AIRBUS A321AMERICAN AIRLINES INC
Charlotte, NC, USA · 2015-08-15·N564UW
What happened
NTSB summary, verbatimThe 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.
Photographs
1the aircraft, and what the investigators foundProbable cause
the Board's determinationan 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.
Occurrence sequence
1 stepsNTSB coding · CICTT taxonomy- 1 · Approach-IFR final approachWindshear or thunderstormdefining event
Findings
2 causal · 0 contributing- CAUSEEnvironmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Wind › Windshear — Effect on operation
- CAUSEPersonnel issues › Task performance › Planning/preparation › Weather planning — Pilot
Sequence of events
6 timed eventsfrom the FDR factual report · claude-sonnet-5- 1837 EDT (approx.)final approachp.1American Airlines flight 1851 reportedly encountered wind shear while on final approach to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
- 1837 EDT (approx.)landingp.1The airplane touched down short of the runway in the paved overrun area
- 1837 EDT (approx.)go-aroundp.1Airplane performed a go-around, striking several runway end lights and experiencing a tail strike
- after 1837 EDTlandingp.1Airplane circled back and successfully landed
- 17:58:00 to 18:58:00full flightp.3Full flight time range covered in FDR plots (Figures 1,3,5,7)
- 18:36:00 to 18:37:45 (approx.)approach/tailstrikep.3Tailstrike time range covered in FDR plots (Figures 2,4,6,8,9), surrounding event at approximately 18:37:33
NTSB analysis
from the final reportThe 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.