NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DCA16CA208
Registry · N655RW
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
EMBRAER ERJ 170-100 SE
Year of manufacture
2005 · 11 years old at event
Engine
GE CF34 SERIES
Seats / Engines
70 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
20051122
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A8A0D9
Registrant of record
REPUBLIC AIRWAYS INC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
an inadvertent encounter with turbulence.
Factual narrative
On July 26, 2016 at 5:00 pm eastern daylight time, Republic Airlines flight 3458, an Embraer 170, N655RW, encountered turbulence during descent at about 16,500 feet. Of the 53 passengers and crew members onboard, one flight attendant was seriously injured and the airplane was not damaged. The airplane was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, Texas, to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), Cleveland, Ohio. The flight crew reported that on initial check in with CLE approach control, the controller advised of moderate turbulence. The first officer was in the process of notifying the cabin when the aircraft encountered turbulence. The crew reported the duration of the turbulence was only a few seconds. One flight attendant working in the aft galley fell and broke her left tibia. A medical doctor on board assisted the flight attendant. The flight crew notified operations to have EMS meet the flight and the airplane landed with no further incident. On July 26, 2016 at 5:00 pm eastern daylight time, Republic Airlines flight 3458, an Embraer 170, N655RW, encountered turbulence during descent at about 16,500 feet. Of the 53 passengers and crew members onboard, one flight attendant was seriously injured and the airplane was not damaged. The airplane was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, Texas, to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), Cleveland, Ohio. The flight crew reported that on initial check in with CLE approach control, the controller advised of moderate turbulence. The first officer was in the process of notifying the cabin when the aircraft encountered turbulence. The crew reported the duration of the turbulence was only a few seconds. One flight attendant working in the aft galley fell and broke her left tibia. A medical doctor on board assisted the flight attendant. The flight crew notified operations to have EMS meet the flight and the airplane landed with no further incident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Convective turbulence-Effect on personnel - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2016_DCA16CA208.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 ↗