FlightFollowerViolent Touchdown Destroys Military Charter DC-10 | Ended in Write-Off
At about 1:02 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time on May 6, 2009, World Airways Flight 8535 touched down on Runway 10 at Baltimore/Washington International Airport. The Boeing DC-10-30, registration N139WA, was operating a Defense Department Air Mobility Command charter flight from Leipzig, Germany, carrying 168 passengers and 12 crew members.
Accident Facts
- Date
- 6 May 2009
- Registration
- N139WA
The first touchdown was firm. The main landing gear rebounded, and the aircraft's pitch then changed rapidly. The nose gear struck the runway hard. The crew initiated a go-around, but the aircraft had already sustained major damage. During the climb, smoke appeared in the cockpit and the crew lost or damaged several pieces of instrumentation. The captain declared an emergency.
The controller advised the crew that the aircraft appeared to have damaged its nose gear and had left debris on the runway. Airport emergency services were activated while the crew prepared for another landing. The damaged aircraft was vectored for Runway 33L and remained in visual conditions while the crew used standby instruments and worked through the abnormal situation.
The second landing was successful. Emergency vehicles were waiting at the runway, and the aircraft stopped without another major event. The first officer suffered a serious neck injury. The captain, flight engineer and nine flight attendants reported minor injuries; the remaining occupants were not reported injured.
The NTSB's investigation found that the aircraft itself did not suffer a pre-existing mechanical failure that explained the accident. Flight-data recordings showed that the initial firm touchdown was followed by control inputs that produced a rapid pitch-down and a second hard nose-gear impact. The damage was concentrated around the nose gear, forward fuselage and pressure bulkhead, and the aircraft was ultimately written off.
The official cause was narrower than the dramatic appearance of the aircraft suggested. The NTSB determined that the captain's inappropriate control inputs after the firm landing resulted in two hard nose-gear impacts before the go-around. Fatigue and physical discomfort were contributing factors, as was a possible lack of practical consolidation of skills and experience after a fragmented training period.
The NTSB factual record gives more detail about the approach. Flight 8535 was established on the ILS Runway 10 approach, descending through 1,500 feet at 150 knots in visual conditions. The aircraft touched down firmly and then rebounded. The subsequent pitch movement produced the damaging nose-gear contact, after which the crew initiated the go-around.
The Washington Post later reported that the nose-gear impact was severe enough to damage the aircraft's forward structure and that the crew spent roughly the next 20 minutes dealing with the consequences before the second landing. The aircraft ultimately remained at BWI and was not returned to commercial service. The event therefore became both a flight-handling accident and a major economic loss for the operator.
The NTSB's conclusion is important because it does not simply label the event a 'hard landing.' The Board linked the substantial damage to the captain's control inputs after the initial firm touchdown. Fatigue and physical discomfort were identified as contributing factors. That finding distinguishes the physical event—the firm touchdown—from the sequence of control inputs that turned it into a severe structural-damage event.