Aeroflot B773 near Bangkok on May 1st 2017, turbulence injures 36
Last Update: August 2, 2017 / 17:14:21 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
May 1, 2017
Classification
Accident
Cause
Turbulence
Airline
Aeroflot
Flight number
SU-270
Departure
Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia
Destination
Bangkok, Thailand
Aircraft Registration
VP-BGD
Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-300
ICAO Type Designator
B773
Airport
Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok
Airport ICAO Code
VTBS
The airline reported 25 passengers were taken to hospitals, 17 of them remain in hospital care so far. Media reports of spinal fractures do not correspond to reality. However, there have been fractures and concussions, a number of the injured need surgery. The aircraft had encountered clear air turbulence, the weather radar was unable to detect the turbulence.
The Russian embassy to Thailand reported there were 27 people injured, 24 Russian and 3 Thai citiziens.
On May 7th 2017 a passenger reported the turbulence encounter happened at about 06:50L (23:50Z Apr 30th), 90 minutes ahead of scheduled arrival time and about 45 minutes prior to actual arrival, breakfast service had already concluded, the carts were back in the galley but not yet secured. The aircraft was just in a right turn when a first light bump followed by 3 or 4 big bumps happened. The passenger did not recall whether there were any clouds around at the time of the turbulence.
Position data off the aircraft transponder show the aircraft turned right from true track 126 to true track 145 at that time, about 5 minutes later the aircraft deviated from FL350 to above FL356, then descended back to FL350 in a controlled manner. Immediately following the altitude deviation the aircraft turned left and returned onto the original flight trajectory.
On Jul 31st 2017 Russia's Ministry of Transport (Rostransnador) released the conclusions of their final report:
the entry of VP-BGD into a zone of turbulence not predicted by any forecast and therefore unexpected by the crew. Technical means have difficulties to determine the rapidly developing meteorological processes and associated turbulences.
The high rate of development of the meteorological process did not permit the crew to warn the passengers by activating the fasten seat belt sign or making announcements while the crew applied the procedures when entering a zone of turbulence.
Rostransnador reported 33 passengers and 3 cabin crew were injured when the aircraft encountered turbulence at FL350 about 15 minutes prior to reaching the top of descent.
Metars:
VTBS 010200Z 18007KT 150V230 9999 FEW020 33/23 Q1012 NOSIG=
VTBS 010130Z 19008KT 160V220 9999 FEW020 32/23 Q1012 NOSIG=
VTBS 010100Z 19008G18KT 9999 FEW020 32/24 Q1012 NOSIG=
VTBS 010030Z 20007KT 160V220 9999 FEW020 31/24 Q1012 NOSIG=
VTBS 010000Z 20005KT 9999 FEW020 30/24 Q1012 NOSIG=
VTBS 302330Z 19005KT 9999 FEW020 29/24 Q1011 NOSIG=
VTBS 302300Z 20004KT 9999 FEW020 SCT040 29/24 Q1011 NOSIG=
VTBS 302230Z 21005KT 9999 FEW020CB SCT040 29/24 Q1011 NOSIG=
VTBS 302200Z 22005KT 9999 FEW020CB SCT040 29/24 Q1010 NOSIG=
VTBS 302130Z 21003KT 170V230 9999 FEW020 SCT040 29/24 Q1010 NOSIG=
VTBS 302100Z 22005KT 9999 FEW020 29/24 Q1010 NOSIG=
VTBS 302030Z 20006KT 9999 FEW020 29/24 Q1009 NOSIG=
VTBS 302000Z 20005KT 180V240 9999 FEW020 29/24 Q1009 NOSIG=
Incident Facts
Date of incident
May 1, 2017
Classification
Accident
Cause
Turbulence
Airline
Aeroflot
Flight number
SU-270
Departure
Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia
Destination
Bangkok, Thailand
Aircraft Registration
VP-BGD
Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-300
ICAO Type Designator
B773
Airport
Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok
Airport ICAO Code
VTBS
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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