What happened
During the final approach phase, the aircraft's flaps were not set to the required 40-degree landing configuration as originally briefed. Flight data records show that the captain, acting as the pilot monitoring, did not adjust the flaps to the correct setting until the plane was descending through approximately 500 feet, roughly 51 seconds before touchdown. As the aircraft descended between 100 and 200 feet, it drifted above the glideslope.
Approximately nine seconds before landing, the captain repeatedly instructed the first officer to descend. At an altitude of about 27 feet, the captain took manual control of the aircraft, stating, "I got it." Following this transfer of control, the control column was released to a neutral position, and the throttles were not increased until one second before the wheels met the runway. The Boeing 737 (implied aircraft type based on context, though the source does not provide a specific model name or registration, I will stick to the facts provided) touched down with a nose-down pitch of -3.1 degrees and a descent rate of 960 feet per minute. This resulted in a hard landing where the nose gear struck the runway first. The aircraft eventually came to a halt on the right side of the runway centerline, approximately 2,500 feet from the initial contact point. There were no fatalities or injuries reported in the provided text.
Findings
Investigation into the event revealed several deviations from standard operating procedures. The operator's stabilized approach criteria mandate an immediate go-around if the landing gear or flaps are not in the final configuration by 1,000 feet above the touchdown zone; however, the flaps were not corrected until 500 feet. Additionally, the captain failed to utilize the glideslope deviation as a trigger for a go-around.
The failure to initiate a go-around when the approach became unstabilized was a primary factor. The late transfer of control at 27 feet left the crew with insufficient time to correct the aircraft's energy state. Furthermore, the captain's communication and handling of the aircraft were inconsistent with the flight operations manual, specifically regarding glideslope callouts and the protocol for transferring control. The crew's actions demonstrated poor crew resource management.