WPR13CA016
2012-10-16 · Las Vegas, Nevada, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport KLAS
Current FAA registration · N625SW
- Make / Model
- BOEING 737-3H4
- Year of manufacture
- 1996 · 16 years old at event
- Engine
- CFM INTL. CFM56 SERIES (2200 hp)
- Seats / Engines
- 149 seats · 2 engines
- Last airworthiness date
- 19960423
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S A82A75
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The flight attendant's encounter with an unseen obstruction in the aisle, which resulted in a fall.
Factual narrative
Southwest Airlines reported that during a flight from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Las Vegas, Nevada, while at cruise, a flight attendant that was conducting beverage service tripped over a passenger's leg that was protruding into the isle. The flight attendant fell and felt pain in her knee and foot. She did not resume her duties during the flight. After landing she self reported to a local hospital where it was determined that she had a metatarsal fractured in her left foot. There were no mechanical difficulties or anomalies with the airplane during the flight and the event was not related to turbulence. Southwest Airlines personnel reported that, during cruise flight between Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Las Vegas, Nevada, a flight attendant who was conducting beverage service tripped over a passenger's leg that was protruding into the aisle. The flight attendant fell and felt pain in her left knee and foot. She did not resume her flight attendant duties during the flight. After landing she went to a local hospital, where medical personnel determined that she had a fractured metatarsal in her left foot. There were no mechanical difficulties or anomalies with the airplane during the flight, and the event was not related to turbulence. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
FAA avdata. C = Cause, F = Factor.
- C Environmental issues-Task environment-Physical workspace-Positioning/available space-Effect on personnel - C
- — Personnel issues-Physical-Impairment/incapacitation-Illness/injury-Cabin crew
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2012_WPR13CA016.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.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
- NTSB CAROL Agency ↗
- NTSB Docket Agency ↗
- Aviation Safety Network Aviation press ↗
- Kathryn's Report Aviation press ↗
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- Pilots of America Community ↗
- Reddit /r/flying Community ↗
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- AOPA accident database Aviation press ↗
- Google News News ↗
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). All research papers
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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).