B737-700 flight crew reported an upset occurred when they encountered wake turbulence climbing through FL350 in the vicinity of AUS.
Synopsis
B737-700 flight crew reported an upset occurred when they encountered wake turbulence climbing through FL350 in the vicinity of AUS.
Narrative
In the vicinity of AUS; climbing FL350 to FL360; we encountered what we believe was wake turbulence from an airplane that had just crossed in front of us while descending. Our aircraft suddenly and violently banked left and then immediately right approximately 35-45 degrees both ways. After overcoming the startle effect I grabbed the yoke and disconnected the autopilot and stabilized the aircraft. The PLIs ('angry eyebrows') had dropped to just a few degrees above the flight director so I reached for the throttles but didn't disengage them because we were now stable and slightly climbing again. While this was happening I noticed on TCAS (160nm range) an aircraft near us that was at our altitude and descending while crossing in front of us. Once level; we called IAH Center and told them what happened. We then checked with the Flight Attendants who had just taken out the carts - one was rammed by a cart in the galley which doused her with hot coffee; another had neck pain from falling and a cart fell on the third Flight Attendant. I asked them if they were badly injured. They said no. I asked if they wanted to land in order to receive medical attention and they said no again so we decided to continue to [destination]. A PA was then made to the passengers explaining what we believed had happened. No passengers were hurt. After our adrenaline levels returned to normal levels we spoke to the Flight Attendants one more time explaining what happened and asked if they were ok to continue. They were good. This event started and ended in seconds. Let me repeat. This event started and ended in seconds. It happened so fast that we didn't even have time to call out 'upset' even though it was an upset situation. We were not in a stall condition but it was damn close. My new hire First Officer performed admirably during and after the event.
Second reporter narrative
In our climb; within 1000 ft. of our cruising altitude of FL360; we encountered wake turbulence from an Airbus that was descending from right to left. Encountering their wake turbulence our aircraft abruptly rolled to the left between 30 to 40deg followed by an immediate un-commanded roll back to the right of about 40 to 45deg bank. While the indications were that we were approaching an upset condition the Captain proactively disabled the autopilot and stabilized the aircraft returning it to a steady state. I asked for the Flight Attendants to check in to find out if there were any injuries. One flight attendant had a cart roll into her and pressed her up against the door while spilling hot coffee on her. The other flight attendant was trying to control the cart hurt his neck. We contacted ATC and informed them of the incident. We contacted Dispatch to notify them of our encounter. There were no immediate injuries to the crew or passengers. We did not receive a TA or RA event; so the aircraft was outside the threat zone.
NASA callback
Reporter stated he had nothing further to add to his narrative.
More incidents for this aircraft family →
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.