NTSB CAROL · Event
Event CHI97LA206
Registry · N56676
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
PIPER PA-34-200
Year of manufacture
1973 · 24 years old at event
Engine
LYCOMING I0360 SER (180 hp)
Seats / Engines
7 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
19731009
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A740A0
Registrant of record
PARIS AIR INC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
the pilot's improper flare and improper recovery from a bounced landing, which resulted in a hard landing. Turbulence on short final was a related factor.
Factual narrative
On July 5, 1997, at 1200 eastern daylight time, a Piper PA-34-200, N56676, received substantial damage during a hard landing on runway 26 (3,501' x 75' dry/asphalt) on Mackinac Island, Michigan. The private pilot told police he encountered windshear during the landing. The pilot and four passengers reported no injuries. The personal 14 CFR Part 91 flight was operating in visual meteorological conditions. No flight plan was on file. The flight departed Jenison, Michigan, at 1030. The pilot said that the airplane encountered a "few bumps" on final approach. He said that he found the airplane was high over the runway; that he held the nose up and allowed the airspeed to decrease. He said that the airplane bounced once and then came down with a loud bang. An examination of the airplane subsequent to the accident failed to reveal any preexisting anomalies. The pilot said that on short final approach, the airplane encountered turbulence and that he held the airplane off the runway to allow airspeed to decrease. The airplane then bounced one time and landed hard. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1997_CHI97LA206.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2026 · arXiv preprint
Direct Numerical Simulations of Ice-Ocean Boundary Turbulence
Turbulent heat and freshwater transport at ice-ocean interfaces controls glacier and iceberg melt rates, yet the underlying physics remains poorly constrained.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2025 · Journal article (JAAER)
Political Turbulence and Aviation Safety: A Cross-National Analysis of Political Stability's Effects on Aviation Accidents
To what extent does political stability affect aviation safety? This research aims to link domestic political conditions and public safety through the consideration of aviation accident frequency.
- arXiv 2025 · arXiv preprint
Explainable LiDAR 3D Point Cloud Segmentation and Clustering for Detecting Airplane-Generated Wind Turbulence
Wake vortices - strong, coherent air turbulences created by aircraft - pose a significant risk to aviation safety and therefore require accurate and reliable detection methods.
- arXiv 2024 · arXiv preprint
Does small-scale turbulence matter for ice growth in mixed-phase clouds?
Representing the glaciation of mixed-phase clouds in terms of the Wegener-Bergeron-Findeisen process is a challenge for many weather and climate models, which tend to overestimate this process because…
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Effects of electrostatic interaction on clustering and collision of bidispersed inertial particles in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence
In sandstorms and thunderclouds, turbulence-induced collisions between solid particles and ice crystals lead to inevitable triboelectrification.
- SKYbrary (Eurocontrol) 2023 · SKYbrary article
Wake Vortex Turbulence — SKYbrary Knowledge Base
SKYbrary wake vortex turbulence comprehensive article — generation mechanics, dissipation factors, separation standards (ICAO LIGHT/MEDIUM/HEAVY/SUPER + recategorisation RECAT-EU).
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗