A July 29 hard landing of a United Airlines Boeing 767-300ER in N641UA not just caused significant damage but is under National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation. According to the NTSB’s preliminary report, the aircraft “sustained substantial damage” from a hard landing.

One rough landing

United Airlines Flight 702 was an uneventful flight with a Boeing 767-300ER from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Houston, Texas right up until the hard landing. According to the NTSB’s preliminary report, while landing at IAH, the First Officer was flying and, despite best efforts to keep the nose wheel from bouncing,

The nose wheel made contact with abnormal force. The airplane appeared to bounce, and he reacted by pulling aft on the control yoke, in an effort to keep the nose wheel from impacting the runway a second time. Subsequently, the speed brakes deployed, and the auto brakes engaged which resulted in a second bounce of the nose wheel.

These bounces caused 1.4 times the weight of gravity to hit the nose gear the first time. After the speed brakes deployed, the second bounce put 1.6 times the weight of gravity on the nose gear, and the third bounce after the thrust reversers came out was the same force of 1.6 g. Then, the pilot took over control. The aircraft then made a safe taxi to the gate.

Photo: NTSB

However, there was clear visible stress on the 767-300ER skin. This means that there are doubts the 767 can handle further pressurization cycles and the aircraft has not been flown since.

Contributing factors

The weather had a gentle 5-knot, 220-degree wind, and only 40 degrees crosswind on runway 26L. However, according to The Aviation Herald, there have been several incidents leading up to this hard landing.

One incident on March 28 had the slats disagree in flight. Another had an engine shut down in flight. Both this year, according to The Aviation Herald. Clearly, N641UA was showing its age.

About N641UA

N641UA is a United Airlines Boeing 767-322ER WIN and the oldest member of the 767-300ER family in United Airlines service. According to the ch-aviation.com database, the 767 had a March 12, 1991 first flight and will likely be retired next month after 32.46 years of global flight. As early as June 23, 1991, N641UA was spotted on final to London’s Heathrow:

Photo: Rosedale7175 via Flickr

As seen below, the aircraft’s likely last flight may have been a domestic US one, but N641UA was spotted throughout the United Airlines network in many liveries:

Inside, the 767 was configured with 117 economy seats, 32 economy plus, 24 premium plus, and 30 United Polaris business class seats totaling 203 passenger seats. This is the third kind of configuration United Airlines has for its 767s.

Nonetheless, United Airlines intends to keep replacing their Boeing 767s with Boeing 787s that are more efficient and made of more resilient composites, not aluminum. It's just a hard bounce or two that made this 767 almost certainly meet its end.

What is your assessment of the situation? Please share with civility in the comments.

Sources: Aviation Herald, NTSB Preliminary Report