Embraer S A ERJ170-200LR N128SY

Summary

On 18 December 2017 at about 05:45 local time, a Embraer S A ERJ170-200LR registered N128SY, operated by Skywest Airlines Inc, was involved in an accident near Saint Louis, Missouri, United States. 57 people were on board and one was seriously injured. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

18 December 2017 at 05:45

Classification

Accident

Location

Saint Louis, Missouri, United States

Coordinates

38.7422, -90.3658

Aircraft

Embraer S A ERJ170-200LR

Registration

N128SY

Category

Airplane

Year built

2014

Operator

Skywest Airlines Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

San Francisco → Saint Louis

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

IMC

Light

Night

NTSB number

DCA18CA049

1 person was seriously injured.

the abrupt pitch up maneuver which caused the flight attendant to lose her balance and injure her ankle.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

On December 17, 2017, about 2345 central standard time, SkyWest flight 5788, an Embraer ERJ700, N128SY, experienced a sudden pitch correction during descent into St. Louis International Airport (STL), St Louis, Missouri. Of the 57 passengers and crew onboard, one flight attendant was seriously injured.  The airplane was not damaged. The flight was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight from San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to STL. According to the flight crew, the captain was the pilot monitoring and the first officer (FO) was the pilot flying and was on his second day of initial operating experience (IOE). The air was smooth with no turbulence. Air traffic control requested the flight give its "best forward speed" and cleared it direct to the airport. The crew discussed and planned the descent and after entering the data into the flight management system (FMS), noticed they were past the top of descent point for the 3-degree descent path they had entered. As a result, the captain had the FO select flight level change and the descent rate briefly exceeded 5,000 feet/minute and the airspeed increased. To prevent an overspeed condition, the captain instructed the FO to deploy the speed brakes, but the speed continued to increase, so the captain disconnected the autopilot and pitched the nose up. At the time of the unexpected pitch input, the rear flight attendant (FA) was preparing the galley for landing and was thrown off-balance onto the floor, causing her to twist her ankle.  Medically qualified passengers assisted the FA until landing.  After landing, the FA was transported to the hospital where she was diagnosed with an ankle fracture.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.