Lion Air 737 bounced five times in landing accident: NTSC
By: Ellis Taylor Flight Global
Singapore
A Lion Air Boeing 737-900ER suffered significant damage as a result of a botched landing at Surabaya’s Juanda airport on 1 February, where the aircraft bounced five times before coming to a stop.
The aircraft, registered PK-LFH, was operating flight JT361 from Sepinggan International airport and was landing on Juanda’s runway 28 at 17:19 local time.
A preliminary report from Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) reveals that the aircraft bounced five times while landing, with the final touchdown resulting in a force of 3.87Gs.
The report states that an inspection of the 737 found that the nose wheel hub was broken, one main tyre deflated and the tailskid was also damaged. In addition, there was wrinkling to right and left sides of the fuselage, aft of the wing-body join.
As a result of the accident, two passengers suffered serious injuries and three others minor injuries that were treated at a local clinic. All 225 passengers and crew were able to disembark the aircraft with assistance from ground staff.
The report states that the co-pilot was flying the aircraft during the landing, with the captain acting as the pilot monitoring. Neither pilot had received bounced landing recovery or rejected landing training, the NTSC found.
The NTSC also found that an entry in the aircraft’s maintenance log from 31 January indicated that corrective action on the elevator control unit was conducted after pilots reported that the movement felt light with the hydraulic pump was on.
Although it did not report any findings or safety actions, the NTSC issued recommendations to Lion that it review bounced landing recovery and rejected landing training exercises, crew pairing standards and elevator control issues on other aircraft in its fleet.
No indication has been given for when the NTSC plans to issue its final report into the accident.
