Flight Attendant Suffers Broken Back During Hard Landing

Touchdown

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Southwest Airlines flight attended suffered a broken back after a hard landing at John Wayne-Orange County Airport in Santa Ana, California.

In a report about the incident, which occurred on July 1, the National Transportation Safety Board said that the pilots "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."

The flight attendant told investigators that she was seated in her jumpseat and in the brace position when the plane touched down.

"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," the report said.

She was taken to the hospital and diagnosed with a compression fracture to her T3 vertebra.

None of the other 141 passengers and crew were injured, and the plane was not damaged.

"We are concerned when any employee is injured. We reported the matter to the NTSB in accordance with regulatory requirements and conducted an internal review of the event," Southwest Airlines told The Dallas Morning News.


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