B773, en-route, near Kurihara Japan, 2018

B773, en-route, near Kurihara Japan, 2018

Summary

On 24 June 2018, a Boeing 777-300 was briefly subjected to unexpected and severe Clear Air Turbulence (CAT) whilst level at FL300 which resulted in a serious injury to one of the cabin crew as they cleared up after in-flight service. The Investigation concluded that the turbulence had occurred because of the proximity of the aircraft to a strong jet stream and that the forecast available at pre-flight briefing had underestimated the strength of the associated vertical wind shear.

Description

On 24 June 2018, the crew of a Boeing 777-300 (JA8944) being operated by Japan Airlines on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from New Chitose to Tokyo International as JAL 514 in day VMC encountered unexpected severe turbulence without warning when cruising at FL 300 and one of the cabin attendants fell and sustained a serious injury. A descent to a lower level was made after the event and there was no recurrence as the flight was completed as planned.

Investigation

The event was classified as a Serious Incident and an Investigation was carried out by the Japan Transport Safety Board (JTSB). It was noted that the 47 year-old Captain of the aircraft, who was PF for the flight, had a total of 10,475 flying hours all but 438 hours of this being on type. The 48 year-old First Officer had a total of 9,373 flying hours which included 2,769 hours on type.

The full content of this page is available to registered users only.
Please Log in or Register

SKYbrary Partners:

Safety knowledge contributed by: