Airbus A321-231 N921US

Summary

On 5 May 2023 at about 08:54 local time, a Airbus A321-231 registered N921US, operated by American Airlines Inc, was involved in an accident near Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. 177 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

5 May 2023 at 08:54

Classification

Accident

Location

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States

Nearest airport

Charlotte/Douglas Intl (CLT)

Coordinates

35.2159, -80.9509

Aircraft

Airbus A321-231

Registration

N921US

Category

Airplane

Year built

2015

Engines

2

Operator

American Airlines Inc

Operating rule

Part 121: Air Carrier

Phase of flight

Not recorded

Route

Fort Lauderdale → Unknown

Aircraft damage

Substantial

Weather

VMC

Light

Day

NTSB number

DCA23LA278

Nobody was injured.

The captain’s failure to maintain the appropriate 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

American Airlines flight 1753 sustained a tailstrike while landing at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT), Charlotte, NC. The flight was a regularly scheduled domestic passenger flight from Fort Lauderdale, FL to CLT. According to the flight crew, the captain was the pilot flying, and the first officer (FO) was the pilot monitoring when they were cleared to land on runway 18L at CLT. The airplane was in the landing configuration and on a stabilized approach at 1,000 ft. above ground level (AGL). While crossing the runway’s threshold the wind shifted from a 6 -7 knot headwind component to a 6–7 knot tailwind component, the airspeed began to decay, and the airplane’s sink rate increased. In an effort to correct for the sink rate the captain applied back sidestick. The airplane touched down firmly and bounced, coincidentally the ground spoilers deployed which resulted in a nose high attitude. The airplane touched down a second time decelerated and taxied uneventfully to the gate. The captain stated that the ground spoiler deployment coinciding with the bounced 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, and subsequent touchdown the remainder of the landing and landing rollout were normal with no risk of runway overrun or excursion. The tailstrike resulted in abrasion damage along the aft lower fuselage, over an area of about 14 feet long by 2 feet wide. An inspection revealed substantial damage to several frames.

Quoted verbatim from the NTSB record.