Incident Sequence
The en route flight from New York to Phoenix was uneventful. During the termination of a visual approach, approximately 3 seconds before touchdown, the airplane's pitch attitude increased to 5.8 degrees. The captain, who was the flying pilot, described the first touchdown as being 'firm' and within the runway's touchdown zone, close to the centerline. Due to a maintenance carry over (MCO) that disabled the auto-spoiler deployment system, the first officer manually deployed the spoilers upon touchdown. The captain then applied forward pressure to the control yoke and reported feeling 'a jolt' as the nose gear returned to the runway. After landing, the airplane taxied to the gate.
Damage
A subsequent examination revealed substantial structural damage to the nose gear wheel well aft bulkhead, associated underlying structure, and skin panels.
Flight Data Recorder Data
The digital flight data recorder (DFDR) readout showed that approximately 3 seconds prior to touchdown, the pitch attitude began increasing in response to nose-up elevator inputs, reaching a maximum pitch of about 5.8 degrees. The airplane touched down (transitioned from air to ground) and then became airborne again. The second air-to-ground transition occurred 3 seconds later. Over the following second, the elevator positions changed from plus 6 degrees to minus 16 degrees as the pitch attitude rapidly decreased to -0.7 degrees at a rate of 4 degrees per second.
Mechanical Condition
There was no evidence of any mechanical malfunctions during the landing event.