Originally Posted by
GAPU
A question for the experts please. Assuming the first touch was gear up and given the known high energy, what set of circumstances could lead to the subsequent 2 further touches? It looks like there was no tail strike or nose strike so that's three just on the engine cowls. I've read on here that if they initiated the GA on the first touch then the 2nd two would not have happened. So did they "bounce" along the runway losing energy before initiating the GA after the third touch? Is there any way that conflicting actions by the Captain and FO could explain the three touches?
Your angle of attack basically decreases with the velocity squared and then there is the ground effect, which increase lift for a given angle of attack close to the ground. As you slow down, your angle of attack needs to increase to maintain horizontal flight.
My theory:
They were going so fast, that the pitch angle was close to zero at touchdown. When they scraped, they lost speed and as they climbed, the lift also decreased slightly out of ground effect. They did not pull the nose up enough to compensate for this, causing the aircraft to sink back.
The engines are in front of the gear, so pulling up should only be easier.