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Cases › DCA14CA161 · Part 121 airline

BOEING 757 223AMERICAN AIRLINES INC

Miami, FL, USA · 2014-09-16·N654A

0
fatal
0
serious
No injury
highest injury
Substantial
damage
Replay the flight data749,604 samples · 41 parameters41:31:16.0 – 44:05:59.0AnalyseThe analystOne timeline · precedents · ask the docket · what the record saysGenerateInvestigation briefFacts, cause, recorder extremes, sequence, sourcesSourceNTSB docket5 documents on data.ntsb.gov

What happened

NTSB summary, verbatim

On September 15, 2014, at about 2027 eastern daylight time, American Airlines flight 2404, a B757-200, N654A, experienced a tail strike during landing at Miami International Airport (KMIA), Miami, Florida. The aircraft sustained substantial damage to the aft pressure bulkhead and there were no injuries to the 172 passengers and crew onboard. The flight was operating under 14 CFR Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (KSJU), San Juan, Puerto Rico to KMIA. According to the operator, the first officer (FO) was the pilot flying and the captain was the pilot monitoring and was initial operating experience (IOE) training for the FO.  The flight crew reported that they had the ILS tuned and the approach was stabilized.  They reported that the main gear touchdown was smooth but that the nose came up rapidly before the captain could make the "deployed" call for the spoilers. The captain reportedly quickly grabbed the yoke and lowered the nose to the ground. Postflight maintenance inspection found damage to the aft fuselage skin and substantial damage to the aft pressure bulkhead.

Photographs

14the aircraft, and what the investigators found
The aircraft before the accident
N654A (6874176032) (3)
Eric Salard · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wreckage and site documentation · 13 photographs from the docket

Photographs are NTSB docket attachments — works of the US government, in the public domain. Captions are the Board’s own.

Probable cause

the Board's determination
The failure of the first officer to control the airplane pitch after touchdown. Contributing to the accident was the first officers inexperience in the aircraft type.

Occurrence sequence

1 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy
  1. 1 · Landing-flare/touchdown
    Abnormal runway contact
    defining event

Findings

2 causal · 0 contributing
  • CAUSE
    Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action › Incorrect action performance — Copilot
  • CAUSE
    Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge › Experience/qualifications › Total experience — Copilot

Sequence of events

8 timed eventsfrom the FDR factual report · claude-fable-5-1 (in-session)
  1. about 18:07 EDTtakeoffp.3
    Aircraft took off and climbed to a pressure altitude of 40,000 ft
  2. cruisecruisep.3
    Cruised at 40,000 ft on a heading of around 305 degrees for about 1 hour 30 minutes, then descended to about 12,000 ft for about 5 minutes and stepped down to 3,000 ft where it made a right turn onto the runway heading
  3. 20:23 EDTapproachp.3
    Aircraft descending out of 3,000 ft on a magnetic heading of around 90 degrees; winds consistent from about 90 degrees true at 11 knots; autopilot engaged, transitioning from altitude hold to approach glideslope mode
  4. passing about 2,250 ftapproachp.3
    Autopilot disconnected; flight director continued to provide glideslope guidance
  5. crossing about 700 ft AGLapproachp.3
    Stabilizer position, having stepped down several times during the final descent, stayed constant at -5 degrees from this point
  6. 20:26:56 EDTlandingp.3
    Gear weight-on-wheels signal went true, indicative of landing; control column angle increased to 7 degrees and elevators reached a peak of 17 degrees at touchdown
  7. about 20:26:58 EDTlandingp.3
    Pitch followed the column input and increased to a peak of 11 degrees for about a second, two seconds after touchdown, before reducing to zero (tail strike)
  8. rolloutlandingp.3
    After thrust reverser deployment, the number 1 engine took five seconds longer than the number 2 engine to accelerate to its commanded reverse thrust; engines otherwise followed command inputs with symmetric thrust during the approach

NTSB analysis

from the final report

On September 15, 2014, at about 2027 eastern daylight time, American Airlines flight 2404, a B757-200, N654A, experienced a tail strike during landing at Miami International Airport (KMIA), Miami, Florida. The aircraft sustained substantial damage to the aft pressure bulkhead and there were no injuries to the 172 passengers and crew onboard. The flight was operating under 14 CFR Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Luis Munoz Marin International Airport (KSJU), San Juan, Puerto Rico to KMIA. According to the operator, the first officer (FO) was the pilot flying and the captain was the pilot monitoring and was initial operating experience (IOE) training for the FO.  The flight crew reported that they had the ILS tuned and the approach was stabilized.  They reported that the main gear touchdown was smooth but that the nose came up rapidly before the captain could make the "deployed" call for the spoilers. The captain reportedly quickly grabbed the yoke and lowered the nose to the ground. Postflight maintenance inspection found damage to the aft fuselage skin and substantial damage to the aft pressure bulkhead.