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Diamond DA40 pilot reported encountering severe turbulence while traversing a mountain pass. He and all the passengers hit their heads on the ceiling when the seatbelts became ineffective.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1485675 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201710 |
| Local Time Of Day | 1201-1800 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.Airport |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | VMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | DA40 Diamond Star |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| Flight Plan | None |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Seatbelt |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Single Pilot Pilot Flying |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Commercial Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 1600 Flight Crew Type 150 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
After passing northeast bound through a mountain pass; I warned my passengers to expect turbulence. We started to experience moderate turbulence and then encountered a sudden violent drop in altitude. All four of us hit our heads on the roof of the airplane. No serious injuries; but possible head and spinal issues noted the next day. Two headsets were broken. The seatbelts did not prevent head strikes and two seat belts became unfastened. The front right possibly was not securely 'clicked' in place and the right rear came out of floor mount (looks like it was 'clicked' into an inaccessible latch under back seat) and could not be reattached during or after the flight without maintenance assistance.reported the incident as 'severe turbulence' to center; telling them we had struck our heads on roof of airplane. They were concerned and asked if we needed assistance. Each controller that followed checked in on how we were doing.the diamond seat belts are particularly difficult to fasten securely. They are hard for larger persons to reach and securely latch and they did not appear to be effective at preventing head strike. Maybe the lap belts should have been tighter? Wind on the windward side of the pass at this altitude was about 25-30 knots. I did not notice the wind speed at the time of the incident on lee side of pass; but noticed it was over 40 knots (tailwind) as we continued northeast bound toward our destination. We modified course to get farther away from the mountains for the remainder of the flight.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Diamond DA40 pilot reported encountering severe turbulence while traversing a mountain pass. He and all the passengers hit their heads on the ceiling when the seatbelts became ineffective.
Narrative: After passing northeast bound through a mountain pass; I warned my passengers to expect turbulence. We started to experience moderate turbulence and then encountered a sudden violent drop in altitude. All four of us hit our heads on the roof of the airplane. No serious injuries; but possible head and spinal issues noted the next day. Two headsets were broken. The seatbelts did not prevent head strikes and two seat belts became unfastened. The front right possibly was not securely 'clicked' in place and the right rear came out of floor mount (looks like it was 'clicked' into an inaccessible latch under back seat) and could not be reattached during or after the flight without maintenance assistance.Reported the incident as 'severe turbulence' to Center; telling them we had struck our heads on roof of airplane. They were concerned and asked if we needed assistance. Each controller that followed checked in on how we were doing.The Diamond seat belts are particularly difficult to fasten securely. They are hard for larger persons to reach and securely latch and they did not appear to be effective at preventing head strike. Maybe the lap belts should have been tighter? Wind on the windward side of the pass at this altitude was about 25-30 knots. I did not notice the wind speed at the time of the incident on lee side of pass; but noticed it was over 40 knots (tailwind) as we continued northeast bound toward our destination. We modified course to get farther away from the mountains for the remainder of the flight.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.