine Manufacturer
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Engine Model
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Engine Type
IjA i fif Subscribe to unlock
Pounds of Thrust
Hjndp Subscribe to unlock
Main Owner
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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Jul 29, 2011

Classification
Accident

Cause
Turbulence

Airline
United

Flight number
UA-888

Departure
Beijing, China

Destination
San Francisco, United States

Aircraft Registration
N173UA

Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400

ICAO Type Designator
B744

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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