Eurowings Malta A320 at Paderborn on May 22nd 2025, tail strike on landing

Last Update: December 4, 2025 / 15:19:46 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Eurowings Europe Malta 9H-EUT, Airbus A320 — Eurowings Europe Malta 9H-EUT, Airbus A320 (Photo credit: Anna Zvereva / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
May 22, 2025

Classification
Accident

Cause
Tail strike on landing

Airline
Eurowings Europe Malta

Flight number
EW-6838

Departure
Palma de Mallorca, Spain

Destination
Paderborn, Germany

Aircraft Registration
9H-EUT

Aircraft Type
Airbus A320

ICAO Type Designator
A320

Airport
Paderborn Lippstadt Airport, Paderborn

Airport ICAO Code
EDLP

An Eurowings Europe Malta Airbus A320-200, registration 9H-EUT performing flight EW-6838 from Palma de Mallorca,SP (Spain) to Paderborn (Germany), was on short final approach to Paderborn's runway 24 at 16:17L (14:17Z) when the crew initiated a go around, however, the tail of the aircraft contacted the runway surface. The aircraft climbed to 3000 feet, subsequently 5000 feet before positioning for another approach to runway 24. The aircraft landed without further incident about 20 minutes after the go around.

Passengers reported the aircraft touched down extremely hard, then climbed steeply out. The crew later announced that a sudden gust of wind forced them to go around. After second touch down emergency services attended to the aircraft. Checked luggage was damaged.

The airline reported the aircraft unexpectedly lost height shortly before touchdown and touched down hard with its main gear, the crew initiated a go around, the tail contacted the runway surface. The aircraft is currently being examined.

The aircraft remained on the ground in Paderborn until Jun 6th 2025, then positioned to Sofia (Bulgaria) and returned to service on Jul 9th 2025.

On Jun 13th 2025 the BFU reported the rear fuselage hit the runway, the damage was minor, the occurrence was rated an incident and is being investigated by the BFU.

On Oct 11th 2025 The Aviation Herald received information, that the first officer was pilot flying, the captain pilot monitoring. The approach had been stable until about 80 feet AGL when a significant wind change occurred resulting in 3 knots tail wind instead of 9 knots headwind causing loss of lift and airspeed. Just before touchdown dual nose up inputs were recorded however insufficient to arrest the descent, the aircraft touched down at +2.26G at about 7 degrees nose up. The dual nose up input continued for several seconds and amounted temporarily to full nose up deflection and caused the aircraft to pitch up to 13.4 degrees nose up, the tail contacted the runway surface. 2 seconds after touch down TOGA was applied at 121 KIAS, together with the pitch up effect by the go around thrust and the stick inputs the aircraft remained in a tail strike attitude. After becoming airborne again the captain took control of the aircraft, positioned for another approach and landed without further incident.

On Dec 4th 2025 Germany's BFU released their preliminary report summarizing the sequence of events:

At 14:17:51 UTC, the announcement ‘Minimum’ was automatically generated by the aircraft system. Shortly thereafter, the pilot-in-command said: ‘Keep sinking, keep descending’.

At 14:17:59 UTC, the announcement ‘One hundred’, automatically generated by the aircraft system, was heard. The pilot-in-command instructed the co-pilot to direct the aircraft towards the centre of the runway. Shortly thereafter, he said several times to the co-pilot: ‘Flare’.

At 14:18:07 UTC, the aircraft touched down on the runway 24 with a vertical acceleration of 2.26 g. The digital flight data recorder recorded the following parameters at that time:

- The pitch command from the copilot was +11.34° (PITCH CMD+ POS-F/O (deg)).
- The longitudinal angle of inclination was +7° in the landing flare phase and reached a maximum value of +13° as the main landing gear touched the runway.
- The angle of attack (AOA) reached a value of +20.4°.
- The minimum recorded flight speed was 123 kt IAS.
- A dual input of the sidesticks (PITCH CMD+ POS-CAPT (deg) & PITCH CMD+POS-F/O (deg)) was recorded between 14:18:07 UTC and 14:18:15 UTC.

At 14:18:08 UTC, the aircraft system automatically generated ‘Dual Input’ and ‘Pitch’ announcements.

At 14:18:09 UTC, the pilot-in-command initiated the go-around manoeuvre and took over the control (pilot flying). At that moment, the copilot became the pilot monitoring.

The pilot-in-command pressed one of the two TO/GA buttons on the engine thrust levers and initiated the climb. The engines reached the TO/GA engine thrust shortly thereafter.

At 14:18:10 UTC, the ‘pitch’ and ‘retard’ announcements automatically generated by the aircraft system were heard.

The landing gear was retracted at 14:18:21 UTC.

At 14:18:41 UTC, the tower controller informed the cockpit crew that they observed tail strike.

The landing flaps were fully retracted at 14:19:08 UTC and the pilot-in-command ordered the After Take Off checklist. The cockpit crew changed the radio frequency to 125,225 MHz according to the instructions of the tower controller. In consultation with the approach radar controller from Langen traffic control station, they climbed to the altitude of 5,000 ft AMSL and entered the holding pattern at the radio beacon PAD (Distance Measuring Equipment (DME)).

At 14:20:35 UTC, the pilot-in-command ordered the Tail Strike checklist.

At 14:21:24 UTC, the copilot began reading the QRH Tail Strike checklist and working through the corresponding checklist points. These included, among other, ‘RAM AIR - ON’ and ‘PACK 1 & 2 - OFF’. At 14:22:30 UTC, the checklist work was completed and shortly thereafter the pilot-in-command said the word ‘FORDEC’ and mentioned the individual points of this method for structured decision-making.

At 14:25:43 UTC, the pilot-in-command asked the head of the cabin crew about the status.

At 14:34 42 UTC, the second landing took place. The aircraft then rolled to the parking position.

After the aircraft stopped and the engines were shut down, the aircraft was inspected and damage to the tail of the aircraft was discovered.

The airport operator arranged a runway check. Traces were found on the surface of the runway, which could be assigned to the aircraft.

Metars:
EDLP 221620Z 32007KT 280V350 9999 FEW023 12/M00 Q1013=
EDLP 221550Z 33009KT 300V020 9999 -DZ FEW023 13/M00 Q1013=
EDLP 221520Z 31010KT 250V350 CAVOK 13/00 Q1013=
EDLP 221450Z 31011KT 260V340 CAVOK 13/01 Q1013=
EDLP 221420Z 32009KT 270V350 CAVOK 12/01 Q1013=
EDLP 221350Z 33010KT 290V030 CAVOK 12/01 Q1013=
EDLP 221320Z 32012KT 270V360 CAVOK 13/01 Q1012=
EDLP 221250Z 30010KT 250V340 CAVOK 12/00 Q1012=
EDLP 221220Z 30010KT 270V340 CAVOK 14/M00 Q1012=
EDLP 221150Z 30011KT 240V350 CAVOK 12/M02 Q1012=
EDLP 221120Z 29010KT 230V010 CAVOK 13/M01 Q1012=
EDLP 221050Z 30011KT 250V350 CAVOK 12/M01 Q1012=
EDLP 221020Z 30010KT 240V340 CAVOK 13/00 Q1012=