A321, Fuerteventura Spain, 2016

A321, Fuerteventura Spain, 2016

Summary

On 16 July 2016, an Airbus A321’s unstabilised approach at Fuerteventura during pilot line training was not discontinued and takeover of control and commencement of a go-around had occurred just before a very hard runway contact. The subsequent landing was successful but serious damage to the main landing gear was not rectified before the next flight. The Investigation found that the hard touchdown had been recorded as in excess of 3.3g and that the return flight had been “risky and unsafe” after failure of the Captain and maintenance personnel at the Operator to recognise the seriousness of the hard landing.

Description

On 16 July 2016, an Airbus A321 (D-ASTP) being operated by Germania on a scheduled passenger flight from Dusseldorf to Fuerteventura as GMI 3700 made a go around from the runway after a mishandled initial touchdown at destination following an approach in day VMC. The subsequent landing was successful but the aircraft was later found to have made its return flight to Dusseldorf in an unsafe condition due to serious damage caused during the initial abandoned landing attempt and on arrival was grounded for replacement of parts of both main landing gear assemblies.

Investigation

No information about the event was received by the Spanish Commission for the Investigation of Civil Aviation Accidents and Incidents (CIAIAC) until over six weeks after it had occurred and information on the seriousness of damage to the main landing gear was not received by the CIAIAC until almost four months after the event, at which point the event “was deemed to have been a Serious Incident” and a CIAIAC Investigation was opened.

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