Boeing 757-232 N656DL

Summary

On 3 June 1999 at about 03:26 local time, a Boeing 757-232 registered N656DL was involved in an accident near Phoenix, Arizona, United States. 127 people were on board and nobody was injured. The aircraft was substantially damaged. The NTSB has published a probable cause for this accident; it is quoted in full below.

Date

3 June 1999 at 03:26

Classification

Accident

Location

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Nearest airport

Phoenix Sky Harbor Intl. (PHX)

Coordinates

33.4292, -112.0100

Aircraft

Boeing 757-232

Registration

N656DL

Category

Airplane

Engines

2

Operator

Not recorded

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Purpose of flight

Unknown

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

New York → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Night/Bright

NTSB number

LAX99FA207

Nobody was injured.

The pilot's excessive and rapid forward control column movement in response to a bounced landing, which resulted in the hard touchdown of the nose wheel.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record. This site does not paraphrase or interpret it.

Read the full NTSB narrative

The airplane sustained substantial structural damage to the nose wheel well aft bulkhead during a hard landing. The en route flight from New York to Phoenix was uneventful. About 3 seconds before touchdown, at the termination of a visual approach, the airplane's pitch attitude increased to 5.8 degrees. The captain, who was the flying pilot, described the first touchdown as being 'firm,' and in the runway's touchdown zone, close to the centerline. There was a maintenance carry over (MCO) disabling the auto-spoiler deployment system, so the first officer manually deployed the spoilers upon touchdown. The captain stated he then applied forward pressure to the control yoke. The captain additionally reported that he 'felt a jolt' as the nose gear returned to the runway. After landing, the airplane taxied to the gate. It was subsequently examined and substantial damage was observed to the airplane's nose gear wheel well aft bulkhead, associated underlying structure, and skin panels. The digital flight data recorder was read out and it revealed that approximately 3 seconds prior to touchdown, the pitch attitude started increasing in response to nose up elevator inputs to a maximum pitch of about 5.8 degrees, and the airplane touched down (transitioned from air to ground) then became airborne again. The second air to ground transition occurred 3 seconds later and the elevator positions changed over the next second from plus 6 degrees to minus 16 degrees as the pitch attitude rapidly decreased to -0.7 degrees at a rate of 4 degrees per second. There was no evidence of any mechanical malfunctions during the landing event.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.