Tail strike Providenciales (PLS)

[wheelsright]

Reports are coming in that AA had a tail strike leaving PLS on the 22nd yesterday afternoon. The airport was closed all afternoon and re-opened late in the evening. Eye witnesses say that they saw the flight impact the runway during take-off roll and there was damage to the runway surface?

Does anyone know any further details?

[wheelsright]

The flight involved may have been AAL 746 2/22/11 B738 bound for Miami.

[bubbers44]

Sounds like the management pilots are trying to keep up their currency again.

[srobarts]

A quick google had this article about the closure:
Providenciales airport closed for runway repairs (http://www.fptci.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2231:providenciales-airport-closed-for-runway-repairs&catid=18:local&Itemid=26)

[misd-agin]

Maybe a different airline?

[viking767]

No tailstrike on AA746/22FEB PLS - MIA

[bubbers44]

Why on a long runway would anybody get a tail strike? SNA I can understand if you screw up but an island with lots of runway and no noise abatement procedures??? How can you break a runway with a tail strike. I think the tail strike story never happened. No pilot could be that stupid. Sounds like they did a crummy job of fixing the runway the night before.

[Huck]

Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: fl
Posts: 666
Why on a long runway would anybody get a tail strike?

Inaccurate CG calculation
Inaccurate rotation speed calculation
Pitot/static error
Too rapid a rotation rate
Wind gust

That'll do for now....

[wheelsright]

It appears that putting together various unconfirmed reports that it was not a tail strike. Apparently there were some temporary repairs to the runway that had not been carried out correctly that caused a chunk of the runway to come loose as the aircraft passed over....

The runway is due to be resurfaced in the near future in conjunction with the runway/apron extension that is now almost complete.

Does anyone have first hand info. that could resolve what really happened?

[srobarts]

West Indes Video has this tv news report:
Airport Closed | WIV Official Website - Turks and Caicos (http://wivtc.com/portal/?p=14596)

[ltn and beyond]

Bubbers44 Why on a long runway would anybody get a tail strike?

I can assure after you taking a big jet into PLS, the rwy can never be called a LONG runway. and many factor can contribute to a tail strike for me the thing i dont like in PLS is the sand bank that rises before the threshold Ive seen many guys pull up a little over that resulting in a "firm " landing !!

[bubbers44]

I don't think it was a tail strike either. The AA plane that flew in before the closure was delayed until the next morning so that aircraft wasn't damaged obviously. I don't think the initial reports were accurate. It is a very easy airport to land at. Maybe as reported pieces of loose runway were causing a hazard and they had to do a temporary repair and let it set. Sorry about blaming management pilots for another tail strike. They take a lot of heat.

[misd-agin]

It's 2 feet shorter than LGA.

Landed this month with a 23kt gusting crosswind. Pretty bumpy below 100'. Slight ridge north of the field makes for messy air.

Some people gave the thumbs up, while others were just glad to be on the ground.

[mark25787]

It'll be pretty obvious when they inspect the airframe of the jet which is meant to have had the tail strike if there was one or not.

[FCS Explorer]

the further you raise the assumed temp, the lower the N1 for T/O .... and than a rwy can get "short" ....

[bubbers44]

PLS is about 7600 ft at sea level. Taking off during the winter months for a flight less than 2 hrs should be a cake walk. SNA has 5700 ft at sea level and handles much longer haul flights with no problem with the most restrictive noise abatement procedure I have seen anywhere. They wouldn't have taken off the next morning if they had a tail strike without an inspection. There was no tail strike.

[viking767]

I am a pilot for AA and I looked through the logbook for the aircraft operating the flight in question.
No tailstrike.

[bubbers44]

Thanks vikiing 767, your post puts this thread to sleep. There was no tail strike. The runway needed repair.