NTSB CAROL · Event
Event NYC03LA177
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
An inadvertent encounter with turbulence during descent.
Factual narrative
On August 16, 2003, about 1340 eastern daylight time, a Boeing 737-800, N329TZ, operated by American Trans Air Inc., as flight 820, was not damaged after it encountered turbulence during decent over Wooster, Ohio. There were no injuries to the 2 certificated airline transport pilots, 1 flight attendant, and 129 passengers; however, 1 flight attendant was seriously injured, and two additional flight attendants received minor injuries. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed for the scheduled, international flight, which originated from the Cancun International Airport (MCUN), Cancun, Mexico, destined for the Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport (CLE), Cleveland, Ohio. Flight 820 was conducted on an instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plan under 14 CFR Part 121 According to a representative from the operator, the flight was being vectored around weather in the area of Cleveland, when it encountered turbulence. A flight attendant, who was preparing the cabin for landing, fell and suffered a broken ankle. As the flight was being vectored around weather, the airplane encountered turbulence. A flight attendant, who was preparing the cabin for landing, fell and suffered a broken ankle. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database (Pre-2008 Archive) Retrieved: 2026-02-12
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2003_NYC03LA177.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 ↗