Narrative:

I was pilot monitoring (pm). We had seen some dark areas on the doppler for a system moving through the country over the southeastern us; and had the weather radar on. The radar was on automatic tilt. We were cruising at fl 390 painting nothing on the radar in smooth flight (in fact the seat belt sign was off). Suddenly the aircraft encountered severe turbulence. I immediately threw the seat belt sign on as the pilot flying (PF) grabbed the yoke with both hands and turned the autopilot off. The aircraft then went 15 degrees wing down in a descent and the airspeed increased as the clacker went off. The first officer (first officer) continued to fly the aircraft; making pitch adjustments manually and I assisted on the throttles. The airspeed tapes 'closed in' on us quickly and soon the stick shaker went off. The PF did a fantastic job flying out with stall recovery; but soon the clacker went off again. In the process we lost 300 feet and I called ATC for immediate descent to fl 370; which we did. The aircraft rolled 15 degrees to either side throughout and the PF flew very well; keeping aircraft control. The entire episode lasted about 30 seconds and we returned to controlled flight at fl 370. PIREP given to ATC. I called to the back to check flight attendants (flight attendant); they were startled of course but reported nothing but a very messy galley. I had the first officer make a PA; while I typed a message to dispatch for severe turbulence. I double-checked with flight attendant's for how the passengers were doing; they reported no injuries but lots of mess. One gentleman had been in the lavatory; but no one else was standing so that worked out in our behalf. The flight attendant's had been thrown around but reported no injuries as well. I then phone patched dispatch through the company frequency and made a voice PIREP and told them I would be doing a writeup. The flight continued on and landed uneventfully. Logbook writeup made and aircraft pulled out of service for inspections. The flight attendants did an amazing job keeping everyone calm and cleaning up a large mess; as most passengers had drinks spilled as well as a big galley mess. They should be acknowledged for a job well done; especially our 'a'. I would also like to note that we completed a series on phone 'interviews' upon landing; and were asked if we were ok to continue on. Both of us still had a lot of adrenaline going and answered yes. In hindsight; we should have stopped our day right there; and not even been given the option. We had two more legs in challenging weather and made some minor mistakes we would not normally have made. Our natural inclination is to get the job done and power through; but I don't think I would do that again.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-700 crew reported severe turbulence at FL390 which resulted in a stall recovery descent with both stick shaker and overspeed warnings. No injuries were reported but the aircraft was removed from service.

Narrative: I was Pilot Monitoring (PM). We had seen some dark areas on the Doppler for a system moving through the country over the southeastern US; and had the weather radar on. The radar was on automatic tilt. We were cruising at FL 390 painting nothing on the radar in smooth flight (in fact the seat belt sign was off). Suddenly the aircraft encountered severe turbulence. I immediately threw the seat belt sign on as the pilot flying (PF) grabbed the yoke with both hands and turned the autopilot off. The aircraft then went 15 degrees wing down in a descent and the airspeed increased as the clacker went off. The First Officer (FO) continued to fly the aircraft; making pitch adjustments manually and I assisted on the throttles. The airspeed tapes 'closed in' on us quickly and soon the stick shaker went off. The PF did a fantastic job flying out with stall recovery; but soon the clacker went off again. In the process we lost 300 feet and I called ATC for immediate descent to FL 370; which we did. The aircraft rolled 15 degrees to either side throughout and the PF flew very well; keeping aircraft control. The entire episode lasted about 30 seconds and we returned to controlled flight at FL 370. PIREP given to ATC. I called to the back to check Flight Attendants (FA); they were startled of course but reported nothing but a very messy galley. I had the FO make a PA; while I typed a message to Dispatch for severe turbulence. I double-checked with FA's for how the Passengers were doing; they reported no injuries but lots of mess. One gentleman had been in the lavatory; but no one else was standing so that worked out in our behalf. The FA's had been thrown around but reported no injuries as well. I then phone patched Dispatch through the Company frequency and made a voice PIREP and told them I would be doing a writeup. The flight continued on and landed uneventfully. Logbook writeup made and aircraft pulled out of service for inspections. The Flight Attendants did an amazing job keeping everyone calm and cleaning up a large mess; as most Passengers had drinks spilled as well as a big galley mess. They should be acknowledged for a job well done; especially our 'A'. I would also like to note that we completed a series on phone 'interviews' upon landing; and were asked if we were ok to continue on. Both of us still had a lot of adrenaline going and answered yes. In hindsight; we should have stopped our day right there; and not even been given the option. We had two more legs in challenging weather and made some minor mistakes we would not normally have made. Our natural inclination is to get the job done and power through; but I don't think I would do that again.

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.