Southwest attendant suffers broken back in hard landing
A Southwest Airlines flight attendant suffered a compression fracture in her back during a hard landing last month in California
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Southwest Airlines flight attendant suffered a compression fracture to a vertebra in her upper back during a hard landing last month in California, according to federal safety investigators.
The National Transportation Safety Board said the impact of landing was so hard that the flight attendant thought the plane had crashed. She felt pain in her back and neck and could not move, and was taken to a hospital where she was diagnosed with the fracture.
The safety board completed its investigation without saying what caused the hard larding.
The NTSB said none of the other 141 people on board the plane were injured in the incident at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, California.
The pilots told investigators that they were aiming for the normal touchdown zone on the relatively short runway.
“However, it ended up being a firm landing,” the NTSB said in its final report, dated Friday.
Dallas-based Southwest did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
Shortly after the plane taxied off the runway, the pilots were told about the injury to the flight attendant who was in a jump seat at the back of the plane.
The NTSB, which did not travel to the accident site, has not made its documents from the investigation publicly available.
The runway that the plane landed on is only 5,700 feet long (1,700 meters). By comparison, runways at nearby Los Angeles International Airport range between 8,900 and nearly 13,000 feet (2,700 to 3,900 meters).
The NTSB investigation was reported earlier by The Dallas Morning News.