Narrative:

Severe turbulence was encountered during arrival / descent phase of flight due to convective weather. This document is being submitted to give account of severe turbulence encountered during the arrival phase of flight. The first officer was pilot flying and I was pilot monitoring. The initial visual condition was VFR and the towering cumulonimbus cloud formations were north of our position. I made a PA announcement to our passengers advising them of our potential turbulent flight conditions; weather at the airport; and estimated arrival time to the airport. During the beginning of the descent into the airport on the arrival; approach control advised all flights of weather conditions associated with moderate; heavy; and extreme precipitation. We were advised to expect course deviations; and thence to resume the arrival. Also advised all flights that course deviations to the west were not available at that time. ATC assigned us to fly heading 040; descend from FL210 to FL190; and maintain 250 knots. We could the see weather in the distance. As we leveled off; I contacted the flight attendant and advised her to return to her station due impending weather ahead. I consulted with my first officer to cross reference and assess we were seeing visually with the radar return. We considered turning left because it seemed clear of weather but sure of traffic. ATC frequency was inundated with multiple transmissions. Collectively; we decided to elect to continue straight ahead on course; disengaged the autopilot to fly manually; and reduce airspeed toward 200 KIAS to ride out possible up and down drafts. I turned igniters switches to on. We entered the cloud formation and experienced moderated to severe turbulence associated with heavy to extreme precipitation. I considered the turbulence to be severe because it was difficult to maintain the assigned altitude. I observed a 2;000 feet per minute descent trend on the vsi and we lost approximately 300 - 500 feet from assigned altitude. The first officer did a great job to maintain aircraft upright attitude and airspeed. Once clear of the weather; the first officer returned to the assigned altitude and airspeed. I gave a PIREP to the ATC controller to advise not to direct traffic towards that vicinity because we encountered severe turbulence with heavy to extreme precipitation. I contacted the flight attendant to get an updated status on her condition and to get a status on the passengers for possible injuries incurred. The aircraft condition appeared normal and verified with the first officer the flight characteristics of the aircraft. He confirmed that aircraft was flying normal with no abnormalities. The flight attendant followed up and reported the cabin was secure and no passengers sustained any injuries. I notified ATC that the passengers; and crew were well with no injuries sustained. The aircraft did not appear to have any abnormalities or damage. We were ready to resume the arrival into the airport.once things settled down; I informed with company dispatch via ACARS of the severe turbulence encounter. I also contacted operations for the in-range call to give status update on passengers and requested to have a customer service representative or supervisor meet us once we arrived at the gate. The flight continued to the airport without further incident. The first officer completed his post flight walk-around report no damaged to aircraft being discovered. Once the flight was completed; I initiated a maintenance write up to have the aircraft inspected for the severe turbulence encounter and called it in to dispatch and maintenance control. I debriefed with the flight duty manager and subsequently the chief pilot.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier flight crew reported severe turbulence on descent.

Narrative: Severe turbulence was encountered during arrival / descent phase of flight due to convective weather. This document is being submitted to give account of severe turbulence encountered during the arrival phase of flight. The First Officer was pilot flying and I was pilot monitoring. The initial visual condition was VFR and the towering cumulonimbus cloud formations were north of our position. I made a PA announcement to our passengers advising them of our potential turbulent flight conditions; weather at the airport; and estimated arrival time to the airport. During the beginning of the descent into the airport on the arrival; Approach Control advised all flights of weather conditions associated with moderate; heavy; and extreme precipitation. We were advised to expect course deviations; and thence to resume the arrival. Also advised all flights that course deviations to the west were not available at that time. ATC assigned us to fly heading 040; descend from FL210 to FL190; and maintain 250 knots. We could the see weather in the distance. As we leveled off; I contacted the Flight Attendant and advised her to return to her station due impending weather ahead. I consulted with my First Officer to cross reference and assess we were seeing visually with the radar return. We considered turning left because it seemed clear of weather but sure of traffic. ATC frequency was inundated with multiple transmissions. Collectively; we decided to elect to continue straight ahead on course; disengaged the autopilot to fly manually; and reduce airspeed toward 200 KIAS to ride out possible up and down drafts. I turned igniters switches to on. We entered the cloud formation and experienced moderated to severe turbulence associated with heavy to extreme precipitation. I considered the turbulence to be severe because it was difficult to maintain the assigned altitude. I observed a 2;000 feet per minute descent trend on the VSI and we lost approximately 300 - 500 feet from assigned altitude. The First Officer did a great job to maintain aircraft upright attitude and airspeed. Once clear of the weather; the First Officer returned to the assigned altitude and airspeed. I gave a PIREP to the ATC controller to advise not to direct traffic towards that vicinity because we encountered severe turbulence with heavy to extreme precipitation. I contacted the Flight Attendant to get an updated status on her condition and to get a status on the passengers for possible injuries incurred. The aircraft condition appeared normal and verified with the First Officer the flight characteristics of the aircraft. He confirmed that aircraft was flying normal with no abnormalities. The Flight Attendant followed up and reported the cabin was secure and no passengers sustained any injuries. I notified ATC that the passengers; and crew were well with no injuries sustained. The aircraft did not appear to have any abnormalities or damage. We were ready to resume the arrival into the airport.Once things settled down; I informed with company dispatch via ACARS of the severe turbulence encounter. I also contacted Operations for the in-range call to give status update on passengers and requested to have a Customer Service Representative or supervisor meet us once we arrived at the gate. The flight continued to the airport without further incident. The First Officer completed his post flight walk-around report no damaged to aircraft being discovered. Once the flight was completed; I initiated a maintenance write up to have the aircraft inspected for the severe turbulence encounter and called it in to Dispatch and Maintenance Control. I debriefed with the flight duty manager and subsequently the Chief Pilot.

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.