History of the flight
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-8AS registered EI-DAL, was on a scheduled passenger flight from Dublin, Ireland, to Bristol Airport. The commander, aged 32 with 3,553 total flying hours (3,248 on type), was the pilot flying. The runway surface was dry and it was dark. Prior to the approach, the crew received ATIS information indicating a surface wind of 190°/20 kt. During the descent, ATC advised that the wind was gusting 30 kt. The final approach was turbulent but the aircraft was stable at 500 ft radio altimeter height (RA). At about 350 ft RA, the aircraft encountered a strong downdraught, triggering an EGPWS glideslope warning and three red lights on the PAPIs. The crew corrected the approach. At one point, the co-pilot made a "speed" call as the IAS approached 159 kt; VAPP was 143 kt.
During the landing flare, the commander decrabbed the aircraft at 15 ft RA and closed the thrust levers at about 10 ft RA. The aircraft experienced a wing drop to the left, which the commander corrected, quickly followed by a more severe wing drop to the right as the right main landing gear touched down. The remainder of the landing roll was uneventful. The crew did not notice any abnormal aircraft indications. During taxi to stand, the co-pilot advised ATC of a significant "wind shift" over the threshold. Although the crew did not believe an engine had contacted the runway, the commander said he would inspect after shutdown.
Company engineers observed the landing and mentioned it looked "pretty scary", considering the wingtip may have made contact. While passengers were disembarking, engineers inspected the aircraft and found damage under the right engine. They informed the crew, who notified ATC. Further examination revealed the damage was confined to the engine cowl and thrust reverser duct. A runway inspection found evidence of contact from the engine nacelle abeam Taxiway Delta, 550 m from the threshold of Runway 27.
Weather information
Recorded wind information at the windsock site abeam the Runway 27 touchdown markings is provided in Table 1. During the approach, the tower controller gave instantaneous wind readouts of 180°/21 kt at 1,000 ft and 180°/24 kt at 500 ft aal. The incident occurred at 2124 hrs.
Table 1: Recorded wind information | Time | Wind Direction | Wind Speed | |------|----------------|------------| | 2110 hrs | 188° varying 165-206° | 24 gusting 15-35 kt | | 2120 hrs | 186° varying 163-208° | 22 gusting 12-38 kt | | 2130 hrs | 185° varying 170-208° | 19 gusting 10-32 kt |
Recorded information
The CVR and FDR were removed by the operator and analyzed by the AAIB. The FDR showed that just before touchdown there was 9° of left roll, followed by 11.4° of right roll with the right main landing gear compressed.
Discussion
The ATC wind reports and recorded wind information show that the crosswind was unstable on short finals and during the landing. It is possible that, as the commander corrected the left wing drop and decrabbed the aircraft, the rudder input amplified the right roll to such an extent that the engine nacelle made contact with the runway.
Safety actions
The crew completed re-training in crosswind landing techniques in a simulator.