The flight was descending for landing on runway 36L at CLT with full flaps while passing through scattered rain cells. ATC had informed the flight of a windshear advisory about 12 minutes prior to the landing attempt and of a windshear alert, indicating a pilot report of a 20 knot loss of airspeed on approach, about 1.5 minutes prior to the landing attempt. The captain did not reference the available windshear guidance in the quick reference handbook, which recommended landing with Flaps 3 and increasing the approach speed by 15 knots, and approached with Full flaps and no speed increment. The flight encountered a small microburst on short final about 7 seconds prior to the landing attempt characterized by wind shift from a headwind to a tailwind and back to a headwind. The captain began a go-around after receiving an aural windshear alert/warning from the airplane systems, however, the airplane lost speed and lift and landed hard on the runway suffering a tail strike before they were able to climb. The crew was vectored for a landing on runway 36C following the event and landed without further incident.
an encounter with a small microburst on short final at low altitude that resulted in a loss of lift and a tail strike during the go-around. Contributing to the accident was the captain's decision to continue the approach without applying appropriate windshear precautions in accordance with published guidance.
| Time | Event | Page |
|---|---|---|
| 1837 EDT (approx.) | American Airlines flight 1851 reportedly encountered wind shear while on final approach to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) | 1 |
| 1837 EDT (approx.) | The airplane touched down short of the runway in the paved overrun area | 1 |
| 1837 EDT (approx.) | Airplane performed a go-around, striking several runway end lights and experiencing a tail strike | 1 |
| after 1837 EDT | Airplane circled back and successfully landed | 1 |
| 17:58:00 to 18:58:00 | Full flight time range covered in FDR plots (Figures 1,3,5,7) | 3 |
| 18:36:00 to 18:37:45 (approx.) | Tailstrike time range covered in FDR plots (Figures 2,4,6,8,9), surrounding event at approximately 18:37:33 | 3 |
197 transcribed utterances from 22:23:13.5 to 22:38:38.8, 15 sources. Final entries:
| 22:38:34.6 | CAM | [sound similar to altitude alert tone]. |
| 22:38:35.3 | HOT-2 | flaps up. |
| 22:38:37.0 | HOT-1 | three for four. |
| 22:38:38.0 | HOT-2 | three for four. |
| 22:38:38.8 | RDO-1 | American eighteen fifty one had a wind shear warning at ten feet. wind shear warning. 22:38:50 End of Transcript 23:03:04 End of Recording DCA15LA173 |
Docket: data.ntsb.gov/Docket/?NTSBNumber=DCA15LA173. This brief is an analytical aid assembled from public records; it is not an investigative finding.