Cases › DCA15LA173 › The analyst
AIRBUS A321AMERICAN AIRLINES INC
What the docket says, assembled. No language model is involved, so nothing on this page can be invented — every line traces to a recorder, a report page or the Board's own record.
26
timed facts
8
precedents
40
passages to ask
Ask the docket
passages, not paraphrasesTry
Every answer is a passage of the docket with the page it came from, or the words “not in the docket”. Nothing is summarised or reasoned for you — read the source.
One timeline
26 timed factsthe recorder events from the FDR report, with the transcript's warnings, callouts, the words nearest each event and the final seconds — on one clock, as printed in each report- 17:58:00 to 18:58:00FDRfull flightp.3Full flight time range covered in FDR plots (Figures 1,3,5,7)
- 18:36:00 to 18:37:45 (approx.)FDRapproach/tailstrikep.3Tailstrike time range covered in FDR plots (Figures 2,4,6,8,9), surrounding event at approximately 18:37:33
- 22:23:13.5CVR HOT-2p.8“is that approach, I forget.”read in context ↗
- 22:34:35.7CVR HOTwarningp.18“[sound of autopilot disconnect warning].”read in context ↗
- 22:34:51.7CVR HOT-1calloutp.18“gear down flaps three landing checklist.”read in context ↗
- 22:34:54.0CVR HOT-2calloutp.18“gear down. flaps three. DCA15LA173”read in context ↗
- 22:35:26.9CVR TWRcalloutp.20“American eighteen fifty one Charlotte tower following a CRJ three ahead (runway) three six left cleared to land wind three one zero at six gust one six runway three six left arrival wind- shear alert two zero knot loss on a one mile final several aircraft reported between eight and a fifteen knot gain around three hundred feet.”read in context ↗
- 22:35:41.1CVR RDO-2calloutp.20“copy all that and ah we're cleared to land American eighteen fifty one.”read in context ↗
- 22:36:46.8CVR CAMcalloutp.21“minimum [electronic voice].”read in context ↗
- 22:37:00.8CVR HOT-1calloutp.22“go around, TOGA.”read in context ↗
- 22:37:02.7CVR CAMwarningp.22“[sound of impact].”read in context ↗
- 22:37:06.1CVR RDO-2calloutp.22“American eighteen fifty one on the go around.”read in context ↗
- 22:37:16.1CVR HOT-2calloutp.23“you want, flaps go around?”read in context ↗
- 22:37:21.1CVR HOT-1calloutp.23“go around flap - positive rate gear up.”read in context ↗
- 22:37:23.0CVR HOT-2calloutp.23“positive rate gear up.”read in context ↗
- 22:37:24.6CVR HOT-1calloutp.23“go around flaps.”read in context ↗
- 22:37:25.5CVR HOT-2calloutp.23“go around flaps, flaps two.”read in context ↗
- 22:37:39.0CVR RDO-2warningp.23“okay four thousand heading two seven zero American ah eighteen fifty one and we had a about a twenty knot wind shear at a loss of speed at about ah oh - ten feet about.”read in context ↗
- 22:38:18.0CVR HOT-1final secondsp.24“well, that wasn't good.”read in context ↗
- 22:38:20.3CVR HOT-2final secondsp.24“* * * *. DCA15LA173”read in context ↗
- 22:38:34.6CVR HOT-1final secondsp.25“flaps up.”read in context ↗
- 22:38:34.6CVR CAMfinal secondsp.25“[sound similar to altitude alert tone].”read in context ↗
- 22:38:35.3CVR HOT-2final secondsp.25“flaps up.”read in context ↗
- 22:38:37.0CVR HOT-1final secondsp.25“three for four.”read in context ↗
- 22:38:38.0CVR HOT-2final secondsp.25“three for four.”read in context ↗
- 22:38:38.8CVR RDO-1final secondsp.25“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”read in context ↗
Recorder events without a clock time
- 1837 EDT (approx.)American Airlines flight 1851 reportedly encountered wind shear while on final approach to Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT)
- 1837 EDT (approx.)The airplane touched down short of the runway in the paved overrun area
- 1837 EDT (approx.)Airplane performed a go-around, striking several runway end lights and experiencing a tail strike
- after 1837 EDTAirplane circled back and successfully landed
Flight Data Recorder - Specialist’s Factual Report · 6 events extracted by claude-sonnet-5Cockpit Voice Recorder - Factual Report · 24 of 197 lines shown
How the Board coded the sequence
- Approach-IFR final approach: Windshear or thunderstorm
Precedents
8 closest casesranked by what happened, in the Board's words, and by the findings and occurrences it coded- BOEING 767 36N · OMNI AIR INTERNATIONAL INCKabul, AF
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Wind
- EMBRAER EMB-145LR · AMERICAN EAGLE AIRLINES INCPioneer, LA
- ●Personnel issues › Task performance › Planning/preparation
- AIRBUS A319 · United Airlines, Inc.Chillicothe, MOWindshear or thunderstorm
- BOEING 717-200 · Airtran AirwaysInverness, FL
- ●Personnel issues › Task performance › Planning/preparation
- BOEING 767 · UNITED PARCEL SERVICE COSan Bernardino, CA
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Wind
- Airbus A321 · Frontier AirlinesOrlando, FL
- ●Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Wind
- EMBRAER EMB145 · TRANS STATES AIRLINES INCSt Louis, MO
- ●Personnel issues › Task performance › Planning/preparation
- BOEING 737-724 · UNITED AIR LINES INCWinnie, TXmatched on what happened, as the Board wrote it
What the record says
a pattern, not a findingacross the 8 closest cases · 8 carry coded findings · 8 have a probable causeFindings the Board cited in those cases
- 4 of 8Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
- 3 of 8Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena › Windcited here too
- 3 of 8Personnel issues › Task performance › Communication (personnel)
- 3 of 8Personnel issues › Task performance › Planning/preparationcited here too
- 2 of 8Personnel issues › Task performance › Use of equip/info
- 2 of 8Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
Occurrences it coded
- 4 of 8Turbulence encounter
- 3 of 8Tailstrike
- 2 of 8Abnormal runway contact
Set against the Board’s own findings for this case
Cited here, and common in the precedents
- Conditions/weather/phenomena › Wind
- Task performance › Planning/preparation
Cited here, not seen in the precedents
- —
Common in the precedents, not cited here
- Conditions/weather/phenomena › Turbulence
- Action/decision › Action
- Task performance › Communication (personnel)
- Task performance › Use of equip/info
A teaching device, not a verdict: what the record would have looked at, next to what the Board found.
In the Board’s words — the closest cases
- DCA14FA1222014-06-20 · BOEING 767 36N · OMNI AIR INTERNATIONAL INC
the early reduction of engine thrust that resulted in an excessive sink rate and nose high pitch attitude during the landing flare. Contributing to the accident was a significant change in the vertical and horizontal wind components just prior to touchdown.
- CEN10LA3632010-06-28 · EMBRAER EMB-145LR · AMERICAN EAGLE AIRLINES INC
The inadvertent encounter with convective weather during cruise flight. Contributing to the accident was the flight crew's failure to detect and avoid the thunderstorm cell earlier in the flight, and the failure of air traffic controllers to provide the convective weather information to the flight crew.
- DCA11FA0532011-05-09 · AIRBUS A319 · United Airlines, Inc.
An inadvertent encounter with unforecast convective turbulence.
- ERA09LA4882009-08-27 · BOEING 717-200 · Airtran Airways
The flight crew's encounter with convective turbulence. Contributing to the accident was the failure of the operator's dispatch department to provide the flightcrew with current adverse weather information along the planned route of flight. Also contributing was the failure of the flightcrew to provide relevant forecast information to the cabin crew, and their failure to detect and avoid the existing convective conditions.
- DCA25LA0852025-01-10 · BOEING 767 · UNITED PARCEL SERVICE CO
Encounter with windshear during landing which resulted in a tailstrike.
What it recommended after them
- A-12-018TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Study the technical feasibility of presenting, through the use of the weather and radar processor system or other means, real-time total lightning data on controller displays at both air route traffic… · CEN10LA363Closed - Unacceptable Action
- A-12-019TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: To the extent practicable, incorporate direct center weather service unit briefings on new weather-related air traffic control equipment and information services into controller training. · CEN10LA363Closed - Unacceptable Action
- A-12-020TO THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION: Incorporate real-time total lightning data into the products supplied to pilots through the flight information services –broadcast data link. · CEN10LA363Closed - Acceptable Action
This is the pattern in the NTSB’s own record across similar accidents — which findings it cited, what it coded, what it recommended. It is drawn from the record, not written about this case, and it never assigns blame: investigations exist to prevent the next accident (ICAO Annex 13).