Boeing 767-300 JA603J

Summary

On 10 February 2011 at about 18:30 local time, a Boeing 767-300 registered JA603J, operated by Japan Airlines International, was involved in an accident near Ni'ihau, Hawaii, United States. 250 people were on board and one was seriously injured, 6 had minor injuries. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

10 February 2011 at 18:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Ni'ihau, Hawaii, United States

Nearest airport

Honolulu International Airport (PHNL)

Coordinates

21.7233, -160.2553

Aircraft

Boeing 767-300

Registration

JA603J

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Japan Airlines International

Operating rule

Part 129: Foreign

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Narita → Honolulu

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

WPR11LA139

1 person was seriously injured.

An encounter with unanticipated convectively induced windshear and turbulence during descent.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

As the airplane descended from about 38,000 feet, the flight crew observed that they had a tailwind of between 60 and 70 knots and that cumulonimbus clouds were ahead of the airplane. Descending through 34,668 feet, the tailwind suddenly decreased and the indicated speed of the airplane quickly increased. The captain activated the speed brakes and disengaged the autopilot. Subsequently, the airplane began to slow. As the captain was slowly retarding the speed brakes, the airplane started to climb and the captain slowly lowered the nose of the airplane. The digital flight data recorder revealed that over a 30-second period the airplane’s vertical acceleration decreased to 0.75 g, then increased to 2.33 g, decreased to 0.05 g, then stabilized at 0.9 g (normal). During the event, one passenger broke her femur; two cabin attendants and four passengers received minor injuries. The airplane was not damaged. Convective activity was located immediately west of where the event occurred, likely blocking the wind flow and causing a wave-like disturbance downstream of the storms, which would result in unanticipated convectively induced turbulence. Since the event occurred in clear air downstream of the cumulonimbus clouds, the airplane likely encountered an undulating turbulence under a strong temperature inversion and strong windshear. The turbulence was not predicted by weather forecasters.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.