Following an approach to land on Runway 28 Left (L) at Dublin Airport (EIDW), the A321 neo Aircraft briefly touched down on its left main landing gear and began to deviate from the runway centreline. The Aircraft then lifted slightly, before touching down again on the left main landing gear, followed less than a second later by the right main landing gear touching down. The Aircraft’s pitch angle increased and the Aircraft continued to deviate to the left of the runway centreline. The Commander, who was the Pilot Monitoring, called for a go-around, which was initiated by the First Officer, who was the Pilot Flying. A tail strike, which was heard by both the Flight Crew and the Cabin Crew, occurred when the Aircraft’s pitch angle was increased beyond the tail strike limit during the go-around manoeuvre. When the Aircraft became airborne again, ATC provided radar vectors for a return to EIDW and a second approach to Runway 28L was performed, followed by a normal landing.
The tail strike resulted in substantial damage to the lower surface of the tail section of the aircraft and its supporting structure. There was no fire, and no injuries were reported to the Investigation. The Investigation determined that the probable cause of the tail strike was over-rotation during a go-around manoeuvre that was initiated after main landing gear touchdown. Several contributory factors were identified.
