Incident Details
On August 14, 2025, at about 1724 central daylight time, Air Canada Rouge flight ROU1717, an Airbus A319 (registration C-GSJB), touched down short of runway 20L while landing at Nashville International Airport (BNA), Nashville, Tennessee. The regularly scheduled international passenger flight operated under Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 129 from Lester B. Pearson International Airport (CYYZ), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to BNA. There were no injuries to the ninety-three occupants onboard. A postincident inspection revealed minor damage to the airplane.
Sequence of Events
The flight crew consisted of a Line Indoctrination Training Captain serving as pilot monitoring (PM) in the right seat, and a captain candidate serving as pilot flying (PF) in the left seat. Initially, air traffic control (ATC) instructed the crew to expect a visual approach to runway 20L, but due to rain over the airport, ATC later amended the clearance to the RNAV (GPS) Y 20L approach. The flight was cleared to the initial approach fix WAYLN, then given radar vectors and subsequently cleared for the approach.
The airplane was configured for landing at approximately 1,100 feet and met the operator’s stabilized approach criteria at both 1,000 and 500 feet; however, the stable call at 500 feet was missed by the PM. At the decision altitude, the autopilot was disconnected. Around 200 feet above ground level, the crew encountered heavy rain, and the PF requested activation of the windshield wipers.
Shortly after, the PF stated he had “lost the runway” but still believed the runway environment was visible. He asked whether a go-around should be initiated. The PM, who could see the runway environment—albeit distorted by rain—and believed the aircraft was on the glide path, responded that they were good to continue.
At 20 to 30 feet radio altitude, the crew retarded the thrust levers to idle. About the same time, the PF was startled to see the runway threshold lights directly ahead of the aircraft’s nose. The crew perceived that the airplane touched down on the blast pad, a paved surface preceding the runway threshold. The remainder of the landing rollout and taxi were uneventful.
Evidence and Damage
Airport video surveillance captured the incident sequence and showed the airplane touching down short of the runway. Following the initial touchdown, the airplane rolled onto the pavement and impacted a runway threshold light. A postincident inspection by airport personnel revealed that the left main landing gear contacted an airport service road approximately 420 feet short of the runway threshold. The right main landing gear touched down approximately 52 feet short of the paved surface, which was about 430 feet short of the runway threshold. A postflight inspection by maintenance personnel revealed mud on the airplane’s empennage and minor damage to one of the airplane’s tires.
Investigation
As part of the investigative process, the NTSB invited qualified parties to participate, including the Federal Aviation Administration. An Accredited Representative from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada (State of Registry), with Air Canada as technical advisor, and an Accredited Representative from the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (State of Design), with Airbus and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency as technical advisors, participated. The parties organized into specialized investigative groups focusing on Operations, Air Traffic Control, Meteorology, Cockpit Voice Recorder, and Flight Data Recorder. The investigation continues.