A332, en-route, mid Atlantic, 2013

A332, en-route, mid Atlantic, 2013

Summary

On 2 September 2013, an Airbus A330-200 crossing the ITCZ at FL400 at night encountered sudden severe turbulence unanticipated by the crew resulting in serious injuries to a few cabin crew / passengers and minor injuries to twelve others. An en route diversion to Fortaleza was made. The Investigation found that the origin of the turbulence was severe convective weather and failure to detect it in an area where it had been forecasted indicated that it was probably associated with sub-optimal use of the on-board weather radar with the severity of the encounter possibly aggravated by inappropriate contrary control inputs.

Description

On 2 September 2013, an Airbus A330-200 (PT-MVL) being operated by TAM on a scheduled international passenger flight from Madrid to São Paulo Guarulhos, Brazil, under ETOPS encountered sudden severe turbulence as it transited the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) at night in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). As a result of injuries sustained by 12 of the 156 passengers (two being serious) and 3 of the 13 cabin crew (one being serious), a diversion to Fortaleza was made landing there 1 hour and 40 minutes later. Minor cabin trim damage was caused by the impact of unrestrained passengers with the cabin roof. It was subsequently determined that AFM load limits had not been exceeded during the event.

Investigation

An Accident Investigation was carried out by CENIPA, Brazil's Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Centre. FDR data relevant to the event was successfully downloaded and informed the Investigation along with relevant meteorological data.

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