United Airlines B744 over Alaska on Feb 19th 2010, turbulence injures 25
Last Update: February 24, 2017 / 18:33:07 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 19, 2010
Classification
Accident
Cause
Turbulence
Airline
United
Flight number
UA-897
Departure
Washington Dulles, United States
Destination
Tokyo Narita, Japan
Aircraft Registration
N173UA
Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400
ICAO Type Designator
B744
Japanese Police reported, that one passenger received serious injuries (fractured leg), 17 occupants received minor injuries.
Japan's Transport Ministry reported, that the airplane was descending from FL320 to FL300, when it encountered the turbulence at about FL315. The crew had activated the fasten seat belt sign about 10 seconds prior to the turbulence.
The American FAA reported on Feb 22nd, that the airplane encountered severe turbulence at FL310 about 60nm east of waypoint YESKA (N61.0 W149.333888), about 80nm east of Anchorage International Airport/70nm east of Anchorage. 25 occupants received unknown injuries.
The NTSB reported on Feb 23rd, that the crew requested the descend from FL320 to FL300 due to pilot report of a preceding JAL aircraft indicating, that they had encountered moderate turbulence at FL320 while FL300 was indicated mostly smooth. When descending through FL310, the airplane encountered severe turbulence involving a left and right roll and a pitch up "wave" with the stick shaker activating momentarily at 306 KIAS, Mmo was never exceeded. The crew assessed aircraft systems and passenger/cabin crew conditions before deciding to continue to Tokyo. There was no exterior structural damage to the airplane, 25 cabin related defects were logged for the interior cabin including PSU panels throughout the passenger cabin. A few seats may need replacement. Some dents and scratches were found in the sidewalls and ceiling panels. The NTSB received preliminary reports from United indicating, that 16 passengers and 9 cabin crew received injuries, that were treated at a Tokyo hospital. All injured were released, one passenger injury is being researched further.
On Feb 24th 2017 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:
an inadvertent encounter with clear air turbulence
The NTSB reported that one flight attendant received a serious, 17 passengers and 8 flight attendants received minor injuries when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence while descending from FL310 to FL300 about 100nm west of Anchorage.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 19, 2010
Classification
Accident
Cause
Turbulence
Airline
United
Flight number
UA-897
Departure
Washington Dulles, United States
Destination
Tokyo Narita, Japan
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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