Atlanta, GA, USA
N540US
BOEING 757-251
On August 6, 2022, about 2115, eastern daylight time, Delta Air Lines flight 1696, a Boeing 757-200ER, N540US, had a hard landing at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport (KATL), Atlanta, Georgia. Of the 203 passengers and crew onboard, no one was injured. The airplane received substantial damage. The flight was operating under Title 14 CFR Part 121 as a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight from Fort Lauderdale International Airport (KFLL), Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The first officer was the pilot flying and the captain was the pilot monitoring. The flight was the first officer’s first operating experience (OE) flight and was his first attempt to land the airplane. The flight had proceeded normally from takeoff through to the approach to land. Upon arrival, there were thunderstorms around the airport and the arrival route was changed from the SITTH2, arrival with a planned landing to the east, to the HOBTT2 arrival with a landing to the west. As the flight proceeded FAA Air Traffic Control (ATC) directed the flight crew to hold at SMAWG intersection due to a microburst alert for the airport, and all arrivals were stopped. After holding for about 30 minutes, the arrival was changed to the GNDLF2, landing to the east. The crew received vectors for the Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to runway 09R, and the airplane was configured and stabilized with landing flaps set at 25 degrees. Winds were reported as steady at less than 10 knots. About 200 ft AGL the autopilot and auto throttles were disconnected. The airplane crossed the runway threshold about 100ft. AGL and landed near the end of the touchdown zone. According to the captain, after main landing gear (MLG) touchdown the first officer “over-rotated” and the airplane became airborne again. The captain then called a go-around due to the long landing and became the pilot flying. The flight subsequently landed otherwise uneventfully on runway 10. The first officer said that on the approach the airplane became a little high and a little fast after he transitioned to visual references, about 100-150 ft. AGL. After touching down in the touchdown zone, he said the speed brakes deployed, and instead of gradually lowering the nose, he applied too much continuous aft pressure on the control yolk, which caused the airplane to become airborne again. About 5 hours later, while on another flight in another airplane the flight crew was informed by maintenance of the tailstrike. There was damage to the skin from fuselage station (STA) 1700 to 1800, damage to two fittings and five shear ties, damage to the chord, and deformation of the pressure bulkhead at STA 1720. Note Figure 1 below. STA 1720 pressure bulkhead FWD Shear ties Skin damage STA 1720 - 1787 Skin damage STA 1787 - 1800 Figure 1: Tailstrike damage
Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database
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