Incident Overview

Description
A Boeing 747-8F of Nippon Cargo Airlines, operating NCA/KZ258 from Hong Kong to Tokyo/Narita, suffered a tail strike while go around in the first landing attempt on runway 16R at Narita at 18:50 LT. The freighter landed safely in the second attempt 20 minutes later. In the post flight inspection, a scar with three meters long and 90 cm wide was found in the lower rear fuselage. The runway was temporally closed for inspection, but found nothing abnormal. There were no injuries among two crew members. PROBABLE CAUSES The JTSB concludes that the probable cause of this accident was that when the Aircraft made a go-around while becoming unstable attitude after touching down and bouncing, the pitch angle became excessively large with an inadequate aircraft speed, which more likely resulted in the lower aft fuselage contacting with the runway. The Aircraft bounced after the touchdown is because it was likely insufficient to deal with the crosswind. The pitch angle became excessively large with an inadequate aircraft speed is probably because the PIC reflexively moved the reverse thrust levers after the touchdown, therefore, in the situation where it took time for the aircraft speed to increase due to the go-around operation, while being anxious about the runway-remaining length and others and trying to get off the ground as quickly as possible, the PIC performed the nose-up operation without checking the aircraft speed.
Primary Cause
The probable cause was a combination of factors related to the aircraft’s go-around procedure. The aircraft’s pitch angle became excessively large with inadequate speed, exacerbated by insufficient runway-remaining length and pilot’s anxiety, leading to excessive nose-up movement and contact with the runway.The probable cause was a combination of factors related to the aircraft’s go-around procedure. The aircraft’s pitch angle became excessively large with inadequate speed, exacerbated by insufficient runway-remaining length and pilot’s anxiety, leading to excessive nose-up movement and contact with the runway.Share on: