Injured On An Airplane?

The United States National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the turbulence event that injured so many passengers on July 21, 2010. They have released a press advisory that states as follows:

NTSB INVESTIGATING TURBULENCE EVENT OVER MISSOURI

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The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating yesterday’s turbulence event experienced by United Airlines Flight #967 (N773UA).The airplane, a Boeing 777-200, en route from Washington, D.C. (Dulles) to Los Angeles, Calif.(LAX), encountered severe turbulence at approximately 6:14 p.m. (MDT) about 60 miles southeast of Kansas City, Missouri and about 40 miles north of Springfield, Missouri, at approximately 34,000 feet. The aircraft diverted and landed in Denver, Colorado.

The airplane had 255 passengers and 10 crew members onboard. Seventeen passengers and four flight attendants reported minor injuries. Initial reports indicate minor damage to the interior of the cabin.

Information from the flight data recorder was downloaded in Denver and was received at NTSB headquarters today where it will be studied by investigators.

Senior Air Safety Investigator, Bill English, is the Investigator-in-Charge. Mr. English and the NTSB technical experts assisting him will conduct the investigation from the NTSB headquarters in Washington, D.C. and will not travel to the scene.

Crew member, passenger, and weather information will be gathered over the coming days.

Although the NTSB has stated that reported injuries are minor, this is preliminary information. As more information becomes known to the NTSB this may change. Certainly it is in everyone’s interest for any and all injured passengers to make the NTSB aware of the full extent of their injuries. Knowing how serious this event was may well help prevent future incidents, and future injuries. You can use this link for information on how to contact the NTSB.

Many passengers were injured yesterday on UAL Flight 967. The aircraft involved, a Boeing 777 registration number N773UA, was manufactured in 1995. Information available through an FAA database reveals that the aircraft had been involved in a prior lightening strike.

It is not always possible or reasonable to expect to wear your seatbelt at every moment during a flight. Certainly with variations in security rules, passengers may feel they need to take advantage of opportunities to use the rest rooms, as they may be restricted from leaving their seats later in the flight. Families traveling with young children know how challenging it can be to stay seated for the duration of the flight. Criticism should not be directed at passengers for failing to secure their seatbelts.

To learn more about how our firm works to recover damages for those injured in turbulence, including flight attendants, click here.

A Boeing 777 encountered severe turbulence today, injuring at least 25 passengers. The flight departed Washington Dulles Airport and was bound for Los Angeles International Airport. The turbulence encounter took place over Kansas, according to a Reuters report. Also according to Reuters a United Spokeswoman stated that there “were storms in the area.”

It appears that there were multiple international travelers among the 225 passengers on the wide body aircraft. The flight was a codeshare with Air China International 8728, Lufthansa 9360, Air New Zealand 9127, Austrian 7867, SAS Scandinavian Airlines and Thai Airways International. Travelers who were flying internationally (regardless of connections) and were injured in the turbulence may be able to recover under an international treaty known as the Montreal Convention. The Montreal Convention allows international travelers wide leeway in deciding where to bring a lawsuit. It may be that international travelers injured on United Airlines Flight 967 can bring a lawsuit in the United States.

According to the National Weather Service, Kansas has been experiencing severe weather.As an investigation into the turbulence event proceeds, investigators will examine what data United Airlines had accumulated, regarding the weather. This includes forecasts, SIGMETS (warnings of severe weather from the National Weather Service), and PIREPS (warnings from other pilots in the area). Given the severe storms in Kansas it will be important to discern weather the airline should have and could have avoided flying through the area.

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(CNN) — A United Airlines jet en route from London, England, to Los Angeles, California, was diverted Tuesday to Montreal, Canada, after turbulence injured three people aboard, an airline spokeswoman said.

Flight 935 had departed London’s Heathrow International Airport bound for Los Angeles International Airport at 10:05 a.m. (5:05 a.m. ET) carrying three pilots, 12 flight attendants and 196 passengers, said spokeswoman Megan McCarthy.

But the Boeing 777, which was to have landed at 1:15 p.m. (4:15 p.m.), encountered severe turbulence over the Atlantic Ocean and landed instead at Montreal’s Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport, she said.

The three injured people — two passengers and a crew member — were taken to an area hospital and will stay in Montreal.

The remaining passengers and crew were to travel to Los Angeles aboard an aircraft that was being sent to Montreal from Chicago, she said. The airline’s website estimated their arrival in Los Angeles at 8:02 p.m. (11:02 p.m. ET).

The jet that encountered the turbulence will be inspected for possible damage, she said.

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reprinted from www.fox23news.com

5/09 3:27 am

Two people were taken to Albany Medical Center after they were injured on a flight from Cleveland to Albany.

Airport officials say the aircraft encountered severe turbulence during the flight.

 Albany International Airport Operations reported that Express Jet Airlines Flight #2769, operated as Continental Express, first reported the turbulence about 40 miles west of Albany International Airport.

The crew notified the Air Traffic Control Tower which in turn notified the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Department to stage for the arrival of the aircraft. The aircraft, a two engine regional jet, landed at approximately 1:45 p.m. today.

Upon landing, it was found that a total of six individuals may have been injured. Town of Colonie Emergency Services responded with four ambulances and support vehicles and personnel.

A male passenger and a female flight attendant were removed from the aircraft on stretchers and transported to Albany Medical Center. Four other passengers were examined by medical personnel and decline further treatment.

http://www.fox23news.com/news/local/story/Passengers-injured-on-flight-to-Albany/k8wkdlXih0Snrv9oOilnmw.cspx

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Written by Dominic Gates

Republished from Seattle Times, Aerospace

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency airworthiness directive Friday requiring that airlines inspect about 600 Boeing 737s to check a mechanism that controls the flap on the horizontal tails of the jets.

Some of the jets must be inspected within 12 days, and the rest within 30 days. FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said about half the affected airplanes are operating in the U.S.

He said the directive stems from an in-flight incident on March 2, when a Ryanair 737-800 en route from Eindhoven in the Netherlands to Madrid, Spain, with 146 passengers aboard experienced “severe vibration” in flight.

The flight crew diverted the airplane, which landed safely and uneventfully in Brussels, Belgium.

An inspection afterward found “extensive damage” to the left elevator, which is a movable flap on the horizontal tail that controls the pitch of the airplane, up or down.

The FAA airworthiness directive described the damage as “failure of the aft attach lugs on the left elevator tab control mechanism.”

“Severe vibration in this attach point is suspected of allowing rapid wear of the joint and resulted in failure of the attach lugs,” the FAA report said. “This condition, if not corrected, could result in a loss of aircraft control and structural integrity.”

During the required inspection of affected planes, mechanics are instructed to look for damage to the attachment points of the elevator-control mechanism. If they find these lugs damaged, the plane must be grounded until the mechanism is replaced.

The Ryanair jet that experienced the vibration in March was a relatively new airplane.

It was delivered from Boeing’s Renton plant in April 2008 and had completed 4,233 flight cycles. Kenitzer, the FAA spokesman, said the elevator tab on the jet’s horizontal tail was the latest design, one mandated by a previous FAA directive in 2003 that was intended “to prevent severe vibration of the elevator and elevator tab assembly.”

That earlier directive required a retrofit redesign involving 88 hours of work at a cost of more than $5,000 per jet. The FAA said then it was necessary to prevent “severe damage to the horizontal stabilizer followed by possible loss of the elevator tab and consequent loss of controllability of the airplane.”

However, Boeing spokeswoman Sandy Angers said the problem that has now come to light with the elevator tab attachment lugs “is a separate issue.”

Boeing issued a service bulletin earlier Friday recommending that airlines inspect the mounting lugs on all its newer-generation 737s, more than 3,000 of which are flying.

However, the emergency FAA directive mandating the inspections applies only to about 600 of those jets considered more at risk and that must be inspected within a month. Whether a jet must be checked within 12 days or within 30 days depends upon its age, its total accumulated flight cycles and if it is approved to fly extended flights.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/boeingaerospace/2011337545_boeing737s13.html

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Reprinted from: msnbc.com

Written by: The Associated Press

TOKYO - About 20 people have been injured by turbulence aboard a United Airlines plane flying from Washington, D.C., to Japan.

Tetsuya Shinozuka, a police official at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, says many of the injuries were bruises, but at least one person may have broken a leg. He gave no further details.

United Airlines spokesman Mike Trevino in Chicago says about halfway into the 13-hour flight, the pilot advised passengers to put on their seat belts. A short time later, the plane “experienced moderate turbulence.”

He declined to discuss any injuries but says United is cooperating with health officials.

The Boeing 747 with 263 people on board landed on schedule Saturday in Tokyo.

For Original article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35519456/ns/travel-news/

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Reprinted and Written by: USA Today

Tetsuya Shinozuka, a police official at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport, says many of the injuries were bruises, but at least one person may have fractured a leg. He gave no further details.

He said the Boeing 747 was flying from Washington, D.C., to Tokyo with 263 people on board when it encountered turbulence over Alaska.

The plane landed on schedule Saturday in Tokyo.

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Written and Published by Aero-News.net

Donna Dacko and Inga Isakson have filed a legal claim against both the FAA and Weather Service International (WSI) over injuries sustained when Alaska Airlines Flight 464 hit severe turbulence on the way into ONT midmorning on December 25, 2007. According to their attorney, Alisa Brodkowitz, the claim precedes the inevitable  lawsuit and was filed to avoid a statute of limitations issue, on Dec 25.

Dacko and Isakson were up doing final compliance checks during the incident. Isakson suffered a head injury with loss of consciousness and concussion while Dacko sustained multiple fractures to her ankle. No other crewmembers or passengers were injured. 

The claim lists WSI as negligent in accurately reporting the weather to the airline. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a SIGMET for occasional severe turbulence, but that information was allegedly not included in the report provided to the flight crew. CFR 121.601 requires the dispatcher to provide all weather reports and forecasts to the PIC.

The claim against the FAA holds ATC responsible for not passing on the SIGMET to the inbound flight. The NTSB report shows that some aircraft did get the advisory, but flight 4646 “apparently… was not one of them.”

Lawyer and former Alaska Airlines pilot John Nance was quoted by the Seattle Times as saying that he has never heard of a case similar to this. “For a suit like this to be successful they are going to have to show the defendants, the FAA in particular, had evidence of turbulence and had a duty to transmit it to the crew and didn’t do that,” said Nance. “That’s a steep mountain to climb.”

The NTSB report on the accident lists the probable cause of the incident to be: “The lack of turbulence forecasts available to the flight crew, which resulted in the flight attendants not being seated when the flight encountered severe terrain-induced turbulence. Contributing to the accident were the terrain-induced turbulence, the failure of the company that provided the flight’s weather briefing to forecast severe turbulence, and the failure of the dispatcher to provide the National Weather Service severe turbulence forecast to the flight.”

The claim shows the flight attendants are seeking to have WSI pay for medical expenses, pain and suffering, emotional distress, and lost wages.

the rest here: http://aero-news.net/index.cfm?ContentBlockID=f11881d8-0d1d-4794-87f7-c581b70ce215&