Condor A339 near Mauritius on Mar 2nd 2023, turbulence injures 22

Last Update: April 4, 2025 / 15:12:17 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Condor D-ANRA, Airbus A330-900 — Condor D-ANRA, Airbus A330-900 (Photo credit: Anna Zvereva / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 2, 2023

Classification
Accident

Airline
Condor

Flight number
DE-2314

Departure
Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Destination
Mauritius, Mauritius

Aircraft Registration
D-ANRA

Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-900

ICAO Type Designator
A339

A Condor Airbus A330-900N, registration D-ANRA performing flight DE-2314 (dep Mar 1st) from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Mauritius (Mauritius) with 277 passengers and 13 crew, was enroute at FL390 about two hours before estimated landing in Mauritius when the aircraft encountered turbulence causing injuries to a number of occupants. The aircraft continued to Mauritius for a landing on runway 14 without further incident.

The airline reported the aircraft encountered turbulence about 2 hours prior to landing, 20 passengers received injuries, the aircraft cabin received some damage to be further assessed.

The aircraft is still on the ground in Mauritius about 14 hours after landing.

On Mar 16th 2023 the German BFU reported that five occupants received serious injuries when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence. The occurrence is being investigated by Germany's BFU.

On Jun 21st 2023 the BFU reported in their monthly bulletin, three passengers received serious and 1 cabin crew and 16 passengers minor injuries. At the time of the accident the senior first officer was occupying the left hand seat and was pilot flying, the first officer was on the right hand seat and was pilot monitoring. The aircraft was enroute at FL390 flying along airway UM665 with offset 1nm to the right in southerly direction between waypoints UVESO and ANKOR, a similiar aircraft was tracking the same route 2000 feet above them. According to SIGWX Charts cumulonimbus clouds were rising up to FL460 in that area. There had been no pilot reports of any turbulence. The weather radar had been operating all flight showing no significant weather, the first officer also monitored the weather via the weather app on his electronic flight bag, which also showed no significant weather near the actual position of turbulence.

According to the pilot monitoring the position at the time of the turbulence was "Latitude 07° 00' 00.00" S; Longitude 048° 39' 35.75" E" (S7.0000 E48.5933). The weather radar showed clouds ahead, about 20nm before the clouds the crew requested via CDPLC to deviate to the right and changed course without waiting for the clearance. While in the turn the aircraft entered clouds, the strobes were seen reflecting in the clouds, ice crystals formed on the wind screen. At about 00:20Z light turbulence started, the fasten seat belt signs were turned on however no PA was done as the cabin was darkened and the passengers were sleeping, no cabin service was in progress. A few seconds the turbulence severity increased and within 10 seconds loose items and passengers lifted. The FDR recorded vertical accelerations between +1.6G and -0.6G within 10 seconds. The autopilot disconnected automatically. A number of passengers were lifted out of their seats and impacted the passenger service units.

On Apr 4th 2025 the BFU rleased their final report stating that 6 passengers received serious, 15 passengers and one cabin crew minor injuries and concluding the probable causes of the accident were:

The accident which occurred in cruise flight during significant turbulences is due to the following direct causes:

- The weather radar captured a bank of clouds which was displayed in green on the Navigation Display (ND). The bank of clouds included an upwind and downwind region, which could not be recognised in its intensity by the flight crew and generated severe turbulence over a period of 10 s.

- The initiated change of heading about 20 NM ahead of the bank of clouds
occurred too late so that the aircraft entered the top layer of clouds.

- Some passengers not wearing their seat belts, suffered injuries, some of them serious.

The investigation identified the following contributory factors:

- According to the co-pilots’ statements the weather radar was set to the All WX mode and did not display turbulence on the ND.

- Due to the dynamic growth of the cloud area, its actual extent was only recognised shortly before entering the bank of clouds.

- The Initial Safety & Emergency Procedures Training the operator had conducted for flight and cabin crew members showed deficits in handling onboard systems, especially the on-board communications system.