China Cargo B772 at Copenhagen on Apr 17th 2011, tail strike on go-around

Last Update: December 13, 2012 / 19:04:05 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 17, 2011

Classification
Accident

Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200

ICAO Type Designator
B772

The Danish Havarikommissionen (HCL) released their final report concluding the probable cause of the accident was:

After the third bounce and at touch down, the PF didnÂ’t prevent the pitch angle to increase. The lack of forward elevator control input caused the first tail strike.

During the GA, the aircraft was rotated to a pitch angle of 10.2° which caused the second tail strike. The tail strike was prolonged as the pitch angle increased to 11.9° with a V2 speed minus 8 knots, which prolonged the time with a compressed main landing gear and less aft tail clearance.

The aircraft was on final approach to Copenhagen's runway 22L descending through 1000 feet AGL at 152 KIAS and a 830 feet per minute rate of descent. During the flare the pilot flying (the report does not state who was pilot flying or who was pilot monitoring) increased the angle of attack and reduced the rate of descent, main gear touch down occurred at 143 KIAS, 4.6 degrees nose up attitude, 160 feet per minute rate of descent and both engine N1 at about 58%. The aircraft bounced, the automatic spoilers retracted and the automatic brakes disengaged again, the aircraft touched down and bounced off a second time and a third time, following the third bounce the ground spoilers and thrust reversers deployed - it was unclear whether the spoiler handle was pulled or the thrust reversers were engaged. The reversers deployed in 11 seconds, both engines showed N1 around 34%. During deceleration the pitch angle gradually increased and reached 10.5 degrees resulting in the tail contacting the runway surface. The pilot flying sensed the increasing pitch and decided to go around, the ground spoilers were retracted and the thrust reversers stowed, the pitch angle reduced to 7 degrees, indicated airspeed was 117 knots. The engines accelerated, the pitch angle increased again and reached 11.9 degrees resulting in a second tail strike at about 140 KIAS, during the climb out the crew observed a tail strike caution message on the EICAS and a beeper aural alert. The go-around checklist and tail strike checklists were actioned, and the pilot monitoring informed ATC about the tail strike. The aircraft positioned for another approach to runway 22L and landed without further incident.

The aircraft received substantial damage, parts of the skin in the belly sections 47 and 48 were broken up over an area of about 8 meters and the inside of the aircraft was visible, the area after the pressure bulkhead was worn into the frame of the dome pressure bulkhead and there was visible damage to the frames and structure inside the aircraft.

The aircraft had first touched down 305 meters past the runway threshold, the go around was initiated about 1585 meters past the runway threshold and the aircraft became airborne again about 2500 meters past the threshold and 760 meters before the runway end.

The HCL analysed that the aircraft touched down at 143 KIAS, 5 knots below Vref, the pilot flying did not prevent the aircraft pitching up by light forward pressure on the control yoke and thus did not prevent both tailstrikes. At the time of initiating the go-around 1700 meters were available to slow from 117 KIAS, the HCL holds the opinion that the remaining runway was sufficient to stop safely.

The HCL further analysed that the initiation of a go-around after deploying thrust reversers is very risky and not an option according to Boeing flight crew operating manuals.

The aircraft became airborne after the decision to go around at 140 KIAS, 8 knots below V2, which contributed to less lift being produced, the landing gear remaining compressed longer and thus contributed to the second tail strike.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Apr 17, 2011

Classification
Accident

Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200

ICAO Type Designator
B772

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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