What happened
On 19 November 2009, a Boeing 737-8AS, registration EI-DAL, was conducting a scheduled passenger flight from Dublin to Bristol Airport. The flight arrived at Bristol during the night, operating under conditions of a strong and gusty crosswind.
During the final approach to Runway 27, the aircraft encountered a significant downdraught at approximately 350 ft radio altimeter height, triggering an EGPWS glideslope warning and PAPI light indications. Although the crew corrected the deviation, the aircraft continued through turbulent air. As the aircraft approached the threshold, the crew noted a wind shift. During the landing flare, the commander performed a decrab maneuver at 15 ft radio altimeter height and reduced thrust at 10 ft. This was followed by a left wing drop which the pilot corrected, but this was immediately followed by a more severe drop to the right as the right main landing gear touched down.
The crew completed the landing roll without noticing any unusual aircraft behavior. It was only after taxiing to the stand and during passenger disembarkation that the co-pilot reported a significant wind shift to air traffic control. Upon inspection by company engineers, damage was discovered on the underside of the right engine cowl and thrust reverser duct.
The investigation
The AAIB analyzed data from the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR). The FDR revealed that just before touchdown, the aircraft experienced a 9° left roll followed by an 11.4° right roll as the right main landing gear compressed.
Wind data from the tower and the windsock site confirmed that the crosswind was unstable during the short final and landing phases, with gusts reaching up to 38 kt. A runway inspection identified evidence of contact from the engine nacelle approximately 550 m from the runway threshold.
Findings
- The right engine nacelle made contact with the runway surface.
- The rudder input used to correct the initial left wing drop likely amplified the right roll to a degree that caused the engine cowl to strike the runway.
- The landing occurred during unstable and gusty crosswind conditions.
Safety action
- The flight crew completed simulator re-training focused on crosswind landing techniques.