Incident Overview

Date: Saturday 12 February 2000
Aircraft Type: Boeing 757-232
Owner/operator: Delta Air Lines
Registration Number: N671DN
Location: San Salvador – ÿ El Salvador
Phase of Flight: Unknown
Status: Substantial
Casualties: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 161
Component Affected: FuselageFuselage
Category: Accident
An aircraft sustained significant structural damage during landing in El Salvador, resulting in a buckled fuselage section and damage to the nose landing gear door. Subsequent inspection revealed bent and fractured structural members within the nose wheel well. The flight data recorder indicated a sequence of ‘air’ and ‘ground’ data, suggesting a potential issue with the pilot’s flare, leading to a bounced landing.An aircraft sustained significant structural damage during landing in El Salvador, resulting in a buckled fuselage section and damage to the nose landing gear door. Subsequent inspection revealed bent and fractured structural members within the nose wheel well. The flight data recorder indicated a sequence of ‘air’ and ‘ground’ data, suggesting a potential issue with the pilot’s flare, leading to a bounced landing.

Description

The airplane sustained substantial structural damage to the fuselage in the nose wheel area during landing. The same flight crew flew the airplane from Atlanta to El Salvador and back to Atlanta. Another flight crew boarded the airplane and continued on to Los Angeles. No discrepancies were reported by either of the flight crews or maintenance personnel in El Salvador and Atlanta. After the airplane arrived in Los Angeles, a post flight walk around inspection revealed that the outside of the fuselage buckled on the left side above the nose landing gear door. Further examination disclosed that structural members were bent and fractured in the nose wheel well. The crew that landed in El Salvador stated that the nose gear touched down more firmly than the main landing gear. They completed a post flight inspection, but detected no abnormalities. The flight data recorder was removed and sent to the Safety Board’s Vehicle Recorder Laboratory for readout and evaluation. A Safety Board specialist conducted a data comparison for the landings in El Salvador, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. In the El Salvador landing sequence, the air/ground FDR discrete indicated “air” then a second later indicated “ground.” A second later it indicate “air” again and then a second later indicated “ground” and remained “ground” for the remainder of the landing roll out. During this phase, a right roll angle developed, while the pitch angle and control column movements were more pronounced than on the other landings. For the Atlanta and Los Angeles landings, the air/ground discrete indicated “air” then a second later indicated “ground” and remained “ground.” Probable Cause: The pilot’s improper flare which resulted in a bounced landing.

Primary Cause

Pilot’s improper flare which resulted in a bounced landing.Pilot’s improper flare which resulted in a bounced landing.

Share on:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *