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USAir Fokker F-28 MK4000 F-28 MK400 accident

19 Aug 1989 · Vero Beach, FL, United States

Fokker F-28 MK4000 F-28 MK400 · Accident: in flight encounter with weather en route

From Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL) to Jacksonville International Airport (JAX)

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Event

NTSB case
MIA89LA228
Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
Accident
InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
Completed
API-reported fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
0
OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
Airline
WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
Visual Meteorological Cond

Fokker F-28 MK4000 F-28 MK400

Aircraft type
Fokker F-28
Category
Airplane
RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
N489US
Operator
USAir
Onboard fatalities
Unknown
Route
From Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport (FLL), Fort Lauderdale, FLTo Jacksonville International Airport (JAX), Jacksonville, FL
Aircraft age
Not recorded
Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
Part 121: Air Carrier
Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
En route · cruise
First occurrenceThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
In flight encounter with weather
DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
None

Cause areas

  • Weather condition › Turbulence

Approximate · Coordinates as recorded by the NTSB; no uncertainty radius is established.

NTSB narrative

THE CAPT RPRTD THAT, WHILE CRUISING IN VISUAL METEOROLOGICAL CONDITIONS, THE ACFT ENCOUNTERED SEVERE TURBULENCE, WHICH CONTD FOR ABOUT 10 SECONDS. THE SEAT BELT SIGN WAS ILLUMINATED, BUT A FLT ATTENDANT, WHO WAS NOT SEATED, SUFFERED A BROKEN ANKLE. NO FORECAST FOR TURBULENCE OR PIREPS WERE RPRTD.

Probable cause

IN-FLIGHT ENCOUNTER WITH UNFORECAST TURBULENCE, WHICH RESULTED IN INJURY OF A FLIGHT ATTENDANT, WHO WAS NOT WEARING A SAFETY BELT.

Verbatim NTSB analysis and probable cause from the NTSB dataset

Sources

NTSB record MIA89LA228
Event ID
20001213X29192
Case number
MIA89LA228
Dataset
historical-pre2008
Source SHA-256
89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Source notes (4)
  • Unreviewed is an editorial label, not an investigation status. API-sourced is not report-checked or human-reviewed. Explicit event totals are used without summing aircraft injury tables; onboard allocation is withheld. Unknown values remain unknown. The operation category is mapped from the NTSB-reported FAR part and has not been reviewed.
  • Filled from the NTSB case API where the bulk record had no value: investigation status, damage. Values present in the bulk record are kept.
  • The date is the local date, which is the same as the UTC date the NTSB stores.
  • API snapshot SHA-256: 9620181a568b89aa13b051b26102638a93f1e502b197466588d2b89444c1be97; retrieved 2026-09-18T19:09:09.156Z.