Ground Contact
Mil ATCO speaking. I was Local Controller when a Hunter performed a wheels-up ‘roller’ on the 230 gal drop-tanks. The pilot realised the error in the last second, applied full power and delicate stick, and wobbled a foot or so off the runway whilst regaining the right side of the drag curve. He scraped the paint off one tank, and split the seam on the other. Normal circuit, landing and interview followed. Ground contact is a variable quantity ... the report and other evidence will determine how hard and/or prolonged the A320’s encounter was.
BTW, I had seen his gear was up as he turned final, but my plaintive cries of “Overshoot” were jammed out by a 4-ship checking in and calling for taxt and departure clearance. Local controllers should look out of the windows at noth runway and aircraft ... at least, we used to in my day.