NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DCA22LA196
Registry · N76529
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
BOEING 737-824
Year of manufacture
2010 · 12 years old at event
Engine
CFM INTL CFM56-7B26/3
Seats / Engines
149 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
20101223
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AA56DB
Registrant of record
UNITED AIRLINES INC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
An encounter with clear air turbulence, which resulted in a serious injury as a flight attendant was lowering her jumpseat.
Factual narrative
The flight crew stated that the flight was on the final stage of the arrival for landing. The seatbelt sign had been on, the flight attendants had just completed their final pre-landing preparations, and had been instructed to take their seats, when suddenly the flight experienced a sudden jolt due to clear air turbulence. When the turbulence occurred one of the flight attendants was in the process of seating herself and as she placed her hand on her jumpseat to lower it, the turbulence occurred causing her to fall and experience an abrupt and intense pressure on her left hand as her fingers were bent backwards. Her hand immediately began to swell. The injured flight attendant was assisted by another flight attendant, the flight crew was informed, and a medical emergency was declared. After landing the flight attendant was given medical care and diagnosed with a fracture of the 4th metacarpal bone in her left hand. 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).
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Clear air turbulence-Effect on personnel
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Clear air turbulence-Awareness of condition
- — Environmental issues-Conditions/weather/phenomena-Turbulence-Clear air turbulence-Contributed to outcome
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2022_DCA22LA196.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 ↗