4 Aer Lingus Crew hospitalized after turbulence
 

4 Aer Lingus Crew members were hospitalized last night after an MXP-DUB flight arrived in Dublin at around 22.00. Turbulence en route caused serous injuries to crew including crew breaking there legs. Airline conducting an investigation.

Oh dear that sounds nasty.

Some more information here
 

Sorry to hear about the cabin crew being hurt in the turbulence. Hope they will be on the mend soon.

Happily, well relatively speaking, the referenced article suggests broken ankle rather than broken leg.

Could have been worse, I suppose.

Informative journalism
 

Glad to see that this flight had the benefit of 2 pilots. I'm glad they had that covered.:rolleyes:

Without knowing more it sounds like CAT. I remember a long while ago climbing out of AMS in a KLM 767 en route to BEY and just as the crew were released we literally fell into a hole in the sky. The skipper was quick to seat the crew but save for the initial drop, which I can only describe as having the floor fall away under your feet, we just flew on into perfectly still air. Scary stuff and all our crew were lucky that day. I later chatted with the skipper (pre 9/11, sigh) and he told me it was clear air turbulence, unforcasted and undetectable by the wx radar.

Will there be an inquiry at a technical level, and if so, will it be able to detect if a sudden negative g was corrected too vigorously?

I just want to know if this thread will disappear as fast as the ones that mention anything "negative" about the other Irish airline. :hmm:

This forum is full of things negative about the other Irish airline, and sometimes mods just do their job, clean the bull****s thrown in the forum just for the pleasure to talk bad about fr. By the way, whats your post got to do with this 3d? Do you probably think that getting caught in CAT turbulence is something negative about any airline?

You can no more blame Aer Lingus for this incident than you can blame Ryanair because some idiot turns up without all required documentation for a flight.

I've done a flew flights UK-IRL this "Summer" and experienced a higher level of turbulence than usual on some of them. On one flight the seatbelt signs were switched off for just 10 minutes so some desperate pax could visit the loo.

Hi,

Firstly, hope that everybody affected are ok now. I sure it was very scary, even for the experienced crew.

Can I ask was it just unfortunate timing with the plane just happening to be flying through the area at the split second when the cloud/air formation changes caused the clear air turbulence?

What are the chances of this happening again? Do the conditions at Dublin make it more suspectible to CAT - sea and mountain backdrop?

How long would the turbulence have continued for?

Do you think any additional precautions can/will be taken to see if such turbulence can be picked up in advance in future. I understand that it is often virtually impossible to pick up clear up turbulence.

Also, would/could other planes have been affected and if not, how come there appears not to have been any other reports of turbulence around that time.

Sorry for the questions, but as you may know from my previous posts I am both a frequent and nervous flyer and my destination airport is always Dublin.

Thanks for any advice/information.

There is nothing in the article to indicate that the aircraft was anywhere near Dublin when the incident happened.

As a humble slf I take this as a timely reminder that it is worth:
(a) doing what flight attendants say, including listening to the safety briefing
(b) keeping my seat belt fastened unless I need the toilet

Good afternoon,

Accident: Aer Lingus A320 near Dublin on Sep 7th 2012, flight attendant injured

To quote:-

"An Aer Lingus Airbus A320-200, registration EI-CVA performing flight EI-437 from Milan Malpensa (Italy) to Dublin (Ireland) with 62 passengers and 6 crew, was descending through FL140 towards Dublin at about 21:38L (20:38Z) when the crew declared PAN medical emergency and reported one cabin crew member had fallen on board and received a bad fracture of her ankle. The aircraft continued for a safe landing on runway 28 about 12 minutes later....."


The attached link suggests the turbulence occurred on the approach to Dublin, as do they after comments regarding the cloud situation in the vicinity at the time.

That is why I have asked the specific questions in relation to Dublin.

I hope this clarifies.

Maddie

Where the PAN was declared may not be an accurate indicator of where the turbulence/injury happened.

It's obviously possible the incident happened in the descent but is also possible it happened earlier in the flight and that the PAN call was made for the first time in the descent - in order to get priority for an approach and expedite the arrival of the medics at the aircraft side on parking.

Hi Wiggy,

Of course, that may be the case.

Thanks for your answer.

ATC recording from ATC Audio Archives | LiveATC.net

Select 7th Sep 2012
Select feed - EIDW Del/Gnd/Twr
Select time 20:30-21:00z

First contact with EI437 is 05:00 mins into recording. PAN PAN at 08:34 mins into recording.

This link may take you directly to the recording if not try above http://archive-server.liveatc.net/ei...2012-2030Z.mp3

DUB and turb
 

To answer Maddie's original question, there's nothing about DUB and its environs that makes it any more turbulence-prone than any other major airport in northwest Europe, and she should not feel any special concern about flying there.

Hi Blind Squirrel,

Thanks for your reply too.

It is crazy, I fly every couple of weeks, (it used to be every week), for almost 9 years now, cos of caring commitments in Dublin and I still am a nervous flyer. I would give anything to be able to get over this fear.

I am also a very analytical and 'grounded' person, my own work is all about numbers!! so if you or anyone else can give me any re-assurance on the odds of this happening again (first question - right place, bad time!) and how long the turbulence may have lasted for, it would be great, then I feel a little bit more prepared.

I know my fear is very illogical and believe me I try to confront it, but still given the choice I would be on the ocean liner instead...

It is a case of needs must..