Airbus A320-232 N1902U

Summary

On 22 March 2023 at about 22:26 local time, a Airbus A320-232 registered N1902U, operated by United Airlines Inc, was involved in an accident near Houston, Texas, United States. 156 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

22 March 2023 at 22:26

Classification

Accident

Location

Houston, Texas, United States

Nearest airport

George Bush Intcntl/Houston (IAH)

Coordinates

29.9778, -95.3057

Aircraft

Airbus A320-232

Registration

N1902U

Category

Airplane

Year built

2006

Engines

2

Operator

United Airlines Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Mexico City → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA23LA221

Nobody was injured.

The first officer's failure to maintain the correct airspeed and pitch attitude during landing which resulted in a tailstrike.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

United Airlines flight 1091 sustained a tailstrike while landing at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (KIAH), Houston, TX. The flight was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Mexico City, Mexico to KIAH. According to the flight crew, the captain was the pilot monitoring, and the first officer (FO) was the pilot flying when they were cleared for the visual approach to runway 27 at KIAH. The airplane was in the landing configuration and on a stabilized approach at 1,000 ft. above ground level (AGL). About 60 ft AGL the captain noticed the airspeed begin to decay and stated watch your speed. The FO subsequently pitched the nose of the airplane down and added a little thrust. About 30 ft AGL, due to a higher-than-normal rate of descent the captain commanded flare, flare, flare. The FO flared the airplane which resulted in a firm landing. As the airplane rebounded from the firm landing the spoilers deployed resulting in a nose high attitude. In an effort to correct for the nose high attitude, the captain and FO pushed forward on their respective sidesticks. The FO stated that the ground spoiler deployment coinciding with the firm touchdown resulted in an airplane nose-up pitch attitude. As a result, the pitch attitude increased until the tail struck the runway. After the tailstrike, the remainder of the landing and landing rollout were normal with no risk of runway overrun or excursion. The tailstrike resulted in abrasion damage over an area of about 19 feet long by 1 foot wide along the aft lower fuselage. An inspection revealed substantial damage to the aft pressure bulkhead and frames.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.