What happened
On 17 July 2011, an ATR 72-212, registration EI-SLM, was performing a scheduled passenger flight from Manchester to Shannon. During the initial approach to Runway 24, the flight crew encountered weather conditions consistent with a known caution for turbulence and windshear. While attempting to land at the end of the runway to avoid turbulence, the aircraft experienced an extended flare and difficulty settling on the ground. The pilot applied forward pressure to land the aircraft, resulting in a nose-down touchdown and a subsequent bounce into the air. The crew initiated a go-around and attempted a second approach.
On the second attempt, the aircraft experienced multiple bounces before touching down with a significant nose-down attitude. This impact caused the nose landing gear to fail, resulting in the nose wheel collapsing and the nose of the aircraft scraping along the runway. The aircraft veered off the runway surface onto the grass near Taxiway Alpha, where it eventually came to a stop. The impact caused the nose wheel to separate from the aircraft and resulted in the loss of hydraulic pressure in the Blue system. Although the crew initially did not detect fire, the cabin crew identified a burning smell, prompting an evacuation of the 21 passengers and 4 crew members.
The investigation
The AAIU examined the aircraft's flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR), as well as airport CCTV footage. Physical inspection of the ATR 72-212 revealed that the nose landing gear leg had been forced rearwards into the fuselage, a direction contrary to its normal retraction path. This movement caused significant structural damage to the undercockpit area, which jammed the rudder pedals and prevented the engine condition levers from being moved to the shutdown position. The investigation also identified that the right nose wheel axle had failed due to a single-event overload and that the nose gear drag brace had suffered a structural failure at its attachment eye.
Findings
- The aircraft experienced a high-impact touchdown with a significant nose-down pitch.
- The nose landing gear leg retracted rearwards into the fuselage, causing extensive structural damage and disabling flight controls and engine shutdown mechanisms.
- The right nose wheel axle failed due to an overload event.
- The aircraft's operator procedures did not require the consideration of wind gusts when calculating crosswind landing limits, nor did they factor forecast turbulence into crosswind limitations for Runway 24 at Shannon.
Safety action
An interim safety recommendation was issued for the operator to review maximum crosswind limitations for approaches to Runway 24 at Shannon when wind directions and speeds are likely to produce expected turbulence.