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DCA22LA196

2022-09-01 · Denver, Colorado, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed

Current FAA registration · N76529

Make / Model
BOEING 737-824
Year of manufacture
2010 · 12 years old at event
Engine
CFM INTL CFM56-7B26/3
Seats / Engines
149 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
20101223
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AA56DB

Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).

Aircraft involved

Probable cause & findings

An encounter with clear air turbulence, which resulted in a serious injury as a flight attendant was lowering her jumpseat.

Factual narrative

The flight crew stated that the flight was on the final stage of the arrival for landing. The seatbelt sign had been on, the flight attendants had just completed their final pre-landing preparations, and had been instructed to take their seats, when suddenly the flight experienced a sudden jolt due to clear air turbulence. When the turbulence occurred one of the flight attendants was in the process of seating herself and as she placed her hand on her jumpseat to lower it, the turbulence occurred causing her to fall and experience an abrupt and intense pressure on her left hand as her fingers were bent backwards. Her hand immediately began to swell. The injured flight attendant was assisted by another flight attendant, the flight crew was informed, and a medical emergency was declared. After landing the flight attendant was given medical care and diagnosed with a fracture of the 4th metacarpal bone in her left hand. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12

NTSB Findings

FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.

  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Clear air turbulence-Effect on personnel
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Clear air turbulence-Awareness of condition
  • — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Clear air turbulence-Contributed to outcome

Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file NTSB_2022_DCA22LA196.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