Created Thursday, Feb 23rd 2023 19:57Z, last updated Saturday, May 13th 2023 11:05Z
A British Airways Airbus A350-1000, registration G-XWBL performing flight
BA-247 (dep Jan 21th) from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Sao Paulo,SP (Brazil), was enroute when the aircraft encountered turbulence causing injuries to a flight attendant. The aircraft continued to Sao Paulo where the aircraft landed safely about 11 hours after departure from London.
The British AAIB reported the flight attendant received serious injuries, the occurrence was rated an accident and is being investigated by the AAIB.
In May 2023 the British AAIB released their bulletin describing the sequence of events:
While in the cruise at FL360/M0.85, with autopilot engaged and passenger seatbelt signs off, the aircraft encountered unexpected turbulence. The flight crew immediately switched the seatbelt signs on, but the turbulence event came and went very quickly.
As a precaution, even though there were no more instances of turbulence, the seatbelt signs were kept on until the cabin crew confirmed to the commander that the cabin was secure. At this point, he was also informed that two of the cabin crew had been injured as a result of the turbulence. The most severely injured person had been drinking a cup of tea when the turbulence started and was moving to the galley sink to dispose of it when the severity of the aircraft’s motion lifted them off their feet. They then fell to the floor, suffering injuries to their shoulder and hip as a result. One of the other cabin crew members received a minor cut to their ankle caused by fragments from the ceramic cup which had shattered after being dropped by their falling colleague. Having taken medical advice, the commander elected to continue to the planned destination where the seriously injured crew member was taken to hospital. It was later established they had sustained a badly bruised shoulder and two pelvic fractures.
The AAIB stated with respect to recorded information:
Analysis of flight data recordings confirmed that the turbulence event lasted for 20 seconds, during which the vertical g loading varied between 0 G and +1.47 G. The aircraft’s speed briefly reached a maximum of M0.892, with the time above MMO 1 (M0.89) being less than one second. While the speed was above MMO the Master Warning sounded but the maximum Mach reached did not activate the MMO warning (trigger threshold M0.896). The aircraft’s altitude varied between 35,950 ft and 36,080 ft, with a vertical speed variation of between +1,100 ft/min and -1,460 ft/min. The autopilot remained engaged throughout the event. Post-flight data analysis confirmed no load exceedances had occurred during the event.
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