No fatalities
22 Jan 2022: AIRBUS A320-232 — JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORP — Hayden, CO
On 22 Jan 2022, an AIRBUS A320-232 operated by JETBLUE AIRWAYS CORP was involved in an aviation accident near Hayden, CO. No fatalities were reported. Investigators recorded the probable cause as: The captain’s rotation of the airplane pitch before the rotation speed on takeoff due to his surprise about encountering head on landing traffic, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane’s pitch limit and a subsequent tail strike. This summary draws on records from NTSB; 17 related events involving the same aircraft type or operator are linked below.
Probable cause
The captain’s rotation of the airplane pitch before the rotation speed on takeoff due to his surprise about encountering head on landing traffic, which resulted in an exceedance of the airplane’s pitch limit and a subsequent tail strike. Contributing to the accident was the flight crew’s expectation bias that the incoming aircraft was landing on the same runway as they were departing from, and the conflicting traffic’s nonstandard use of phraseology when making position calls on the common traffic advisory frequency.
— NTSB Determination
Contributing factors
PilotFlight crew