SAA A343 near Johannesburg on Dec 29th 2012, severe clear air turbulence injures 2 cabin crew

Last Update: July 23, 2013 / 16:43:56 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Dec 29, 2012

Classification
Report

Airline
SAA South African Airways

Flight number
SA-208

Departure
Dakar, Senegal

Destination
Johannesburg, South Africa

Aircraft Registration
ZS-SXF

Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-300

ICAO Type Designator
A343

A SAA South African Airways Airbus A340-300, registration ZS-SXF performing flight SA-208 from Dakar (Senegal) to Johannesburg (South Africa) with 230 passengers and 13 crew, was descending through FL206 towards Johannesburg when the aircraft encountered severe clear air turbulence producing vertical accelerations between -0.121G and +1.1551G over a period of 8 seconds. While the cockpit crew did not notice any unusual movement of the aircraft, two cabin crew in the aft of the cabin were thrown off their feet, collided with aircraft walls and furniture and received serious injuries. The flight crew, after being made aware of the injuries in the cabin, requested a priority landing into Johannesburg, where the flight attendants were stabilized and subsequently transported to hospital by waiting medical services.

South Africa's Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) released their final report concluding the cause of the accident was:

The aircraft encountered sudden severe air turbulence during the descent, which resulted in two cabin crew members being seriously injured. They were not seated nor restrained at the time.

The SACAA reported that the crew did not observe any turbulence or moisture indicative of clouds on their weather radar. The fasten seat belt signs had been illuminated about 10 minutes prior to the turbulence encounter, however, the captain had not instructed cabin crew to take their seats due to the lack of indications on the weather radar.

In the region there were isolated thunderstorms at the time of the accident.

The SACAA stated that they received information about the occurrence only 6 days after the accident, hence no cockpit voice recorder or flight data recordings were downloaded. The investigation was based on quick access recorder data.

No safety recommendations were released as result of the investigation.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Dec 29, 2012

Classification
Report

Airline
SAA South African Airways

Flight number
SA-208

Departure
Dakar, Senegal

Destination
Johannesburg, South Africa

Aircraft Registration
ZS-SXF

Aircraft Type
Airbus A340-300

ICAO Type Designator
A343

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