- Date
- June 17, 2002, 19:50 local (23:50 UTC)
- Place
- Washington, DC
- Injuries
- 1 minor, 13 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Standing
- Aircraft
- N439JSDornier 328
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report June 25, 2003
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- Case key
- 54993
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
The ground service personnel's failure to follow company procedure, which resulted in the flight attendant sustaining a serious injury.
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
While the flight attendant was attempting to lock the door from inside the airplane, ground service personnel locked it from the outside of the airplane, catching the flight attendant's hand, fracturing her finger and wrist. The procedure for the Dornier 328 aircraft was for ground personnel to close the door flush with the fuselage, and the flight attendant to lock it.
Factual narrative
On June 17, 2002, about 1950 eastern daylight time, a flight attendant sustained minor injuries while closing the main cabin door on a standing Dornier 328, N439JS operated by PSA, dba U.S. Airways Express, at Ronald Regan Washington National Airport (DCA), Washington, District of Columbia. Two flight crew members, 10 passengers, and one other flight attendant were not injured. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed for the flight scheduled to be conducted under 14 CFR Part 121.
According to the operator, the flight attendant was attempting to lock the main cabin door after ground service personnel had closed it flush with the fuselage. While the flight attendant was locking the door from inside the airplane, ground service personnel locked it from the outside of the airplane, catching the flight attendant's hand, fracturing her finger and wrist. The procedure for the Dornier 328 aircraft was for ground personnel to close the door flush with the fuselage, and the flight attendant to lock it.
The flight attendant did not report any malfunction with the main cabin door.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N439JS
- Reported as
- Dornier 328
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 3057
- Engines
- Pratt & Whitney 119B, turbo propPratt & Whitney 119B, turbo prop
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Registered owner
- Psa
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Normal
- Departed
- DCA · Washington, DC
- Destination
- BTV · Burlington, VT
- Flight plan
- IFR
- Airport
- DCA · Ronald Regan Washington
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 · 2
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Role
- Co-pilot
- Injuries
- None
- Certificate
- Airline transport
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Wind
- 230° at 6 knots
- Visibility
- 10 statute miles
- Lowest ceiling
- None
- Temperature
- 77 °F, dew point 54 °F
- Altimeter
- 29.92 inHg
- Observed at
- DCA
Docket · 1
The files NTSB released with the investigation on May 15, 2003, on NTSB’s docket system: statements, records, photos and specialists’ reports. 415 KB in all.