NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DCA17CA101
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
an inadvertent encounter with convective turbulence, which resulted in a serious injury to a flight attendant.
Factual narrative
On April 14, 2017, about 1600 eastern standard time, JetBlue Airlines flight 240, an Embraer E-190, N373JB, encountered turbulence during approach to land at Orlando International Airport (KMCO), Orlando, Florida. One flight attendant sustained serious injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau Bahamas. The captain stated that, during the approach to land, the passenger seat belt sign was illuminated and that he could see a scattered/broken cumulous layer of clouds between about 8,000 and 10,000 feet. He expected to encounter turbulence, so he called the flight attendants and told them it was going to be bumpy during the descent and that they were to sit down. Shortly after, the airplane encountered moderate turbulence for about 4 to 7 seconds. A flight attendant then informed the flight crew that one of the aft flight attendants had fallen. After landing, the flight attendant was transported to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a broken fibula. On April 14, 2017, about 1600 eastern standard time, JetBlue Airlines flight 240, an Embraer E-190, N373JB, encountered turbulence during approach to land at Orlando International Airport (KMCO), Orlando, Florida. One flight attendant sustained serious injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Lynden Pindling International Airport, Nassau Bahamas. The captain stated that, during the approach to land, the passenger seat belt sign was illuminated and that he could see a scattered/broken cumulous layer of clouds between about 8,000 and 10,000 feet. He expected to encounter turbulence, so he called the flight attendants and told them it was going to be bumpy during the descent and that they were to sit down. Shortly after, the airplane encountered moderate turbulence for about 4 to 7 seconds. A flight attendant then informed the flight crew that one of the aft flight attendants had fallen. After landing, the flight attendant was transported to the hospital where she was diagnosed with a broken fibula. 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_2017_DCA17CA101.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 ↗