Primary finding
Probable cause
A flight attendant received a serious injury for undetermined reasons during a firm landing.
Investigator assessment
Analysis narrative
A flight attendant was injured when Southwest Airlines Flight 2029 landed at the John Wayne-Orange County Airport (SNA), Santa Ana, California. According to the flight crew, they were flying a visual approach to runway 20R at SNA. They were aiming for the touchdown zone due to its short runway and trying to fly the aircraft onto the runway with minimal floating. However, it ended up being a firm landing. Shortly after exiting the runway, the flight crew were informed that the “B” position flight attendant (FA) seated in the aft jump seat had injured her back on landing and required medical assistance. Data from the operator’s Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and Aircraft Health Monitoring (AHM) programs indicated the landing did not meet the hard landing criteria set by the airplane’s manufacturer. According to the FA, after securing the galley and cabin for landing, she sat down in her jumpseat, secured her seatbelt harness, and got into the brace position. She indicated that the plane hit the ground with such force that she thought the plane had crashed. She immediately felt pain in her back, neck and she could not move. Paramedics evaluated her and transported her to a local hospital where she was later diagnosed with a compression fracture to her T3 vertebra.