ATL83FA328
1983-04-02 · BALTIMORE, Maryland, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
N8415 has since been reassigned. It is now registered to a different aircraft (CESSNA 172F, built 1964), which was not involved in this event.
Aircraft involved
Factual narrative
THE FLT ENCOUNTERED TURBULENCE ABOUT 20-25 MIN PRIOR TO LANDING. THE FLT ATTENDANTS WERE RETRIEVING CUPS & TRASH AT THE CONCLUSION OF A HOT MEAL SERVICE. AN ATTENDANT WAS THROWN UPWARD STRIKING THE CEILING, THEN FELL TO THE FLOOR CAUSING A LOWER BACK INJURY. THE FLT WAS IN THE VICINITY OF SEVERAL THUNDERSTORMS WHEN THE TURBULENCE, CHARACTERIZED AS 'HEAVY' OR'SEVERE' WAS ENCOUNTERED. A PA ANNOUNCEMENT WAS MADE EARLY IN THE FLT THAT TURBULENCE WAS EXPECTED & THAT THE SEAT BELT SIGN WOULD BE LEFT ON DURING THE FLT. THE ATTENDANTS WERE INSTRUCTED BY THE CAPTAIN TO PROVIDE THE SCHEDULED MEAL SERVICE. THE SENIOR ATTENDANT STATED SHE WAS TOLD BY THE CAPTAIN EARLIER IN THE FLT THAT SHE COULD HAVE THE OTHER ATTENDANTS TAKE THEIR SEATS (BECAUSE OF TURBULENCE) AT HER DISCRETION & THE CAPTAIN WOULD MAKE A PA ANNOUNCEMENT IF THE WX WORSENED. SHE ALSO STATED SHE THOUGHT SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN FIRED IF SHE CHOSE NOT TO PROVIDE THE MEAL SERVICE FOR SAFETY REASONS. THE FLT ATTENDANTS STATED THEY WERE NOT GIVEN ANY WARNING. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1983_ATL83FA328.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence, thunderstorm). All research papers
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- NASA NTRS 2019 · Reprint (Version printed in journal) Severe Turbulence and Maneuvering from Airline Flight Records
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Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
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Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.