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DCA22LA001

2020-07-05 · Orlando, Florida, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Current FAA registration · N254WN

Make / Model
BOEING 737-7H4
Year of manufacture
2006 · 14 years old at event
Engine
CFM INTL CFM56-7B24
Seats / Engines
143 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
20060901
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A2685B

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

An encounter with moderate turbulence during descent.

Factual narrative

A flight attendant, who was standing in the aft galley while securing the cabin, was injured when the flight encountered turbulence during descent. According to the flight crew, there was a significant area of weather over the Florida peninsula, so they directed the flight attendants to secure the cabin early and take their seats for the remainder of the flight. While they were securing the cabin, the flight encountered an area of moderate convective turbulence lasting about 30 seconds. When the turbulence was encountered, the “B” position flight attendant was seriously injured after being thrown down and striking the aft galley floor hard. The captain was not told of any injuries at the time of the event. The flight attendant was later diagnosed with a compression fracture of the L1 vertebra spine along with other back injuries including disc herniation and cervical, thoracic, and lumbar sprain. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Convective turbulence-Effect on personnel

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2020_DCA22LA001.txt. Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb. Full investigation docket on data.ntsb.gov ↗.

Search this event elsewhere

External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.

Related research

Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). All research papers