Occurrence
On 21 January 2024, an Air France Airbus A350-900 (registration F-HTYH, serial number 0488) was operating flight AFR 356 from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, France, to Toronto/Lester B. Pearson International Airport, Ontario. The aircraft carried 2 flight crew, 10 cabin crew, and 304 passengers. The flight served as a training flight for the first officer, who occupied the right seat as pilot flying. The captain, as pilot monitoring, occupied the left seat.
During the landing on Runway 24L, the pilot monitoring called for a go-around as the main landing gear touched down. The pilot flying began setting the thrust reversers to reverse idle. Within seconds, the go-around command was repeated. The pilot flying complied and pushed the thrust levers to the take-off/go-around detent. The aircraft became airborne at low speed, and its pitch increased as both pilots concentrated on the go-around. At 1634 Eastern Standard Time, a tail strike occurred. The flight crew were unaware of the tail strike, proceeded with the go-around, and completed a second approach to the same runway without further incident. There were no injuries.
Damage
Structural damage was found on the lower aft section of the fuselage and tail cone area. Specifically, damage was identified aft of the tail-strike indicator between frames FR 92 and FR 102. The damage included skin delamination, punctures, damaged fasteners, an eroded flange, and a severely damaged tail cone with deformed skin and cracked frames. Repairs were conducted at Toronto Pearson until 10 June 2024. The aircraft was then flown to Paris Charles de Gaulle and later to a maintenance facility in Toulouse, France, before returning to service in October 2024.
Investigation
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) is conducting a class 3 investigation. The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were successfully downloaded. The descent to Toronto occurred in visual meteorological conditions with a setting sun, and the runway was bare and dry. The investigation will focus on the flight crew’s decisions and actions, operational guidance, tail-strike protection systems, and post-occurrence dual control inputs and communications.
Safety Actions
Airbus amended the A350 Flight Crew Training Manual and proposed recurrent training dedicated to conducting a go-around near the ground. It also modified the cockpit warnings and alerts to inhibit warnings if a go-around is initiated near the ground with transient ground contact, while keeping this alert available for touch-and-go manoeuvres.
Air France incorporated balked-landing exercises during line-oriented and recurrent training for all A330 and A350 pilots and, as time permitted, for A320 pilots in remedial training. It also added balked-landing exercises for B777 and B787 pilots during line-oriented training and for A220 and A320 pilots undergoing recurrent training. Additionally, Air France created a video demonstrating a balked landing on the A350 for annual e-learning training and published a company note for the A330 and A350 fleet regarding the procedure for conducting a go-around near the ground. The company note provides guidance on arrival briefings, pitch and speed control, and changes made to the Airbus A350 Flight Crew Training Manual.
The investigation is in the report phase.