Southwest Airlines Flight Attendant Breaks Her Back After Hard Landing In California
A Southwest flight attendant breaks her back following hard landing last month in California.
Reportedly, the plane landed with such force that the flight attendant initially thought the plane had crashed. Upon landing, the flight attendant “immediately felt pain in her back, neck and she could not move,” according to the National Transportation Safety Board report published on Friday. The report revealed that none of the 141 people on the plane were injured in the incident. The incident happened at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California.
The airline said in a statement “We reported the matter to the NTSB in accordance with regulatory requirements and conducted an internal review of the event.” The case of the “firm landing’ was not initially confirmed. Later it was confirmed that the flight crew were “were aiming for the touchdown zone due to its short runway and trying to fly the aircraft onto the runway with minimal floating,” the report says. “However, it ended up being a firm landing.”
After the impactful landing, the flight attendant who was sitting in the jump-seat, felt immediate pain. Paramedics evaluated her and transported her to a local hospital. She was later diagnosed with a compression fracture to her T3 vertebra.”
Since, a spokeswoman for the airline declined to provide a comment when asked about the result of the internal investigation and whether the plane was inspected for evidence of damage that could occur during a hard landing. The plane continues to be in use, according to tracking services.
The runway that the plane landed on is only 5,700 feet long. By comparison, runways at nearby Los Angeles International Airport range between 8,900 and nearly 13,000 feet.
