Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Sky Harbor International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Phoenix, Arizona 85034
Monday, October 20, 2008 12:42 MST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
United Airlines flight 1449, an Airbus A320, experienced a tailstrike on landing. Substantial damage occurred to the underbelly and aft bulkhead area. There were no injuries among the crew or passengers.
According to the pilots, the approach was stabilized, on speed and on glide path, until the aircraft descended below 100 feet above the ground (AGL). Then, the airspeed began to slow below the approach speed of 141 knots, and the aircraft pitch attitude increased. At about 100 feet above the field elevation, the first officer pulled the thrust levers to idle. Shortly thereafter, the airspeed decreased to about 10 knots below approach speed. The first officer stated that he felt a “sense of ground rush” during the flare at about 70 feet and he increased back pressure on the side-stick to arrest the sink rate.
The airplane touched down with a nose up pitch attitude of 12.3 degrees with the main landing gear compressed. The tail strike pitch limit at touchdown with the main landing gear compressed is 11.9 degrees nose up.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The failure of the flightcrew to arrest an excessive sink rate during the flare for landing.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Accident |
| Event Date | 10/20/2008 |
| Event Day of the Week | Monday |
| Time of Event | 1242 |
| Event Time Zone | Mountain Standard Time |
| Event City | Phoenix |
| Event State | ARIZONA |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 85034 |
| Event Date Year | 2008 |
| Event Date Month | 10 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | 332607N |
| Event Location Longitude | 1120036W |
| Event Location Airport | Sky Harbor International |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PHX |
| 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 | 1135 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | -- |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | -- |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | -- |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | -- |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | -- |
| Lighting Conditions | Day |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | -- |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Clear |
| 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) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | 290 |
| Variable Wind Indicator | Wind direction could be determined |
| Wind Speed (knots) | 10 |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Not Gusting |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| 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 | 162 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | -- |
| NTSB Notification Source | United Airlines |
| NTSB Notification Date | -- |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Dec 8 2010 11:36AM |
| User who most recently changed record | benr |
| Basic weather conditions | Visual Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | -- |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | N448UA |
| NTSB Number | DCA09FA004 |
| 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 | 320 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | 232 |
| Aircraft Serial Number | 842 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 169700 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | -- |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | 2 |
| Cabin Crew Seats | 4 |
| Passenger Seats | 156 |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 162 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Continuous Airworthiness |
| Date of Last Inspection | Nov 8 2007 12:00AM |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | 34617 |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | Unknown |
| Aircraft Owner Name | Tour Societe Generale Bank |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | Paris |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | FR |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | United Airlines |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | P.O Box 66100 |
| Operator City | Chicago |
| Operator State | IL |
| Operator Country | USA |
| Operator Zip code | 60666 |
| Operator Code | UALA |
| Owner has at least one certificate | Yes - certificate holder |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | No |
| 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 | DEN |
| Departure City | Denver |
| Departure State | CO |
| Departure Country | USA |
| Departure Time | 1147 |
| Departure Time Zone | MST |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | PHX |
| Destination City | Phoenix |
| Destination State | AZ |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | -- |
| Report sent to ICAO? | -- |
| Evacuation occurred | -- |
| Date of most recent change to record | Sep 27 2010 10:26AM |
| User who most recently changed record | benr |
| Since inspection or accident | Time of Accident |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 08 |
| Runway Length | 11489 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |