25 Apr 2011: AIRBUS A330-323 — Delta Airlines

25 Apr 2011: AIRBUS A330-323 (N807NW) — Delta Airlines

No fatalities • New York, NY, United States

Probable cause

The flight attendant's inadvertent fall, which resulted in a serious injury.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On April 25, 2011, about 1625 eastern daylight time, an Airbus 330-323, N807NW, had a flight attendant injured during pushback at the John F. Kennedy International Airport (KJFK), New York, New York. The airplane had 11 crewmembers and 265 passengers; 1 flight attendant sustained serious injuries. The airplane was registered to, and operated by, Delta Airlines under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 for the international scheduled air carrier flight. The flight was destined for Athens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport (LGAV), Spata, Greece. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and an instrument flight rules flight plan had been filed.

According to the captain of the flight, the pushback was uneventful and "very smooth" and that sentiment was shared by the other crew members. According to the injured flight attendant, she was had placed her right foot too close to her left foot, she stepped on her right foot and lost her balance. She attempted to stabilize herself; however, she fell and broke her left femur.

PERSONNEL INFORMATION

According to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and operator records, the captain, age 58, had 17,641 total hours of flight experience and 445 total hours of flight experience as pilot-in-command of the accident aircraft make and model. He held an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate and a first class medical certificate that was issued January 19, 2011. His most recent CFR Part 121 checkride was conducted April 6, 2011.

The First Officer, age 50, had 12,748 total hours of flight experience and 1,134 hours in the accident airplane make and model. He held an ATP certificate and a first class medical certificate that was issued December 10, 2010. His most recent CFR Part 121 checkride was conducted July 25, 2010.

AIRCRAFT INFORMATION

According to FAA and operator records, the airplane was issued an airworthiness certificate on July 7, 2004. The airplane's most recent continuous airworthiness inspection was dated on April 19, 2011. At the time of the inspection, the reported aircraft total time was 31,618 hours of time in service. The airplane was equipped with two Pratt & Whitney PW4168A turbofan engines. According to the operator, there was no mechanical malfunction or abnormalities with the airplane.

METEROLOGICAL INFORMATION

The 1651 recorded weather observation at JFK, included wind from 150 degrees at 6 knots, visibility 9 miles, few clouds at 1,200 feet above ground level (agl), scattered clouds at 13,000 and 25,000 feet agl, temperature 17 degrees C, dew point 14 degrees C; barometric altimeter 30.01 inches of mercury.

Contributing factors

  • cause Cabin crew

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 150/06kt, vis 9sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.