A320, en-route, southwest Caribbean, 2023

A320, en-route, southwest Caribbean, 2023

Summary

On 25 September 2023, an Airbus A320 in cruise at FL340 entered clouds at night and encountered unexpected severe turbulence which resulted in serious injuries to four passengers and minor injuries to two other passengers and three of the four cabin crew. The scheduled flight to Fort Lauderdale was completed. The flight crew stated that they had not seen weather radar returns indicating any en route turbulence ahead. When the weather radar was removed from the aircraft and subjected to functional testing, it was found to be fully serviceable. 

Description

On 25 September 2023, an Airbus A320 (N569JB) operated by JetBlue Airways on a scheduled international passenger flight from Guayaquil, Ecuador to Fort Lauderdale, Florida as JBU1256 was approximately 200 nm south of the western tip of Jamaica when a sudden encounter with severe convective turbulence occurred. The flight crew had not anticipated this turbulence. Four of the 162 passengers sustained serious injuries, and two others sustained minor injuries as did three of the four cabin crew. The flight was completed as scheduled and landed approximately one hour 40 minutes after the upset with no further turbulence encountered.

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