MIA00LA271
2000-09-26 · MIAMI, Florida, United States · Serious · 1 aircraft · Status: Completed
Airport MIA
Current FAA registration · N789AN
- Make / Model
- BOEING 777-223
- Year of manufacture
- 2000 · 0 years old at event
- Engine
- ROLLS-ROYC RB-211 SERIES
- Seats / Engines
- 440 seats · 2 engines
- Last airworthiness date
- 20000602
- ADS-B equipped
- Yes — Mode-S AAB202
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
an in-flight encounter with turbulence.
Factual narrative
On September 26, 2000, about 0540 eastern daylight time, a Boeing 777-223, N789AN, call sign AAL908, operated by American Airlines Inc., encountered severe turbulence while descending for approach to Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami, Florida. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time, and an instrument flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 121 regularly scheduled international flight. The airplane was not damaged. The flightcrew of 3, 12 flight attendants, and 152 passengers reported no injuries. One passenger reported serious injuries. The flight had departed Buenos Aires, Argentina International Airport, en route to Miami, Florida, at 2213, September 25, 2000. The flight was descending out of FL190 to 10,000 feet and was maneuvering around weather cells, at a location about 60 miles southeast of Miami, when it encountered severe turbulence. A passenger that was exiting a lavatory fell and broke a leg. At the time of the accident the seat belt sign was "ON" and a passenger arrival announcement had been made instructing the passengers to remain in their seats with seat belt fastened. The flight landed at Miami without further incident. While descending out of FL190 to 10,000 feet and maneuvering around weather cells, about 60 miles southeast of the airport, the flight encountered severe turbulence. A passenger that was exiting a lavatory fell and broke a leg. At the time of the accident the seat belt sign was 'ON' and the passengers had been instructed to remain in their seats with seat belt fastened. The flight landed without further incident. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2000_MIA00LA271.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
Search this event elsewhere
External sources are reported, not agency: signal that something happened, not fact about what happened.
- TallyAero Live Wire Aviation press
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Related research
Matched on aircraft type or causal vocabulary (turbulence). All research papers
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 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).