- Date
- May 14, 1992, 20:50 local (May 15, 1992, 01:50 UTC)
- Place
- Palacios, TX
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 113 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N67SWBoeing 737-200
- Weather
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Status
- Completed · report May 26, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19920514015949A
- Case key
- 18504
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the accident.
On this page
Probable cause
The flight's unexpected encounter with moderate turbulence.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
The flight encountered moderate turbulence shortly after entering the clouds in dark night conditions during a normal descent. During the encounter, the flight attendant in the mid-cabin area sustained a broken ankle when she was thrown to the floor. The seat belt light was illuminated, however, the three flight attendants were up and in the process of clearing the cabin in preparation for landing. All of the passengers were seated. Although the turbulence had been mentioned in the forecast, there had been no PIREP along the route of flight.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N67SW
- Reported as
- Boeing 737-200
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- P-3948
- Airframe hours
- 36,420
- Engine
- P&W JT8D-9, 14,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Southwest Airlines Co.
- Registered owner
- Southwest Airlines Co.
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Last inspection
- Continuous airworthiness · May 13, 1992 · 19 hours before
- Departed
- HRL · Harlingen, TX
- Destination
- HOU · Houston, TX
- Flight plan
- IFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 43
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land, Single-engine sea, Single-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Valid Medical--no waivers/lim.
- Seat
- Left
- Flight hours
- 14,155 total · 226 in the last 90 days · 75 in the last 30 days · 4 in the last 24 hours
Weather
- Conditions
- Instrument (IMC) · Night/dark
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- 10,000 ft broken
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.