Embraer S A ERJ 170-200 LR accident near Warnock, Ohio, November 20, 2024

The NTSB's narrative preliminary · quoted from the NTSB record

On November 20, 2024, about 1846 eastern standard time (2346 UTC), a Mesa Airlines, Inc., Embraer SA ERJ 170-200 LR, N85352, dba as United Express flight 6149, encountered “moderate to severe” turbulence during descent to its destination, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), Cleveland, Ohio. The seatbelt sign was on, and the 2 flight attendants were performing prelanding cabin safety-related duties at the time. Both flight attendants were seriously injured and upon landing were met and transported to a local hospital. None of the 75 passengers nor 2 flight crew members were injured, and there was no damage to the airplane. The flight was operating as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 scheduled domestic passenger flight that originated at Dulles International Airport (IAD), Chantilly, Virgina. At the time of the accident the flight was in visual meteorological conditions (VMC) on the ROLN2 arrival, at 16,400 ft mean sea level (MSL), when the flight encountered a pocket of severe clear air turbulence. This event involved two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control (ATC) facilities Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZOB) and Cleveland Traffic Control (CLE) and three separate controllers (ZOB R-66, ZOB R-06, CLE-A). According to the accident flight crew, FAA ATC had not provided their flight with any reports of turbulence during their descent. Preliminary data indicated that two other flights were informed by ATC of turbulence in the vicinity. According to the Mesa Airlines’ flight dispatcher, ATC had rerouted the flight when the accident occurred. Parties to the investigation are Mesa Airlines, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the National Air traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). NTSB specialists have been assigned in the areas of ATC and meteorology. Air Traffic Control Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is a surveillance system in which airplanes are fitted with a data link transmitter. An airplane periodically broadcasts its GPS-derived position and other information such as velocity over the data link, which is received by a ground-based transmitter/receiver (transceiver) for processing and display at an air traffic control facility. ADS-B data indicated that flight 6149 departed IAD at about 1805 UTC and flew without incident. At 1829:41 The R66 controller cleared flight 6149 to CLE via direct ROLLN to join the ROLLN TWO arrival. At 1830:21, the R-06 controller issued a clearance climb to UAL771 and the flight crew of UAL771 reported picking up light turbulence, and the controller acknowledged. The flight crew of UAL771 updated the report and advised turbulence was of a moderate degree. Of note is that a Pilot Report (PIREP) had been issued because of the reported turbulence, and this PIREP was not inputted into the Aeronautical Information System (ASIR) and was not relayed to the accident flight crew. At 1830:37, the R-06 controller advised another flight (ENY4189) of the moderate turbulence report received from UAL771, and the crew of ENY4189 confirmed that they were also experiencing light to moderate turbulence. The ATC controller acknowledged, but again this turbulence report was not relayed to flight 6149. At 1834:51, the R-66 controller instructed flight 6149 to descend and maintain flight level (FL)240 [24,000], and the crew acknowledged. At 1841:11 the controller instructed flight 6149 to contact the adjacent control sector, and the crew of flight 6149 acknowledged. At 1841:24, the flight crew of flight 6149 reported leveling off with information golf, and the R-06 controller then issued a descent via the ROLLN TWO arrival and advised the crew that CLE was landing south, issuing the altimeter reading for CLE to the crew. At 1846:04, the R-06 controller informed the flight crew of EJA757 of moderate precipitation and of potential light to occasional moderate turbulence in their climb to FL230. At 1846:15, the R-06 controller instructed the crew of 6149 to contact CLE Approach, and the crew of flight 6149 advised they were starting to pick up moderate turbulence, and the R-06 controller acknowledged. At 1846:52, the CLE-A controller attempted to contact the flight crew of flight 6149, and the crew responded by stating they experienced “some pretty good turbulence”. The CLE-A controller advised of a ride report and issued a descent to 070 for runway 24R. The flight crew acknowledged and confirmed the ride report. At 1848:48, crew of flight 6149 advised they had gotten “some pretty good turbulence”, and that they had an injured flight attendant. The CLE-A controller inquired if they were declaring an emergency, to which the crew stated, “not yet.” At 1849:44, the CLE-A controller inquired if the flight crew would classify that as severe turbulence. The flight crew responded maybe one bump of severe turbulence. At 1850:30, the flight crew advised of the severity of the injuries and declared emergency. The CLE-A controller acknowledged and requested emergency information and advised that personnel will be at the gate. The flight subsequently landed at CLE otherwise uneventfully and was met by emergency medical personnel who cared for the injured flight attendants. Figure 1. An overhead view of flight track of Air Shuttle flight 6149. The orange arrow points to the location of the turbulence encounter. Meteorology Inflight aviation weather advisories are forecasts that advise en route aircraft of the development of potentially hazardous weather. There are four basic types of inflight aviation weather advisories: the Significant Meteorological Information (SIGMET), the Convective SIGMET, the Airmen’s Meteorological Information (AIRMET), and the Center Weather Advisory (CWA). Inflight advisories also serve to notify en route pilots of the possibility of encountering hazardous flying conditions that may not have been forecast at the time of their preflight briefing. Once inflight weather advisories are issued, they are broadcast by FAA air traffic controllers upon issuance and available on inflight weather broadcasts. Surrounding this accident, a CWA was issued at 1743 EST for a line of embedded severe thunderstorms with moderate to heavy precipitation over central Pennsylvania, well to the east of flight 6149’s route. This advisory was updated by Convective SIGMET 27E at 1755 EST. AIRMET Tango 4 series was updated at 1747 EST for occasional moderate turbulence from the surface to FL180 and a high-altitude advisory for moderate turbulence from FL180 to FL420. The investigation continues.

The complete narrative as the NTSB published it. The NTSB's docket holds the report as a PDF and any photographs, statements and other documents from the investigation.