Airbus A321 N717FR

Summary

On 8 August 2019 at about 17:30 local time, a Airbus A321 registered N717FR, operated by Frontier Airlines, was involved in an accident near Orlando, Florida, United States. 232 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

8 August 2019 at 17:30

Classification

Accident

Location

Orlando, Florida, United States

Nearest airport

Orlando International Airport (MCO)

Coordinates

28.4199, -81.2992

Aircraft

Airbus A321

Registration

N717FR

Category

Airplane

Year built

2017

Engines

2

Operator

Frontier Airlines

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Portland → Orlando

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA19LA193

Nobody was injured.

Encountering gusty conditions at a low altitude during landing and the crew’s decision to do a go-around at a low altitude with an excessive rotation rate.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The final approach was considered stabilized. At about 40 feet above ground level, a significant tailwind gust of about 25 knots was experienced, creating a loss of airspeed. The loss of airspeed resulted in a loss of lift at a low height and led to a hard touchdown. At about 10 feet above the runway (and before the hard touchdown) the flight crew set “TOGA” thrust for go-around and applied full back stick pressure resulting in a pitch increase to +9.2 degrees. The engines required time to spool up and the airplane lost altitude before it started to climb. The increase in pitch and delay in thrust caused the tailstrike, resulting in substantial damage to the airplane. The airplane was fitted with a tailstrike prevention option which appears on the primary flight director (PFD) when below 400 feet but deactivates when thrust levers are pushed to “TOGA”. Standard operating procedures for go-arounds near the ground inform flight crews to avoid an excessive rotation rate to prevent tailstrikes.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.