Boeing 757-200 N525UA

Summary

On 12 April 2007 at about 20:15 local time, a Boeing 757-200 registered N525UA, operated by United Airlines, was involved in an accident near Los Angeles, California, United States. 112 people were on board and one was seriously injured, 5 had minor injuries. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

12 April 2007 at 20:15

Classification

Accident

Location

Los Angeles, California, United States

Nearest airport

Los Angeles (KLAX)

Coordinates

33.9425, -118.4081

Aircraft

Boeing 757-200

Registration

N525UA

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

United Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

New York → Los Angeles

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

LAX07LA127

1 person was seriously injured.

The flight's encounter with a turbulence event that occurred while the flight attendants were unseated. Contributing to the accident was the apparent conflicting information provided by the flight deck to the flight attendants and the flight attendants' interpretation of that information.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

While at flight level FL400 (40,000 feet) the flight deck received information about turbulence below 12,000 feet. The captain advised the flight attendants to have the cabin secured and be in their seats within 15 minutes. The first officer gave the 'prepare for landing' announcement in the descent around flight level FL250 (25,000 feet), which was after the captain had notified the flight attendants to prepare the cabin, but before the end of the stated 15 minutes. While descending through 15,500 feet, the airplane experienced a moderate 'jolt' lasting 1-2 seconds. By this time it had been more than 15 minutes since the captain gave the flight attendants the secure cabin instructions. The cabin crew reported injuries to all flight attendants and no injuries to passengers. All six flight attendants received medical attention after landing. One flight attendant was seriously injured with a closed fibular fracture; the five other flight attendants had minor injuries. The first officer said that turbulence during their departure had been very bad, therefore, in order to mitigate any passenger anxiety, when he made the 'prepare for landing' announcement, he added that the turbulence would not be as bad as it was on departure. He understood the captain's instructions to the flight attendants, and this announcement was aimed solely at the passengers. The flight attendants confirmed that they understood the captain's instructions to have the cabin cleaned up and be seated within 15 minutes. As they were finishing the cabin clean up, the first officer's 'prepare for landing' announcement indicated that the turbulence would not be as bad as they had been told to expect. The flight attendants may have interpreted this added information concerning turbulence as a relaxation of the captain's earlier instructions. The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) indicated the turbulence occurred as the aircraft was coming out of a 12-degree right bank and descending through 15,400 pressure altitude. The event lasted approximately 10-11 seconds. The bank angle of the aircraft was between 8 and 1 degrees right wing down during the event. Vertical acceleration fluctuated between .5 and 2.06 G's. Longitudinal acceleration spiked up to .2 G's about the same time as the 2 G vertical spike. Lateral acceleration fluctuated between .1 G left and .05 G's to the right during the incident. The data showed that the autopilot was engaged and in control of the aircraft during the incident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.