NTSB CAROL · Event
Event MIA94LA074
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
THE FAILURE OF THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND(CFI) TO INITIATE A GO-AROUND AFTER ENCOUNTERING SEVERE TURBULENCE DURING LANDING FLARE AND HIS DECISION TO RAISE THE FLAPS AND REDUCE ENGINE POWER TO IDLE AFTER DIRECTIONAL CONTROL WAS LOST RESULTING IN THE AIRCRAFT COLLIDING WITH A HOUSE.
Factual narrative
On February 15, 1994, at 2240 Atlantic standard time, a Cessna 172K, N79401, registered to Sugarbush Air Services, Inc., crashed into a house near the Culebra Airport, Culebra, Puerto Rico, while on a 14 CFR Part 91, instructional flight. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time and no flight plan was filed. The aircraft was destroyed and the commercial- rated pilot flight instructor received minor injuries. The dual student received serious injuries. The flight originated at Culebra, Puerto Rico, on February 15, 1994, at 2030. The flight instructor stated that he was flying the aircraft at the time of the accident. Enroute from Isla Grande Airport, where they had performed takeoffs and landings, he obtained the current San Juan weather and the St. Thomas weather. The winds were reported to be easterly at 10 knots. He elected to perform a downwind landing on runway 31, due to rising terrain northwest of the airport. As they flared for landing they encountered "two successive severe blasts" from the right. They regained control and continued the landing flare. They again encountered a "blast" of air from the right. The aircraft was lifted 60 to 80 feet into the air and moved to the left over buildings, wires, and across a road where it collided with a house. As the aircraft flew out of control he raised the flaps and moved the throttle to the idle position. WHILE PERFORMING A DOWNWIND LANDING INTO RISING TERRAIN AT NIGHT THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND (CFI) WAS FLYING THE AIRCRAFT. AS HE FLARED FOR LANDING THE AIRCRAFT ENCOUNTERED SEVERE TURBULENCE. CONTROL WAS REGAINED AND ANOTHER LANDING FLARE WAS INITIATED. THE AIRCRAFT AGAIN ENCOUNTERED SEVERE TURBULENCE AND DIRECTIONAL CONTROL WAS LOST. THE AIRCRAFT VEERED TO THE LEFT OVER BUILDINGS AND ELECTRICAL WIRES AND CRASHED INTO A HOUSE. AS THE AIRCRAFT VEERED OUT OF CONTROL THE PILOT-IN-COMMAND RAISED THE FLAPS AND REDUCED THE THROTTLE TO THE IDLE POSITION. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_1994_MIA94LA074.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 (go-around, 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.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2019 · Journal article (IJAAA)
Low Level Turbulence Detection For Airports
Abstract—— Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2018 · Journal article (IJAAA)
Evaluating the Effect of Turbulence on Aircraft During Landing and Take-Off Phases
—— Low level wind shear and turbulence present a serious safety risk to aircraft during the approach, landing and take-off phases.
- 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.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper
A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- 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.
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗