A B737-700 Captain failed to write up a severe turbulence encounter during which two flight attendants suffered minor injuries.
Synopsis
A B737-700 Captain failed to write up a severe turbulence encounter during which two flight attendants suffered minor injuries.
Narrative
Encountered severe turbulence on climbout. Flight Attendants were up and serving. I contacted the Flight Attendants after the turbulence event and asked if they were OK. They stated they thought they were OK; but were shaken up. Encountered moderate turbulence in descent and executed ILS approach to minimums. After shutdown at gate; my First Officer asked if the aircraft required a writeup. I stated; 'I don't think so.' At this time I opened the cabin door and found out that two of the Flight Attendants did in fact receive injuries during the turbulence. I got caught up in assessing the Flight Attendants' injuries. The Flight Attendants ultimately determined they did not need emergency medical care and we proceeded to the hotel. After arrival at the hotel; I replayed the event in my head to see if I had covered all the bases. I then remembered the First Officer asking about the logbook writeup. I referenced the FOM and could not find anywhere that it stated to make the writeup. I only found out that I had not completed the appropriate logbook entry when the Assistant Chief Pilot called me this morning. He stated that it even took him 'some digging' to find were it directed to make the logbook entry. An appropriate corrective action would be to amend the FOM to direct the reader to information regarding incident and accident reporting.
Second reporter narrative
After we deplaned the Passengers; I performed a thorough walkaround of the aircraft to look for possible damage. No abnormalities were found. When I returned to the aircraft cabin; I discovered that one of our three Flight Attendants had a swollen ankle injury that occurred during the turbulence encounter. Once at the hotel I opened my FOM to the severe turbulence index tab to see if I could find specific reference to inspection requirements. Under severe turbulence; there were three reference pages listed. None of these pages directed the need for an inspection following a severe turbulence encounter. Rather; the inspection requirement information was contained under generic notification chapters in a sub-section containing definitions for turbulence intensity.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.