Incident Overview
Description
The DHC-8-402Q Dash 8 sustained substantial damage in a tailstrike accident on landing at Berne-Belp Airport in Switzerland. One crew member and one passenger sustained minor injuries. Flight SRK172 took off from Palma de Mallorca, Spain at 09:02 UTC for charter flight under IFR to Berne. Pilot flying throughout the flight was a captain under supervision in the left seat with a training captain in the right seat as pilot not flying. The first officer, who also was still under check, sat on the jump seat and was in charge of radio communication at the end of the flight. After an uneventful flight, the crew contacted Berne Arrival at 10:32 UTC. In Berne-Belp runway was 32 in operation. The ATCO asked the crew if they wanted to carry out a visual approach. The crew replied in the affirmative and requested an approach to runway 14, which was immediately granted. During the flare of the aircraft just before touchdown, the crew noticed an above-average rate of descent. Pitch was increased to correct this. The aircraft then suffered a tail strike. Causes (translated from German): The accident is attributable to the fact that the aircraft touched down on the runway with the rear fuselage first, because the crew responded to a high rate of descent with too large a pitch angle instead of an increase in power. Crew fatigue might have contributed to the accident.
Primary Cause
Crew fatigue during a flare response to a high rate of descent.Crew fatigue during a flare response to a high rate of descent.Share on:
