Boeing 777-223 N790AN

Summary

On 25 February 2003 at about 21:16 local time, a Boeing 777-223 registered N790AN was involved in an accident near Miami, Florida, United States. 133 people were on board and 2 were seriously injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

25 February 2003 at 21:16

Classification

Accident

Location

Miami, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Miami International (MIA)

Coordinates

25.9497, -81.2525

Aircraft

Boeing 777-223

Registration

N790AN

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Arlington → Miami

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

MIA03LA067

2 people were seriously injured.

The flight crew's inadvertent encounter with turbulence while attempting to maneuver through an area of convective activity during descent.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

While descending into Miami, the flight crew began deviating "well" south of a few small cumulous developments. They had begun reducing speed to turbulence penetration "prior to encountering a few pockets of light chop at about FL240." The captain gave a "PA to the FA'S and passengers leaving FL180, asking that the cabin be prepared for landing early, due to possible chop during our approach." They encountered a very brief pocket of moderate chop. The seatbelt sign was on, the cabin crew was in the process of securing the cabin for landing, and the purser had made the announcement for passengers to prepare for landing right after the captain's pre-landing announcement. Several minutes after the event, the number one flight attendant, advised the captain that two of the flight attendants in the aft part of the airplane had been injured during the turbulence event. A convective SIGMET was valid for Florida and coastal waters at the time of the turbulence encounter. Radar images from the Miami Weather Surveillance Radar (WSR-88D) identified multiple storm cells in the area at the time of the turbulence encounter. The radar data indicated that the core intensity of these cells was strong to intense (40 to 50 dBZ). A radar image taken about the time of the turbulence encounter shows the airplanes path came about five nautical miles from the core of one cell and three nautical miles from the core of a second cell. During this event, the airplane experienced a 2.04 g vertical acceleration load, 6 degree of left roll and a pitch change from -0.4 degrees to -2.1 degrees.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.