United B744 at Frankfurt on Oct 22nd 2014, engine pod strike on landing
Last Update: October 2, 2015 / 17:04:05 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Oct 22, 2014
Classification
Incident
Airline
United
Flight number
UA-907
Departure
Chicago O'Hare, United States
Destination
Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Aircraft Registration
N120UA
Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400
ICAO Type Designator
B744
A replacement Boeing 747-400 registration N179UA performed return flight UA-906 and reached Chicago with a delay of half an hour.
The occurrence aircraft was able to resume service on Oct 24th 2014.
On Feb 24th 2015 Germany's BFU reported in their October Bulletin, that the crew performed an ILS approach to runway 25L, the first officer (63, ATPL, 24,000 hours total, 6,500 hours on type) was pilot flying, the captin (58, ATPL, 22,000 hours total, 3,172 hours on type) was pilot monitoring.
The captain reported that the approach was stabilized until a gust caught the aircraft in the midst of the flare, the first officer corrected using ailerons, there were no unusual sounds, and the touchdown and rollout occurred without further incident. After arriving at the stand the crew noticed damage to the engine #4 nacelle however.
The BFU reported that according to the flight data recorder two seconds after the air/ground switch changed to ground the aircraft reached a right bank angle of 5.5 degrees.
The BFU annotated a paragraph in the flight manual reads: "WARNING: With the main landing gear compressed, the outboard engine pod contacts the ground at about 6° of bank."
On Oct 2nd 2015 the BFU released their factual final report without conclusions reporting that first officer (63, ATPL, 24,000 hours total, 6,500 hours on type) was pilot flying and the commander (58, ATPL, 22,000 hours total, 3,172 hours on type) was pilot monitoring, an augmenting first officer (44, ATPL, 11,900 hours total, 7,600 hours on type) was occupying the observer's seat.
The aircraft performed an ILS approach to runway 25L, the approach was stable until about 50 feet AGL. The captain reported that a gust caught the aircraft, the first officer corrected using the aileron, the crew observed nothing unusual (sounds, vibrations, ...).
The flight data recorder showed, that the aircraft reached 5.5 degrees of right bank angle 2 seconds after the weight on wheel sensors indicated on ground.
The crew noticed the damage of the engine #4 pod at the ramp.
Metars:
EDDF 221020Z 24013KT 9999 -RA FEW018 BKN025 08/05 Q1017 NOSIG
EDDF 220950Z 25014KT 9999 -RA FEW017 BKN025 07/05 Q1017 NOSIG
EDDF 220920Z 25012KT 9999 -RA FEW011 BKN022TCU 07/05 Q1017 TEMPO SHRA
EDDF 220850Z 25012KT 9999 -SHRA FEW016 BKN025TCU 07/05 Q1016 TEMPO SHRA
EDDF 220820Z 25013KT 9999 -SHRA FEW020 SCT025TCU BKN030 08/04 Q1016 TEMPO SHRA
EDDF 220820Z 25013KT 9999 FEW020 SCT025TCU BKN030 08/04 Q1016 TEMPO SHRA
EDDF 220750Z 26015KT 9999 -SHRA FEW020 FEW027TCU BKN030 08/04 Q1016 NOSIG
EDDF 220720Z 26015KT 9999 -SHRA FEW018 BKN027TCU 08/04 Q1015 NOSIG
EDDF 220650Z 25012KT 9999 -SHRA FEW020 BKN026TCU 08/04 Q1015 NOSIG
EDDF 220620Z 24012KT 9999 -SHRA FEW015 BKN026TCU 08/04 Q1015 NOSIG
EDDF 220550Z 25013KT 9999 -SHRA FEW011 BKN025TCU 07/04 Q1014 NOSIG
EDDF 220520Z 25013KT 9999 -SHRA FEW011 BKN028TCU 08/04 Q1014 NOSIG
EDDF 220450Z 26015KT 9999 VCSH FEW018 FEW025TCU SCT060 08/04 Q1013 NOSIG
EDDF 220420Z 25013KT 9999 -RA FEW018 SCT050 07/04 Q1013 NOSIG
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Oct 22, 2014
Classification
Incident
Airline
United
Flight number
UA-907
Departure
Chicago O'Hare, United States
Destination
Frankfurt/Main, Germany
Aircraft Registration
N120UA
Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-400
ICAO Type Designator
B744
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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