The Transport Safety Investigation Bureau (TSIB) of Singapore has released the preliminary findings of its investigation into an incident involving Singapore Airlines flight SQ321, a Boeing 777-300ER, registration 9V-SWM, which encountered turbulence on May 20th while en route from London Heathrow to Singapore.
Data extracted from the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) were used to construct a timeline based on a preliminary analysis.
According to the report, the flight was cruising normally but, at 07:49:21 AM (UTC) on May 21st, likely flew over an area of developing convective activity south of Myanmar at an altitude of 37,000 feet. This resulted in minor vibrations fluctuating between +0.44G and +1.57G over approximately 19 seconds, climbing to 37,362 feet. The seatbelt sign was turned on at 49 minutes and 32 seconds. The autopilot was engaged at this time.
From 49 minutes and 40 seconds to 0.6 seconds, there was a sudden change from +1.35G to -1.5G and then from the 41st second for four seconds it shifted from -1.5G to +1.5G. It is suspected that this caused cabin crew members, who were not wearing seatbelts, to be lifted into the air and then fall, resulting in a drop of 178 feet in altitude. During this time, the pilots took manual control for 21 seconds to stabilize the aircraft, after disengaging the autopilot, before returning to autopilot at 50 minutes and 5 seconds. The flight had returned to an altitude of 37,000 feet by 50 minutes and 23 seconds.
After being informed by cabin crew about injuries onboard, the pilots decided to divert to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, where medical services were requested upon arrival. The flight began its descent at 8:06:51 AM, approximately 17 minutes after the turbulence occurred, and landed at 8:45:12 AM.
The investigation is being conducted in collaboration with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Boeing. It is ongoing.
Singapore Airlines reported that there were 211 passengers and 18 crew members onboard, totaling 229 people. One passenger died from a cardiac arrest. As of May 29th local time, 42 passengers remained in Bangkok, with 26 of them receiving treatment in a hospital. Assistance has been provided to families wishing to travel.
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This article was generated using automatic translation by GPT-4 API. The translation may not be accurate.
