McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-30 N137AA

Summary

On 30 December 1982 at about 22:58 local time, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-30 registered N137AA, operated by American Airlines, Inc., was involved in an incident near Thermal, California, United States. 217 people were on board and 14 had minor injuries. No probable cause statement is available for this record.

Date

30 December 1982 at 22:58

Classification

Incident

Location

Thermal, California, United States

Coordinates

33.4793, -116.1007

Aircraft

McDonnell-Douglas DC-10-30

Registration

N137AA

Category

Airplane

Engines

3

Operator

American Airlines, Inc.

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Los Angeles → Dallas/Ft Worth

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

FTW83IA072

14 people had minor injuries.

The NTSB has not published a probable cause for this record. No probable cause statement is present in the source data.

Nothing about the cause is stated here that is not in the source record.

Read the full NTSB narrative

AT ABOUT 1458 PST, THE AIRCRAFT ENCOUNTERED MODERATE TO SEVERE CLEAR AIR TURBULENCE FOR A PERIOD OF 8 TO 10 SECONDS WHILE CLIMBING THROUGH 35,500 FT. SEVEN PASSENGERS AND SEVEN FLIGHT ATTENDANTS RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES. THE SEAT BELT SIGN HAD BEEN TURNED ON BEFORE TAKEOFF AND HAD REMAINED ON THROUGHOUT THE ENCOUNTER. OF THE PASSENGER WHO WERE INJURED, FOUR STATED THEIR SEAT BELTS WERE OFF, TWO STATED THEIR BELTS WERE LOOSE AND ONE HAD DISREGARDED THE SIGN AND WAS IN THE LAVATORY. THE INJURED FLIGHT ATTENDANTS WERE PREPARING FOR CABIN SERVICE AND WERE NOT RESTRAINED. A REVIEW OF THE AIRLINE'S COMPUTER GENERATED FLIGHT PLAN DATA REVEALED THAT THE MAXIMUM GENERATED TURBULENCE INDEX PREDICTED WAS LIGHT. THERE WAS A CAT SIGMET, VALID FOR THE PERIOD, WHICH REPORTED MODERATE TURBULENCE AT FLIGHT LEVEL 360 TO 370 OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA IN THE HECTOR-THERMAL AREA.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.