Air France Airbus A340-311 Wind Shear Incident at Cayenne-Rochambeau

Incident Overview and Flight Details On Friday, 25 May 2001, an Airbus A340-311 operated by Air France, bearing the registration F-GLZC, was conducting regular passenger flight AF 3682 from Paris-Orly to Cayenne-Rochambeau in French Guiana. The aircraft carried a crew of two flight deck members and eight cabin crew, along with 205 passengers. The flight departed Paris-Orly at 08:57 UTC. ## Approach and Wind Shear Encounter During the final approach to runway 08, the flight crew elected to conduct an Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach. The first officer served as the pilot flying, while the captain was the pilot not flying. At 17:45:15 UTC, the aircraft reached the decision altitude of 250 feet above the aerodrome, and the captain announced the decision to continue the approach. Shortly after, at 17:45:21 UTC, the aircraft entered a heavy rain shower. The pilot flying perceived the aircraft sinking and applied a progressive, limited pitch-up input. The pilot not flying observed the aircraft falling below the descent path and called out a warning. Simultaneously, the Ground Proximity Warning System (GPWS) issued a SINK RATE alarm. The vertical speed increased toward 1,000 feet per minute. ## Landing and Aftermath The pilot flying continued to apply pitch-up input while limiting it due to concern over a tail strike, and retarded the thrust levers to the idle position. The captain immediately advanced the thrust levers. The second part of the SINK RATE alarm sounded, followed by a RETARD call. The aircraft struck the ground abruptly on the left main landing gear, 30 meters before the runway threshold, and offset to the left. The maximum normal acceleration recorded during this initial contact was 2.17 g. The aircraft rebounded, and the captain took over the controls to complete the landing. The second touchdown occurred approximately 500 meters further down the runway, with the left main landing gear outside the runway. The aircraft returned to the runway surface, and at 17:45:58 UTC, the captain announced a turn onto taxiway Echo. The aircraft was then taxied to its parking position. ## Damage and Injuries Upon arrival at the parking stand, Air France noted several pieces of damage: the two torque tube/brake assembly cables on the left main landing gear were severed, the left internal cross-member nut was slightly damaged, a flat spot was present across the full width of the tire on wheel number 1 of the left main landing gear, and a cut was observed on the sidewall of the tire on the left center landing gear. There were no fatalities. All 10 crew members and 205 passengers were uninjured. Some passengers reported being frightened, but no injuries were recorded.