NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DCA18CA251
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
An inadvertent encounter with convective turbulence.
Factual narrative
On July 23, 2018, about 1538 eastern daylight time, Delta Air Lines flight 2133, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88, N918DE, encountered turbulence during descent into Charlotte Douglas International Airport (KCLT), Charlotte, North Carolina. Of the 146 passengers and crew onboard, one flight attendant received serious injuries and one received minor injuries. The airplane was not damaged. The regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight was operated under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 from Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport (KATL), Atlanta, Georgia, to KCLT. The captain was the pilot monitoring and first officer was the pilot flying. According to the flight crew, there were thunderstorms along the entire route that required them to deviate around multiple cells. The seat belt sign was on the entire flight and the weather radar was on. As the flight approached KCLT, the captain called the lead flight attendant (FA) and requested that the FAs complete their final walkthrough and be seated for the remainder of the flight, since he expected it to be bumpy during the arrival. As they were deviating around convective weather, the flight entered a cloud and encountered severe turbulence with heavy rain. The autopilot disconnected and the airplane dropped abruptly to the left. The first officer maintained positive manual control throughout the event and the crew estimated the turbulence lasted about 10 seconds. The captain immediately contacted the cabin and was informed that two FAs were injured. After receiving the captain’s call to prepare for landing early, the three FAs immediately began their final walkthroughs. Two FAs were in the aisle when the turbulence occurred. Both FAs were thrown into the air and then onto the floor. One FA had injured her back and was helped into a passenger seat for the remainder of the flight. The other FA injured her knees but was able to continue her duties for the remainder of the flight. The captain declared a medical emergency and requested that emergency personnel meet the airplane at the gate. Upon arrival, both FAs were transported to the hospital where one was diagnosed with a fractured vertebrae. 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_2018_DCA18CA251.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, autopilot, thunderstorm). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Contractor Report (CR)
An Examination of Aviation Accidents Associated with Turbulence, Wind Shear and Thunderstorm
The focal point of the study reported here was the definition and examination of turbulence, wind shear and thunderstorm in relation to aviation accidents.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Observations of severe turbulence near thunderstorm tops
Data derived from the flight tapes of two airliners that experienced severe turbulence near thunderstorm tops are used to produce quantitative descriptions of the turbulence and its environment.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Proceedings
Operational evaluation of thunderstorm penetration test flights during project Storm Hazards '80
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is conducting a research project called Storm Hazards '80 in order to study the prediction, detectability and avoidance of the hazards of severe storm…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Severe Turbulence and Maneuvering from Airline Flight Records
Digital flight records from reported clear-air turbulence incidents are used to determine winds and turbulence, to determine maneuver g loads, and to analyze control problems.
- 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.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗