YX4678 - Report: Republic E170 near Minneapolis on Jul 19th 2017

A Republic Airways Embraer ERJ-170, registration N427YX performing flight YX-4678 from Miami,FL to Minneapolis,MN (USA) with 49 people on board, was descending towards Minneapolis. The captain had already illuminated the fasten seat belt signs and instructed cabin crew to take their seats indicating they would need to be seated for 10-13 minutes. While descending through a cloud with no weather radar returns the aircraft encountered a jolt followed by moderate turbulence for a few seconds causing a serious injury to a flight attendant and minor injuries to three passengers. The aircraft continued for a landing in Minneapolis without further incident.

On Feb 25th 2021 the NTSB released their final report concluding the probabe cause of the accident was:

An encounter with convective turbulence.

The NTSB analysed:

The captain stated that as the flight neared Minneapolis, he turned on the seatbelt sign, just before top of descent, for the arrival into KMSP. He contacted the flight attendants (FA) and briefed them on the weather around Minneapolis and told them to be seated within “about 10 to 13 minutes of the weather”. The first officer then made the descent announcement on the public address system, instructing the passengers to be seated and to fasten their seatbelts due to possible turbulence. Subsequently, during the descent, the airplane entered a cloud and encountered “one swift jolt of turbulence followed by moderate turbulence for a few seconds”. The airplane radar was on but there were no returns in front of the airplane. The captain disconnected the autopilot and maintained positive control of the airplane. Shortly after, the flight crew received a call from a flight attendant reporting injuries to passengers and a FA.

The FAs indicated that after the captain informed them of the expected turbulence, they prepared their gallies for landing and made their compliance checks in the cabin. As the aft FA was sitting down in her jumpseat, the turbulence was encountered, and she was thrown into the air and down to the galley floor, injuring her right wrist and left arm. In addition, several passengers were thrown into their passenger service units and one lap-child was thrown several rows away from her mother. The injured FA and passengers were attended to by the uninjured FAs for the remainder of the flight. After landing, the airplane was met at the gate by emergency medical personnel and the injured FA and several passengers were transported to the hospital. The FA was diagnosed with a fractured right wrist and left arm.