Boeing 737-700 N480WN

Summary

On 2 July 2022 at about 00:21 local time, a Boeing 737-700 registered N480WN, operated by Southwest Airlines Co, was involved in an accident near Santa Ana, California, United States. 142 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

2 July 2022 at 00:21

Classification

Accident

Location

Santa Ana, California, United States

Nearest airport

John Wayne Orange County Airpo (sna)

Coordinates

33.6757, -117.8680

Aircraft

Boeing 737-700

Registration

N480WN

Category

Airplane

Year built

2004

Engines

2

Operator

Southwest Airlines Co

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Oakland → Santa Ana

Aircraft damage

Not recorded

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA22LA151

1 person was seriously injured.

A flight attendant received a serious injury for undetermined reasons during a firm landing.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

A flight attendant was injured when Southwest Airlines Flight 2029 landed at the John Wayne-Orange County Airport (SNA), Santa Ana, California. According to the flight crew, they were flying a visual approach to runway 20R at SNA. They were aiming for the touchdown zone due to its short runway and trying to fly the aircraft onto the runway with minimal floating. However, it ended up being a firm landing. Shortly after exiting the runway, the flight crew were informed that the “B” position flight attendant (FA) seated in the aft jump seat had injured her back on landing and required medical assistance. Data from the operator’s Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and Aircraft Health Monitoring (AHM) programs indicated the landing did not meet the hard landing criteria set by the airplane’s manufacturer. According to the FA, after securing the galley and cabin for landing, she sat down in her jumpseat, secured her seatbelt harness, and got into the brace position. She indicated that the plane hit the ground with such force that she thought the plane had crashed. She immediately felt pain in her back, neck and she could not move. Paramedics evaluated her and transported her to a local hospital where she was later diagnosed with a compression fracture to her T3 vertebra.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.