An Air Caledonie Avions de Transport Regional ATR-72-212A, flight TY-317 from Noumea to Ouvea (New Caledonia), suffered a tail strike on landing.
The French BEA, investigating the occurrence, reported the aircraft received unknown damage, there was at least one minor injury. The BEA stated the tail number of the aircraft involved was F-OZKN, however, according to ADS-B data the aircraft has not been near Ouvea all day (both local time and UTC), the aircraft had last been in Ouvea on Dec 17th 2024 and flew to Ouvea again on Dec 22nd 2024.
According to ADS-B data both flights to and from Ouvea (TY-307/308, later TY-317/318) were done by F-OZNO on Dec 19th 2024. F-OZNO performed the return flight TY-318 the same day on schedule, but then remained on the ground in Noumea for about 22.5 hours, then performed a flight TY-7201 from Noumea to Noumea and subsequently remained on the ground in Noumea for 3 days before returning to service.
On Mar 5th 2026 the BEA released their final report concluding the probable causes of the incident were:
Scenario
During the arrival briefing before the start of the descent, the PF identified the short runway at Ouvéa and the night landing as threats. The crew agreed to keep the autopilot engaged until the minima to mitigate these threats. Around ten minutes later, during the descent, each crew member indicated their small amount of experience of landing at night on runway 31 at Ouvéa. These admissions were not the subject of a formal assessment of the associated risk(s) and possible measures to be envisaged. On disconnecting the autopilot at the minima, the PF intercepted the PAPI approach slope which is steeper than the RNAV LNAV approach slope for runway 31. The approach remained stable.
On approaching the threshold of runway 31 with limited external visual references due to the dark night, at a height of around 60 ft, i.e. 40 ft higher than ATRs recommended value for the flare, the PF reduced power and made a strong nose-up input causing the aeroplane to rise slightly and increasing the nose-up attitude up to 6.4° before the tail struck the runway. The crew continued the landing and then taxied to the stand where they observed the marks on the tail bumper.
Contributing factors
The following factors may have contributed to an early flare and then a tailstrike with the runway during the night landing:
- the crews small amount of overall and recent experience in night landings in a dimly lit environment as at Ouvéa airport where landings are usually scheduled in the day by the operator;
- no mention of the piloting technique for landing, based on the risk identified by the crew and associated not only with limited external visual references, but also with their small amount of experience in these conditions and on runway 31 at this airport which has a steep approach slope (greater than 3.5°).
The French BEA, investigating the occurrence, reported the aircraft received unknown damage, there was at least one minor injury. The BEA stated the tail number of the aircraft involved was F-OZKN, however, according to ADS-B data the aircraft has not been near Ouvea all day (both local time and UTC), the aircraft had last been in Ouvea on Dec 17th 2024 and flew to Ouvea again on Dec 22nd 2024.
According to ADS-B data both flights to and from Ouvea (TY-307/308, later TY-317/318) were done by F-OZNO on Dec 19th 2024. F-OZNO performed the return flight TY-318 the same day on schedule, but then remained on the ground in Noumea for about 22.5 hours, then performed a flight TY-7201 from Noumea to Noumea and subsequently remained on the ground in Noumea for 3 days before returning to service.
On Mar 5th 2026 the BEA released their final report concluding the probable causes of the incident were:
Scenario
During the arrival briefing before the start of the descent, the PF identified the short runway at Ouvéa and the night landing as threats. The crew agreed to keep the autopilot engaged until the minima to mitigate these threats. Around ten minutes later, during the descent, each crew member indicated their small amount of experience of landing at night on runway 31 at Ouvéa. These admissions were not the subject of a formal assessment of the associated risk(s) and possible measures to be envisaged. On disconnecting the autopilot at the minima, the PF intercepted the PAPI approach slope which is steeper than the RNAV LNAV approach slope for runway 31. The approach remained stable.
On approaching the threshold of runway 31 with limited external visual references due to the dark night, at a height of around 60 ft, i.e. 40 ft higher than ATRs recommended value for the flare, the PF reduced power and made a strong nose-up input causing the aeroplane to rise slightly and increasing the nose-up attitude up to 6.4° before the tail struck the runway. The crew continued the landing and then taxied to the stand where they observed the marks on the tail bumper.
Contributing factors
The following factors may have contributed to an early flare and then a tailstrike with the runway during the night landing:
- the crews small amount of overall and recent experience in night landings in a dimly lit environment as at Ouvéa airport where landings are usually scheduled in the day by the operator;
- no mention of the piloting technique for landing, based on the risk identified by the crew and associated not only with limited external visual references, but also with their small amount of experience in these conditions and on runway 31 at this airport which has a steep approach slope (greater than 3.5°).
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