| Crash location | 41.979723°N, 87.904444°W
Reported location is a long distance from the NTSB's reported nearest city. This often means that the location has a typo, or is incorrect. |
| Nearest city | Chicago, IL
41.850033°N, 87.650052°W 15.9 miles away |
| Tail number | N779UA |
|---|---|
| Accident date | 17 Jul 2003 |
| Aircraft type | Boeing B777-222 |
| Additional details: | None |
On July 17, 2003, about 1545 central daylight time a Boeing 777-222, N779UA, operated as United Airlines flight 958 from Denver to Chicago, piloted by an airline transport rated captain and first officer, sustained a serious in-flight injury to one passenger when the flight encountered moderate turbulence near Beloit, Wisconsin. The 14 CFR Part 121 scheduled domestic passenger flight was operating on an IFR flight plan. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident. The 2 flight crewmembers, 10 cabin crewmembers and the remaining 257 passengers were uninjured. The flight originated from Denver International Airport, Denver, Colorado, about 1300 mountain daylight time and was en route to Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois at the time of the accident. The flight landed at ORD at 1556.
The operator forwarded a copy of the captain's statement. The statement said:
On descent into ORD, approaching from the west, about 2 minutes
after the seat belt sign had been turned on, we penetrated a small
buildup that was difficult to avoid due to other weather and [Air
Traffic Control] constraints. We were painting extensive, very
threatening convective weather to the north and east of the airport,
but the cell we penetrated didn't even show on the radar. We
encountered a jolt of light turbulence, followed by a jolt of moderate
turbulence, total encounter about 5 seconds. My immediate concern
was for my flight attendants since I hadn't had time to warn them.
They were all OK, however a passenger, a woman approximately 70
years old, ... had still not taken her seat. Apparently she had been in
the lavatory when I turned on the seat belt sign, and was returning to
her seat at the time of the encounter. She suffered a badly broken ankle.
United Airlines provided a weather study, which is appended to the docket material associated with this case. An excerpt from that study stated:
Even though the main band of convective activity had passed the
location of the incident, the possibility of a towering cumulus cell
re-building behind the first band was indeed possible as the
airmass was becoming gradually unstable again. The cold front
east-west over southern Wisconsin did not pass the IL/WI border
until 2230UTC. As a result, there was time for cumulus and
towering cumulus to re-develop over the area. Therefore, the
pilot report of encountering a jolt of light turbulence followed by
moderate turbulence is plausible.
The turbulence encountered during the descent which seriously injured a passenger returning to her seat after the seat belt sign was activated. A factor was that it was not possible for the returning passenger to comply with the lit seat belt sign.