Boeing 737 written off after hard landing

A BOEING 737 aircraft worth millions of pounds was written off after a heavy landing at Exeter Airport.

The plane landed so hard that it was left leaning to one side with its fuselage bent.

A government report into the incident in January last year says it was as a result of the crew continuing their landing approach in the early hours of the morning after the aircraft had become “unstable”.

The damage could have been reduced, says the report, if the co-pilot who was in control had decided to abort the landing and go around again.

She could also have handed control to the aircraft’s commander, who said in hindsight he should have gone around for another attempt at the landing.

After the hard landing the aircraft was listing to the left, and the crew realised there was something “seriously wrong” with it.

The fuselage skin behind the wings was cracked and buckled, and the rear fuselage was bent downwards. Oil was dripping from several areas and landing gear was distorted, giving the aircraft a lean to the left.

The aircraft was operated by Swedish-based West Atlantic and carrying cargo at the time, with two crew members on board. The incident happened as the plane came in to land at Exeter just after 2.30am on January 19.

Built in 1994, the aircraft was said to have been “damaged beyond economical repair” after the landing, in which no-one was injured. A new 737 can cost up to £90m.

The Air Accident Investigation Branch’s report says the aircraft was on an instrument landing approach to Exeter, and became “unstable” after the crew had declared it stable and decided to continue their approach. In the last 500 feet the rate of the aircraft’s descent exceeded maximum limits four times, three times with an alert sounding in the cockpit.

The crew had been scheduled to make two cargo flights from Exeter to East Midlands Airport on the night.

The aircraft’s commander, who had put in 9,000 of his 15,000 flying hours on Boeing 737s, said the aircraft had “stopped flying” and “dropped” onto the runway so quickly he felt it was too late for him to call for a go-around and try another landing, or take control.

He added that in hindsight a go-around should have been initiated at that point.

The co-pilot, whose 19,000 flying hours included more than 5,500 on 737s, said she did not know what had caused the hard landing.