Narrative:

Departing ramp area with south flow; ATC miscalculated speed of an aircraft taxing north. We were positioned from the push; tail south and facing north; parallel to the inner taxiway. I was the PIC in the right seat. Ground cleared us to taxi to runway; 'outer with a transition.' upon making 45 degree left hand turn and not yet on taxiway; the pilot in the left seat applied brakes firmly and did not enter the taxiway; yielding to the aircraft passing left to right at a high rate of speed. Ground told us; 'sorry; he came out of nowhere.' the number 1 flight attendant fell down in the first class area and the number 2 flight attendant apparently had some bruising on her right thumb that we found out about post flight. All flight attendants repeatedly stated they were okay and did not want to return to the gate nor did they want medical attention prior to departure and after landing. Captain in left seat did a very nice job of avoiding an incident which could have had much more of a drastic outcome.the event could not have been avoided by the crew other than using a lesser braking application. However; in my opinion due to the circumstances at hand; the application of brakes was quite proper. Possibly change to policy and procedure which could have prevented potential flight attendant injuries is to always have them seated while taxing; or change the push-back procedures to have the tails pointed 45 degrees away from intended taxi path to give the captain the opportunity to clear left for oncoming traffic before adding power.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737-800 flight crew described a ground conflict with a high speed taxiing aircraft requiring sudden braking; causing injury to standing and unsecured flight attendants.

Narrative: Departing ramp area with south flow; ATC miscalculated speed of an aircraft taxing north. We were positioned from the push; tail south and facing north; parallel to the inner taxiway. I was the PIC in the right seat. Ground cleared us to taxi to runway; 'Outer with a transition.' Upon making 45 degree left hand turn and not yet on taxiway; the pilot in the left seat applied brakes firmly and did not enter the taxiway; yielding to the aircraft passing left to right at a high rate of speed. Ground told us; 'Sorry; he came out of nowhere.' The Number 1 Flight Attendant fell down in the first class area and the Number 2 Flight Attendant apparently had some bruising on her right thumb that we found out about post flight. All flight attendants repeatedly stated they were okay and did not want to return to the gate nor did they want medical attention prior to departure and after landing. Captain in left seat did a very nice job of avoiding an incident which could have had much more of a drastic outcome.The event could not have been avoided by the crew other than using a lesser braking application. However; in my opinion due to the circumstances at hand; the application of brakes was quite proper. Possibly change to policy and procedure which could have prevented potential flight attendant injuries is to always have them seated while taxing; or change the push-back procedures to have the tails pointed 45 degrees away from intended taxi path to give the captain the opportunity to clear left for oncoming traffic before adding power.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.