The investigator's preliminary findings on the collision of an effort air area jet in Toronto confirm the initial impression that the aircraft showed little flare before the hard landing.
The MHIRJ CRJ900 flight operation manual indicates that landing flares should begin at 20-30 feet above ground.
The pilot increases the pitch to slow down the descent speed, and reduces thrust to the idle setting while maintaining the back pressure of the control yoke at 20 feet and maintaining attitude.
The pitch during touchdowns should typically be about 3°-8°, depending on the reference speed. The CRJ900 has a long fuselage and if the pitch increases beyond 11°, the crew is at risk of tail strikes.
However, Canada's Transportation Safety Board has revealed that the aircraft's pitch is only 1° upon touchdown.
An investigation into the February 17 accident has yet to reach conclusions regarding the lack of flares.
However, it would have reduced the lift components and prevented the arrest of the rapid descent, which appears to have started after the jet encountered a gust of wind at about 150 feet.
This “performance violation” gust increased airspeed to 154kt, and crews reduced thrust over the approach's standard speed.
However, the descent rate has increased to over 1,100 feet/min, and the threshold for hard landings is 600 feet/min, according to the Safety Commission.
The investigation does not show why the aircraft's attitude remains almost flat, but the lack of flares would have done little to slow the descent.
As a result of a high descent rate and a small right bank, the jet landed heavily in the main landing gear on the right, which collapsed with a 420-foot touchdown above the runway 23 threshold.
