American A321 Charlotte(KCLT) August 15, 2015

[airman1900]

From the Wall Street Journal:


"Federal Officials Probe American Jet That Touched Down Short of Charlotte Runway

Airbus A321 had underside of tail damaged in highly unusual incident the pilots attributed to wind shear"



Federal Officials Probe American Jet That Touched Down Short of Charlotte Runway - WSJ (http://on.wsj.com/1NBYefN)


KCLT 160252Z 28004KT 10SM FEW140 SCT250 22/19 A3016 AO2 SLP203 60036 T02220194 53001
KCLT 160152Z 22003KT 10SM SCT060 SCT250 22/20 A3015 AO2 RAE20 SLP201 P0000 T02220200
KCLT 160052Z 00000KT 10SM -RA SCT060 BKN130 BKN250 23/19 A3014 AO2 WSHFT 2345 TSE36 SLP199 TS MOV E P0036 T02280194
KCLT 160042Z 23005KT 10SM SCT060 BKN130 BKN250 23/19 A3014 AO2 WSHFT 2345 TSE36RAE40 TS MOV E P0036
KCLT 160009Z 12008KT 4SM TSRA SCT038 BKN060CB BKN130 OVC250 23/19 A3014 AO2 WSHFT 2345 FRQ LTGICCG E-S TS E-S MOV E P0034
KCLT 160002Z 13012KT 2 1/2SM R18C/3500VP6000FT +TSRA FEW022 BKN047OVC060CB 23/19 A3014 AO2 WSHFT 2345 OCNL LTGICCG E TS E-S MOV E P0032
KCLT 152348Z 20018G26KT 2 1/2SM R18C/4500VP6000FT +TSRA BKN060CB OVC130 23/19 A3015 AO2 PK WND 21026/2346 TSB03E27B36RAE04B34 PRESRR FRQ LTGICCG W TS SW-W MOV E TS DSPTD P0007
KCLT 152337Z 23009KT 10SM -TSRA SCT060CB BKN130 BKN250 25/19 A3012 AO2 TSB03E27B36RAE04B34 OCNL LTGICCG W TS W STNRY TS DSPTD P0000
KCLT 152329Z 27008KT 10SM SCT060 BKN130 BKN250 26/18 A3012 AO2 TSB03E27RAE04 PRESRR TS DSPTD P0000
KCLT 152304Z 18005KT 10SM TS SCT065CB BKN110 BKN250 27/18 A3010 AO2 TSB03RAE04 OCNL LTGICCG TS S STNRY P0000
KCLT 152252Z 18007KT 10SM -RA SCT065TCU BKN100 BKN250 28/16 A3010 AO2 RAB11 SLP184 TCU NE AND SW-NW P0015 T02830161
KCLT 152152Z 00000KT 10SM SCT060TCU SCT250 32/16 A3010 AO2 SLP184 TCU NE AND NW T03220156
KCLT 152052Z 00000KT 10SM SCT060 BKN250 32/16 A3011 AO2 SLP186 T03170156 58021
KCLT 151952Z 00000KT 10SM SCT060 SCT250 32/15 A3012 AO2 SLP192 T03220150

According to Flight Aware: first touchdown time approximately 2237Z and second touchdown(successful landing) time 2254Z

[DaveReidUK]

According to Flight Aware: first touchdown time approximately 2237Z and second touchdown(successful landing) time 2254ZThat agrees with the FAA's preliminary report, which puts the tailstrike at 22:38Z (18:38 EDT).

Unsurprisingly, they categorise the damage as "substantial".

AIN Notices Report (http://www.asias.faa.gov/pls/apex/f?p=100:96:::::P96_ENTRY_DATE,P96_MAKE_NAME,P96_FATAL_FLG:17-AUG-15,AIRBUS)

[misd-agin]

"No items, boy!"

[highlandpark]

KCLT has TDWR. Were any alerts/warnings given? Weather changes fast in that part of the world.

[Doors to Automatic]

Ooh! Can't wait to see the final report on that one!

[highlandpark]

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't this the weather that would have been available to the Pilots:

KCLT 152152Z 00000KT 10SM SCT060TCU SCT250 32/16 A3010 AO2 SLP184 TCU NE AND NW T03220156

some 45 minutes prior to first impact. calm winds, 10 miles visibility, sct towering cumulus at 6000' etc.

Many years ago the US FAA went to contract weather observers and getting a "SPECIAL" observation is still tough.

Of course it is the difference between wind on the ground and during the approach that makes all the difference.

[megan]

Repeat of http://flightsafety.org/ap/ap_feb96.pdf but with a better outcome.

Be careful out there

https://vimeo.com/135811823

[Doors to Automatic]

Megan - that is a fascinating video. I had never actually realised what a microburst was in detail. I didn't know it was so sudden, isolated and violent. I stark reminder to all that thunderstorms are not to be messed with.

[cactusbusdrvr]

What we have been told so far is they had a reactive windshear warning inside 100'. They hit TOGA and did the escape maneuver, hitting the tail on the go around.

Waiting for more details. Interesting to me is 15* is commanded by the flight director. Tail strike is at 11.5*. Got to watch the pitch and the RA.

[Intruder]

The difference between escape maneuver pitch and tail strike pitch is not unique. The 744 has similar limits.

I suppose it's better to scrape the tail than slam into the concrete (or grass)...

[fatboy slim]

TOGA 10 is the answer here!

[Consol]

It's TOGA and hold the landing pitch attitude, not 10. That is the old version.

[cappt]

Just remember that is a time lapse video.

[flyingchanges]

Yes, but your crash will happen in real time...

[737er]

I got news for you guys. If a go around is being performed in weather conditions resulting in a descent with 15 degrees of pitch and you lower that to 10 in an attempt to prevent a tail strike, well let me put this delicately..you will not be reusing that aircraft.

[PrivtPilotRadarTech]

Out of my league, but 737er's comments are in agreement with the accident report Megan referenced:

"The report concluded that lowering the pitch attitude eliminated the altitude margin necessary to escape the wind shear."

"Flight 1016 could have overcome the wind-shear encounter if the flight crew had executed the wind-shear escape maneuver (maximum effective pitch attitude and maximum ‘firewall’ power) immediately after the initial airspeed decay."

The microburst video was most interesting- exactly as described in text, but words don't compare with seeing it happening.

[pineridge]

About thirty years ago a Delta Lockheed 1011 crashed short of the runway at DFW due to windshear.
It was recommended in the aftermath of the accident that airlines change their simulator training to include recovery from low-level windshear.
After extensive testing in the simulator, the test pilots found that the only way the Delta crew might have been able to save the aircraft would be to increase the pitch to the initiation of the shaker until a positive climb was established.
This is from memory, which is not as sharp as it was, so I might have missed something, but I don`t remember anything about G/A mode or any specific pitch angle.

[Squawk7777]

I'd like to know if the crew used a CONFIG 3 or FULL setting on approach.

[highlandpark]

I asked if the ATC Tower had issued a TDWR or LLWS warning/alert. Does anayone know and why is my question gone? It seems a quite reasonable question.

[RadarContactLost]

Pictures here. UPDATE: Photos show damage to US Airways jet after Saturday incident | | Dallas Morning News (http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/photo-shows-damage-to-us-airways-jet-after-saturday-incident.html/)

[Intruder]

While the damage was "substantial", the airplane could still fly and make another approach & landing. While some may argue reaction time, the procedure appears to have been correctly executed.

[Sailvi767]

Had they lowered the pitch attitude to 10 degrees as some suggest the aircraft would have impacted the ground much earlier with a greatly increased rate of decent in what certainly would have been a catastrophic accident with a large loss of life.

[PEI_3721]

To dispel some of the myths touted above, and clarify advise given:-

Windshear Encounter
https://www.scribd.com/doc/35984283/Windshear-Incident

Winshear Training Aid; old but still relevant
http://flightcrewguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Windshear-Training-Aid-Vol-1.pdf
http://flightcrewguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Windshear-Training-Aid-Vol-2.pdf
http://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC00-54.pdf

Airbus
http://www.airbus.com/fileadmin/media_gallery/files/safety_library_items/AirbusSafetyLib_-FLT_OPS-ADV_WX-SEQ02.pdf

http://flightsafety.org/files/alar_bn5-4-windshear.pdf

[RobertS975]

UPDATE: Photos show damage to US Airways jet after Saturday incident | | Dallas Morning News (http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2015/08/photo-shows-damage-to-us-airways-jet-after-saturday-incident.html/)

intruder, this is more than questioning "reaction time"... with contact to approach lights, this could have easily resulted in a major accident similar to Eastern 66 at JFK 40 years ago.

ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 727-225 N8845E New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK) (http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19750624-1)