2024-12 · NASA ASRS report 2194657
B757 flight crew reported tail strike on landing. Flight crew performed a go-around and landed uneventfully.
I was PM on our flight into ZZZ. As we checked in with Approach Control; we were advised of light chop with occasional moderate turbulence on the approach. ATIS originally showed a strong crosswind but when we checked in with Approach; they said the winds were now calm. We discussed the conditions including a full landing briefing that included flap setting; flare height adjustments due to altitude and crosswind corrections. The approach was normal with only light chop. When we checked in with Tower we were cleared to land. Winds were reported as a left to right crosswind at 5 knots with the previous arrival just ahead of us reporting a five knot loss on final. The approach continued uneventfully until approaching 50 feet where I perceived an increase in sink rate for which I said watch your sink rate. This was followed by a rapid pitch up and a tailstrike indicator activation. We immediately executed a go-around and followed the published missed approach. After the go-around I took over as PF and we returned for a normal landing.Cause: I believe we had a negative gust that caused a sink just before the flare. Suggestions: I don't think we could have prevented the wind shift. What I could have done better is even with the relatively calm reports from the Tower the conditions were obviously changing. Next time I face similar conditions I will switch to PF for the approach. Additionally; if I am PM and I experience a sink this close to the ground I will command add power which is the proper correction. I identified the deviation but that close to the ground I should have gone straight to the proper correction.
More incidents for this aircraft family
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.
Loading the flight search…
Pick an aircraft model — Boeing 737, Airbus A320, A380, Boeing 787 Dreamliner and more — enter your origin airport, and FlightFinder shows every route that plane flies from there with live fares.
We support Boeing 737/747/757/767/777/787, the full Airbus A220/A319/A320/A321/A330/A340/A350/A380 family, Embraer E170/E175/E190/E195, Bombardier CRJ and Dash 8, and the ATR 42/72 turboprops.
Search and schedules are free. Pro ($4.99/month, $39/year, or $99 one-time lifetime) unlocks the enriched flight card — on-time stats, CO₂ per passenger, amenities, live gate & weather — plus My Trips with push alerts.
Live schedules come from Amadeus, AeroDataBox and Travelpayouts. Observed routes (which aircraft actually flew a given city pair) are crowdsourced from adsb.lol ADS-B data under the Open Database License.