Air carrier Captain reported encountering turbulence during arrival which resulted in an injury to a Flight Attendant.
Synopsis
Air carrier Captain reported encountering turbulence during arrival which resulted in an injury to a Flight Attendant.
Narrative
I briefed the to flight attendants wrap things up early due to turbulence in the DEN arrival during the crew brief. We had no particular warnings or WSI FPG (Flight Plan Guidance) warnings. At 20K we received our first warning; PIREP of moderate turbulence. I called the lead and instructed her to finish up and be seated. At 15K we received a sudden violent jolt rocking the aircraft 20 degrees. I stabilized the airplane and made the PA to return to their jumpseats immediately. ATC kept leveling us off at 15K; 13K and 11K with heavy turbulence. We demanded lower each time and we're finally clear at 10K. We made a PIREP with ATC. We had the flight attendants check in and we're told everyone was okay. After landing I learned that one of the aft flight attendants; had bruised her arm and twisted her ankle when she was thrown during the initial jolt. They had been about to sit down but had gone past their reserved aisle seat stations to their inoperable (deferred) jump seat in the aft galley when the incident occurred. She said she had done this out of habit. Flight Attendant seemed a bit shaken and I suggested she have her injury looked. She was able to walk and had a bruised arm. Her injuries seemed relatively minor.
Second reporter narrative
On the descent ATC reported light turbulence; Captain directed flight attendants to wrap up the cabin early when we were passing through 20;000 feet on the descent. Below 16 thousand feet we started getting continuous light turbulence; at that point ATC had vectored us off the arrival and gave us 13;000 feet to maintain. We started getting moderate turbulence unexpectedly near 13;000 and we immediately asked for lower altitude while captain asked the flight attendant's to take their Jump seats over PA. We were out of moderate turbulence at 10;000 feet. We checked in with our lead Flight Attendant and she stated everything is fine. After landing we found out a Flight Attendant had bruised her arm while she was trying to take her jump seat during the moderate turbulence. We made sure to pass along PIREP to ATC before we switched the frequency.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.