Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Hollywood Intl Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Sunday, September 18, 2005 18:12 EDT
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
Upon landing, an Airbus A321, experienced a tail strike upon landing. The First Officer (FO) stated that over the threshold at an altitude of about 50 feet, "it just literally felt like we lost inertia." The Captain believed that the flare was initiated too late and was incomplete. The FO stated that before touchdown, he lowered the nose a little bit and the aircraft touched down firmly. The aircraft bounced and the FO believed he again lowered the nose to prevent a tail strike. The Captain remembered that as the nose of the aircraft was lowering prior to the second touchdown, he may have pulled back on his side stick controller slightly to prevent the nose gear from striking the runway at too great a speed. After the aircraft touched down a second time the tailstrike occurred. Information extracted from the aircraft's flight data recorder revealed that both side stick controllers were activated simultaneously during the tailstrike. According to the manufacturer, when both side stick controllers are activated simultaneously (at least 2 degrees deflection off the neutral position) in the same or opposite directions and neither pilot takes priority via the takeover push button, the system adds the signals of both pilots algebraically. Airbus had issued Flight Crew Operating bulletins concerning bounced landings and tailstrikes but the pilots stated that no classroom or simulator training was received to reinforce the meaning and contents of the bulletins.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
Following a bounced landing, the pilot in command activated his sidestick controller while the first officer was in control of the airplane, which subsequently resulted in the overcontrol of pitch and a tailstrike. Contributing to the circumstances of this accident were the pilot-in-command's failure to properly activate his sidestick takeover push button prior to his remedial action, and the operator's insufficient emphasis on bounced landing recovery techniques and tailstrike avoidance procedures.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 9/18/2005 |
| Event Day of the Week | Sunday |
| Time of Event | 1812 |
| Event Time Zone | Eastern Daylight Time |
| Event City | Fort Lauderdale |
| Event State | FLORIDA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | -- |
| Event Date Year | 2005 |
| Event Date Month | 9 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Hollywood Intl Airport |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | FLL |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | On Airport |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | -- |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | -- |
| Airport Elevation | 9 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | 1753 Eastern Daylight Time |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | KFLL |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | EDT |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | 2400 |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Scattered |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | None |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | 10 |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | 30 |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | 23 |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 70 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 16 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | 0 |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | 29.94 |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 197 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 21250 |
| NTSB Notification Source | Spirit Airlines via Miami Regi |
| NTSB Notification Date | Sep 18 2005 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 26 2007 11:14AM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\lema |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | ASF-100, Washington, DC |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N583NK |
| NTSB Number | DCA05MA099 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | Part 121: Air Carrier |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Substantial |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Airbus |
| Aircraft Model | A321-231 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 1195 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 196210 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 198 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Retractable |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Sep 1 2005 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 16473 |
| ELT Installed | Yes |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Wilmington Trust Company |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | 1100 North Market Street |
| Aircraft Owner City | Wilmington |
| Aircraft Owner State | DE |
| Aircraft Owner Country | USA |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | 19890 |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | SPIRIT AIRLINES INC |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | 2800 Executive Way |
| Operator City | Miramar |
| Operator State | FL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 33025 |
| Operator Code | GTIA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | Domestic |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | KLGA |
| Departure City | New York |
| Departure State | NY |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1518 |
| Departure Time Zone | EDT |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | KFLL |
| Destination City | Fort Lauderdale |
| Destination State | FL |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Landing - flare/touchdown |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 22 2007 12:24PM |
| User who most recently changed record | DELI |
| Since inspection or accident | Last Inspection |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 9L |
| Runway Length | 9000 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |