- Date
- June 5, 1991, 18:00 local (Jun 6, 1991, 01:00 UTC)
- Place
- Elko, NV
- Injuries
- 1 serious, 138 uninjured
- Damage
- No damage
- Phase of flight
- Enroute
- Aircraft
- N304AWBoeing 737-3G7
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Status
- Completed · report February 12, 1993
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- FAA report
- 19910605027549A
- Case key
- 41445
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
An unsecured cart. The factors to the accident were: turbulent weather conditions, and poor judgement by the flight attendant.
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 in cruise flight, the flight attendant prepared the snack cart for service. A pot of coffee was placed on top of the cart. The attendant positioned the cart in front of row 1 and returned to the galley to fill a drink order. The attendant heard a loud noise and turned around to find that the cart had fallen over toward row 1. The pot of coffee spilled on a passenger seated in row 1B. The passenger was seriously burned by the coffee.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N304AW
- Reported as
- Boeing 737-3G7
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 304AN
- Engine
- CFM CFM56-3B1/3C1, 22,000 horsepower, turbo jet
- Damage
- No damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- America West Airlines
- Departed
- PHX · Phoenix, AZ
- Destination
- SEA · Seattle, WA
- Flight plan
- IFR
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Age
- 48
- Certificates
- Airline transport, Commercial
- Airplane ratings
- Single-engine land, Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Unknown
- Flight hours
- 11,000 total · 4,000 in this make and model
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Day
- Temperature
- -0 °F, dew point -0 °F
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.