Canadian investigators have disclosed that an Icelandair Boeing 737 Max 9 sustained tail-skid damage during a hard landing at Toronto in early March.
The aircraft had been conducting an approach to runway 33R when it experienced glideslope fluctuation, says Transportation Safety Board of Canada, and the autopilot disconnected.
Although the crew continued the approach manually, the jet deviated above the glideslope in a late stage, prompting the pilot to increase its descent rate.
“Just prior to the point of flare, the flightcrew increased the nose-up pitch to slow the aircraft, but the aircraft touched down hard and bounced,” says a safety board bulletin on the 4 March incident.
The captain called for a go-around after the bounce and the crew carried out a second approach during which the jet landed without further incident.
But the next crew to take the aircraft discovered, during the walk-round, that the tail-skid had been damaged and the skid’s crush cartridge needed replacement.
None of the 183 occupants was injured and no other damage was found on the aircraft, which the safety board identifies as TF-ICA. Icelandair took delivery of the twinjet in early 2019.
