Air France has implemented balked-landing training for pilots of several aircraft types including the Airbus A350, after one of the twinjets was involved in a tail-strike at Toronto.
The A350-900 had been arriving from Paris Charles de Gaulle on 21 January last year.
Its first officer was undergoing training during the flight, and was the pilot flying. Visual conditions prevailed and the assigned runway, 24L, was dry.
As the aircraft’s main landing-gear touched down, the captain called for a go-around, according to a 26 February update on the inquiry from the Transportation Safety Board.
The first officer had started moving the thrust reversers to the ‘reverse idle’ setting, and the captain repeated the go-around command.
As the first officer responded to the call, advancing the thrust levers to go-around power, the A350 became airborne “at low speed”, the safety board states.
“The aircraft’s pitch was increased while both pilots concentrated on conducting the go-around,” it adds.
This led the twinjet to strike its tail on the runway, while its main landing-gear were off the ground, although the crew was unaware of the contact and continued the go-around.
The aircraft subsequently flew a second approach to the same runway and landed without further incident.
None of those on board – comprising 304 passengers and 12 crew members – was injured.
But the jet (F-HTYH) sustained structural damage to the aft fuselage underside and tail cone, behind the tail-strike indicator, in the area between frames 92 and 102.
This damage included skin delamination and punctures, and damaged fasteners. The tail cone was “severely damaged” with deformed skin and cracked frames, says the safety board.
It is still investigating the occurrence and has yet to draw conclusions, but says crew decisions and actions, tail-strike protection, and “post-occurrence dual-control inputs” are being analysed.
The safety board says the aircraft returned to service in October 2024, following repairs in Toronto and Paris.
Airbus has since amended its A350 flight crew training manual, and modified cockpit alert logic to inhibit warnings if a go-around is initiated near the ground with transient ground contact.
The airframer has also proposed recurrent training for executing go-arounds near the ground, according to the safety board.
Air France, it adds, has incorporated balked-landing exercises for A350 and A330 pilots, as well as Boeing 777 and 787 crews. It has detailed relevant go-around procedures and issued guidance on briefings, and pitch and speed control.
