NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DCA25LA126
Registry · N939WN
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
BOEING 737-7H4
Year of manufacture
2009 · 16 years old at event
TCDS
A16WE · THE BOEING CO
Engine
CFM INTL CFM56-7B24/3
Seats / Engines
143 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
20090610
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AD0919
Registrant of record
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The airplane’s encounter with moderate turbulence during descent, which resulted in serious injury to a flight attendant.
Factual narrative
On February 13, 2025, Southwest Airlines flight 3338, operating from Metropolitan Oakland International Airport (OAK), Oakland, California, to San Diego International Airport (SAN), San Diego, California, encountered turbulence during descent. One flight attendant (FA) sustained a serious injury. Prior to departure, the flight crew reviewed weather data via the Weather Services International (WSI) and SkyPath applications and noted the possibility of turbulence during climb-out and descent. Flight attendants were briefed to remain seated until further notice. During climb and cruise, the aircraft experienced “light chop.” After the turbulence cleared, the flight crew permitted flight attendants to begin service. The seatbelt sign was subsequently turned off for passengers, and the remainder of the cruise segment was uneventful. According to the flight crew, they continued to monitor the weather and noted no “moderate turbulence plots” along the route, though they did observe occasional “light turbulence plots.” At FL300, prior to descent, the captain reactivated the seatbelt sign and advised passengers to be seated. Shortly thereafter, while descending through scattered clouds between FL300 and FL250, the airplane encountered moderate turbulence. The captain then instructed the FAs to take their seats. According to the FAs, although the flight crew had illuminated the seatbelt sign and briefed passengers via the PA about the impending turbulence, no separate advisory was provided to the cabin crew before the turbulence event. When the turbulence subsided, the flight crew checked on the FAs via the interphone and was informed that one FA had been seriously injured. The captain subsequently requested medical personnel and a manager to meet the flight upon arrival. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Convective turbulence-Effect on personnel
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2025_DCA25LA126.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint
Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article
Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗