Airbus A321 N564UW

Summary

On 15 August 2015 at about 22:37 local time, a Airbus A321 registered N564UW, operated by American Airlines Inc, was involved in an accident near Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. 159 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

15 August 2015 at 22:37

Classification

Accident

Location

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Charlotte/Douglas Intl (CLT)

Coordinates

35.2136, -80.9492

Aircraft

Airbus A321

Registration

N564UW

Category

Airplane

Year built

2012

Engines

2

Operator

American Airlines Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Atlanta → Charlotte

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Dusk

NTSB number

DCA15LA173

Nobody was injured.

an encounter with a small microburst on short final at low altitude that resulted in a loss of lift and a tail strike during the go-around. Contributing to the accident was the captain's decision to continue the approach without applying appropriate windshear precautions in accordance with published guidance.

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

Read the full NTSB narrative

The flight was descending for landing on runway 36L at CLT with full flaps while passing through scattered rain cells. ATC had informed the flight of a windshear advisory about 12 minutes prior to the landing attempt and of a windshear alert, indicating a pilot report of a 20 knot loss of airspeed on approach, about 1.5 minutes prior to the landing attempt. The captain did not reference the available windshear guidance in the quick reference handbook, which recommended landing with Flaps 3 and increasing the approach speed by 15 knots, and approached with Full flaps and no speed increment. The flight encountered a small microburst on short final about 7 seconds prior to the landing attempt characterized by wind shift from a headwind to a tailwind and back to a headwind. The captain began a go-around after receiving an aural windshear alert/warning from the airplane systems, however, the airplane lost speed and lift and landed hard on the runway suffering a tail strike before they were able to climb. The crew was vectored for a landing on runway 36C following the event and landed without further incident.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.