BOEING 757

Full Narrative

On May 20, 2017, about 2118 eastern daylight time (EDT), a Boeing 757-232, N633DL, operated by Delta Air Lines as flight 2534, was substantially damaged during a hard landing at Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU), Morrisville, North Carolina. There were no injuries to the 6 flight crew members or 180 passengers on board. The flight was operated as a Title 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 scheduled domestic passenger flight, which originated from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), Atlanta, Georgia.

The flight crew reported that the airplane was cleared for the visual approach to runway 5L at RDU and that the approach was "stable" as they descended through 1,000 ft. The first officer, who was the pilot flying, recalled that the airplane was slightly high and fast when he began the landing flare and he pushed the nose down to correct. He then determined that he had overcorrected and began to pull the control column aft. The airplane subsequently landed firmly on the main landing gear and the aft fuselage impacted the runway.

The captain stated that the arrival and approach were normal. He added that, upon crossing the runway threshold, it appeared that the first officer flared a bit high but that he corrected by lowering the nose toward the runway. The captain stated that had the first officer continued descent to the runway, they would have made an "acceptable" landing, but he abruptly pulled back on the yoke just before touchdown, and the airplane almost simultaneously contacted the runway on its main landing gear and tail.

Postflight inspection revealed an area of abrasion damage to the aft fuselage about 8 ft long by 2 ft wide, affecting 3 skin panels. The fuselage skin was abraded through in several areas with damage to the underlying stringers and frames. The forward and aft chords of the aft pressure bulkhead exhibited abrasion damage and the lower web was buckled.