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Cases › DCA17LA122 › The analyst

BOEING 757Delta Air Lines

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.

9
timed facts
8
precedents
13
passages to ask

Ask the docket

passages, not paraphrases
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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

9 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
  1. 20:24:10 EDTFDRDeparturep.3
    the aircraft departed
    see the traces at this moment ↗
  2. 20:53 EDTFDRDescentp.3
    the aircraft began a descent out of flight level 270
    see the traces at this moment ↗
  3. 21:03 EDTFDRDescentp.3
    the aircraft began a descent out of flight level 230, with some intermediate, short duration level offs, including at 10,000 feet at about 21:08 EDT
    see the traces at this moment ↗
  4. 21:17:46 EDTFDRApproachp.3
    the computed airspeed was 140 knots, as the aircraft descended through 374 feet radio altitude
    see the traces at this moment ↗
  5. 21:18:04 EDTFDRApproachp.3
    the pitch began to increase, as the radio altitude decreased through 196 feet, and the computed airspeed began to decrease out of 141 knots
    see the traces at this moment ↗
  6. 21:18:16 EDTFDRTouchdownp.3
    the weight on wheels transitioned to ground, as the pitch angle increased through 8.1 degrees nose up, the computed airspeed fluctuated at about 120 knots, and the vertical g peaked at +1.66 g
    see the traces at this moment ↗
  7. 21:18:18 EDTFDRTouchdownp.3
    with weight on wheels still indicating ground, the pitch reached a maximum up angle of 11.4 degrees, the computed airspeed decreased through 121.5 knots, and the vertical g fluctuated between +1.5 and +0.7 g
    see the traces at this moment ↗
  8. 21:18:23 EDTFDRRolloutp.3
    the pitch decreased to a steady value of about 0.2 degrees nose up
    see the traces at this moment ↗
  9. 21:18:52 EDTFDRRolloutp.3
    the computed airspeed began to read a non-computed value (less than 40 knots)
    see the traces at this moment ↗
FLIGHT DATA RECORDER - SPECIALIST'S FACTUAL REPORT · 9 events extracted by claude-sonnet-5
How the Board coded the sequence
  1. Landing-flare/touchdown: Tailstrike

Precedents

8 closest casesranked by what happened, in the Board's words, and by the findings and occurrences it coded
  • DCA13FA0712013-04-05substantialmatch 94
    AIRBUS 321 · U.A Airways Inc
    Las Vegas, NV
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Tailstrike
  • DCA14LA1372014-07-30substantialmatch 93
    BOEING 757 · United Airlines
    San Diego, CA
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Tailstrike
  • DCA14CA0342014-01-04substantialmatch 92
    BOEING 737 · SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO
    Las Vegas, NV
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Tailstrike
  • DCA24LA0652024-01-10substantialmatch 90
    BOEING 737 · UNITED AIRLINES INC
    Houston, TX
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Tailstrike
  • DCA09FA0042008-10-20substantialmatch 86
    AIRBUS 320 · United Airlines
    Phoenix, AZ
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Tailstrike
  • DCA25LA2862025-07-14substantialmatch 85
    EMBRAER-EMPRESA BRASILEIRA DE ERJ 170-200 LR · Republic Airways
    Boston, MA
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Tailstrike
  • DCA13CA0432013-01-25substantialmatch 78
    MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD11 · FEDERAL EXPRESS CORP
    Denver, CO
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action
    Tailstrike
  • DCA19CA1672019-06-15substantialmatch 73
    Boeing 757 · United Airlines
    Newark, NJ
    • ●Personnel issues › Action/decision › Action

What the record says

a pattern, not a findingacross the 8 closest cases · 8 carry coded findings · 8 have a probable cause
Findings the Board cited in those cases
Occurrences it coded
  • 7 of 8Tailstrike
Set against the Board’s own findings for this case
Cited here, and common in the precedents
  • Action/decision › Action
Cited here, not seen in the precedents
  • —
Common in the precedents, not cited here
  • —

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
  • DCA13FA0712013-04-05 · AIRBUS 321 · U.A Airways Inc
    the captain's improper recovery from a bounced landing which resulted in a tailstrike.
  • DCA14LA1372014-07-30 · BOEING 757 · United Airlines
    the first officer's failure to maintain the correct airspeed and pitch attitude during landing that resulted in a tailstrike.
  • DCA14CA0342014-01-04 · BOEING 737 · SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO
    the captain's over rotation during the bounced landing.
  • DCA24LA0652024-01-10 · BOEING 737 · UNITED AIRLINES INC
    The airplane’s aft fuselage impacted the runway as a result of a delayed flare and subsequent nose-high pitch inputs during the aircraft’s multiple touchdowns.
  • DCA09FA0042008-10-20 · AIRBUS 320 · United Airlines
    The failure of the flightcrew to arrest an excessive sink rate during the flare for landing.

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).