United B763 - July 29th - hard landing, crumpled airframe - NTSB findings

The flight crew reported that the first officer (FO) was the pilot flying and the captain was the pilot monitoring. The departure from EWR and the cruise segment of the flight were uneventful. Upon arrival at IAH, they were cleared for the DOOBI2 arrival and the ILS 26L approach. According to the flight crew, the airplane was fully configured for landing, on speed and in compliance with the company’s stable approach criteria and the initial touchdown on the main wheels was normal. The FO stated that after the main landing gear touched down, he held aft pressure on the control yoke to keep the nose wheel from hitting the runway; however, the nose wheel made contact with abnormal force. The airplane appeared to bounce, and he reacted by pulling aft on the control yoke, in an effort to keep the nose wheel from impacting the runway a second time. Subsequently, the speed brakes deployed, and the auto brakes engaged which resulted in a second bounce of the nose wheel. He deployed the thrust reversers, and the airplane began to decelerate. The captain assumed control of the airplane and the remainder of the landing rollout was normal with no risk of runway overrun or excursion.

A preliminary review of the flight data recorder (FDR) revealed that after the initial touchdown on both main wheels, the airplane rolled to the left and right main gear lifted off the runway’s surface. Subsequently, the nose wheel touched down with a gravitational force equivalent (g) of about 1.4 g and bounced. The speed brakes deployed, and the nose wheel impacted the runway a second time with a force of about 1.6 g followed by another bounce. The right thrust reverser (TR) deployed, and the nose wheel impacted the runway again with a force of about 1.6 g followed by the deployment of the left TR.

A postaccident examination of the airplane revealed substantial damage to the crown of the upper fuselage.

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