23 Jun 2017: AIRBUS A321 211 — Delta Air Lines, Inc.

23 Jun 2017: AIRBUS A321 211 (N315DN) — Delta Air Lines, Inc.

No fatalities • Atlanta, GA, United States

Probable cause

The first officer's improper landing flare, which resulted in a hard, bounced landing, and the flight crew’s improper bounced landing recovery procedures.

— NTSB Determination

Accident narrative

On June 23, 2017, about 1338 eastern daylight time, Delta Air Lines flight 800, an Airbus A321-211, N315DN, experienced a tail strike during landing on runway 26R at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia. There were no injuries to the 199 passengers and crew onboard, and the airplane sustained substantial damage. The scheduled domestic passenger flight was operated under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 121 from General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport (BOS), Boston, Massachusetts, to ATL. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the landing. Review of flight data recorder data showed that the airplane descended below 2,000 ft agl at 1335:55; the autopilot was not engaged, and the autothrottle was engaged. At 1337:58, the airplane's pitch began increasing from 2° airplane nose up. At 1338:03, the flare law mode activated. At 1338:04.2, the cockpit voice recorder recorded the automated alert "TWENTY" as the airplane passed through 20 ft agl. The captain instructed the first officer to bring the nose up three times between this alert and runway contact. At 1338:06, the autothrottle disengaged. At 1338:07, both main landing gear weight on wheels (WOW) switches transitioned from air to ground. At that time, the airspeed was about 130 kts, the pitch was about 6.2° airplane nose up, the wings were level, and the airplane experienced its greatest vertical acceleration of 1.89 g. About 1 second later, the spoilers deployed, and the main landing gear WOW switches transitioned to air. The cockpit voice recorder recorded an automated alert of "PITCH PITCH" at 1338:08.6, followed by the captain instructing the first officer to lower the nose. At 1338:09, the main landing gear WOW switches transitioned back to ground and stayed in that state. About the time of the second WOW ground indication, the maximum pitch of 9.7° airplane nose up and a vertical acceleration of 1.65 g were recorded. The cockpit voice recorder recorded an automated alert of "DUAL INPUT" at 1338:10. The flight data recorder showed longitudinal and lateral control stick inputs on the captain's stick for about 3 seconds beginning about 1338:07.5. The nose landing gear WOW status transitioned to ground at 1338:12, and the airplane decelerated using brakes, spoilers, and thrust reversers.

Contributing factors

  • Copilot
  • Flight crew

Conditions

Weather
VMC, wind 190/19kt, vis 10sm

Loading the flight search…

What you can do on Flight Finder

  • Search flights between any two airports with live fares.
  • By aircraft — pick a plane model (e.g. Boeing 787, Airbus A350) and see every route it flies from your origin.
  • Route map — click any airport worldwide to explore its destinations, or draw a radius to find nearby airports.
  • Global aviation safety — aviation accident database, 5,200+ records since 1980, with map and rankings by aircraft and operator.
  • NTSB safety feed — recent U.S. aviation accidents and incidents from the official NTSB CAROL database, updated daily.

Frequently asked questions

How do I search flights by aircraft type on FlightFinder?

Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.

Which aircraft types can I filter by?

We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.

Is FlightFinder free to use?

Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.

Where does the route data come from?

Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.