Lufthansa A321 at Vienna on May 24th 2014, turbulence injures 3

Last Update: September 18, 2014 / 14:30:16 GMT/Zulu time

Bookmark this article

Photo of Lufthansa D-AISC, Airbus A321 — Lufthansa D-AISC, Airbus A321 (Photo credit: Andrey Belenko / Flickr / License: CC by)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
May 24, 2014

Classification
Accident

Cause
Turbulence

Airline
Lufthansa

Flight number
LH-1238

Departure
Frankfurt/Main, Germany

Destination
Vienna, Austria

Aircraft Registration
D-AISC

Aircraft Type
Airbus A321

ICAO Type Designator
A321

A Lufthansa Airbus A321-200, registration D-AISC performing flight LH-1238 from Frankfurt/Main (Germany) to Vienna (Austria) with 51 passengers and 6 crew, was on approach to Vienna's runway 11 with the fasten seat belt sign illuminated when the aircraft encountered unexpected turbulence causing a passenger to be lifted out of her seat and receiving injuries to her shoulder and spine and two flight attendants to be hit and injured by objects lifting off as result of the injuries. The crew continued for a safe landing on Vienna's runway 11. The passenger was taken to a hospital, the flight attendants were treated at the airport for minor injuries.

The airline confirmed the occurrence stating that the passenger had not fastened her seat belt although advised to do so.

On Jun 11th 2014 the French BEA reported that Germany's BFU is investigating the occurrence rated an accident due to the serious injury of the passenger as result of turbulence on the approach.

On Sep 18th 2014 Germany's BFU reported in their May Bulletin, that the aircraft encountered turbulence while on approach to Vienna. One passenger received serious, two cabin crew minor injuries in the encounter. The aircraft continued for a safe landing. The BFU opened an investigation into the occurrence rated an accident.

The BFU reported in their preliminary report in German, page 23ff, that the aircraft encountered unpredictable, severe turbulence. The fasten seat belt signs had been illuminated shortly before. A passenger, who had not yet fastened the seat belt, was thrown against the cabin ceiling and fell back onto the cabin floor, two cabin crew received minor injuries as well. Due to the nature of injuries of the passenger the crew decided to secure the passenger for landing on the floor. The passenger was taken to a hospital by helicopter. The captain reported that they were deviating around weather. About 60nm before Vienna a relatively small cloud, that did not produce any return on the weather radar, needed to be penetrated, the fasten seat belt sign was illuminated. When the aircraft reached the cloud the aircraft encountered a severe jolt, after exiting the cloud the flight was smooth again.

The BFU reported that the quick access recorder indicated a smooth flight prior to the encounter, then for a period of 13 seconds the vertical accelerations oscillated reaching peaks of +1.92G and -0.68G, the altimeter increased by 110 feet during that period of time - before and after a steady descent was observed - and the indicated airspeed from steady 290 KIAS increased briefly before dropping to 270 KIAS, then returned to 290KIAS.