Narrative:

We were cruising at FL360; in cirrus type clouds; experiencing continuous light chop. Seat belt sign was on; and no returns were depicted on the weather radar display. We had heard no pireps or advisories concerning turbulence or convective activity. Suddenly; the turbulence increased to moderate; and we heard rain hitting the airplane. This lasted 5-10 sec; then we experienced a rapid; almost instant 1;500 fpm climb to an altitude about 400 feet above the assigned altitude. Immediately thereafter; we felt a drop as we exited the clouds. The captain was pilot flying and returned the airplane to the assigned altitude....by the time we coordinated with flight attendants as to passenger and/or crew injuries; made a plan as to how best to address the situation; and checked in with center; we were very near our top of descent. We were still getting information as to passenger injuries and we needed to prepare for our approach. We requested a straight-in; expedited approach. During the descent; we were still coordinating with the cabin crew; answering questions from center; and setting up for the approach and landing. I (pilot not flying) called ahead to operations to advise them that we were in-range and needed medical personnel to meet the flight. I'm not sure how we could have avoided this event. The captain did have the seat belt sign on; and made a predeparture PA telling the passengers to leave seat belts fastened while seated. He also made a PA 'flight attendants be seated immediately'; as the event began; which according to the number 1; allowed him to avoid injury.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A319 Flight Crew experienced turbulence in cirrus clouds at FL360 which caused abrupt altitude gain and resulted in passenger injury.

Narrative: We were cruising at FL360; in cirrus type clouds; experiencing continuous light chop. Seat belt sign was on; and no returns were depicted on the weather radar display. We had heard no PIREPs or advisories concerning turbulence or convective activity. Suddenly; the turbulence increased to moderate; and we heard rain hitting the airplane. This lasted 5-10 sec; then we experienced a rapid; almost instant 1;500 fpm climb to an altitude about 400 feet above the assigned altitude. Immediately thereafter; we felt a drop as we exited the clouds. The Captain was Pilot Flying and returned the airplane to the assigned altitude....By the time we coordinated with flight attendants as to passenger and/or crew injuries; made a plan as to how best to address the situation; and checked in with Center; we were very near our top of descent. We were still getting information as to passenger injuries and we needed to prepare for our approach. We requested a straight-in; expedited approach. During the descent; we were still coordinating with the cabin crew; answering questions from Center; and setting up for the approach and landing. I (pilot not flying) called ahead to Operations to advise them that we were in-range and needed medical personnel to meet the flight. I'm not sure how we could have avoided this event. The Captain did have the seat belt sign on; and made a predeparture PA telling the passengers to leave seat belts fastened while seated. He also made a PA 'Flight attendants be seated immediately'; as the event began; which according to the number 1; allowed him to avoid injury.

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.