- Date
- August 10, 1990, 14:15 local (19:15 UTC)
- Place
- Chicago, IL
- Injuries
- 159 uninjured
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Phase of flight
- Unknown
- Aircraft
- N306USAirbus Industrie A320-211
- Weather
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
- Status
- Completed · report November 10, 1994
- Report
- Approved by Office Director
- NTSB office
- Major Investigations Division
- FAA report
- 19900810052699I
- Case key
- 15928
From the NTSB’s public API. By law, NTSB reports can’t be used as evidence in lawsuits over the incident.
On this page
Probable cause
The pilot(s) allowed the aircraft to rotate to an excessive nose high attitude, either during a takeoff or landing.
Sequence of events
NTSB’s coding before 2008: each occurrence and phase of flight, and the causes and factors under it. The codes are defined in NTSB’s coding manual.
Analysis
On August 17, 1990, at approximately 1415 CDT, while conducting a walk around inspection in preparation for a domestic revenue flight, the first officer discovered a four foot scrape on the aft belly of Airbus A320-211, N306US. The tail strike rendered minor damage to the aircraft. No crew or passengers reported injuries. The exact time and place of the event was not verified. The previous flight was northwest flight 132, operating from st paul, Minnesota, to Chicago, Illinois, as a passenger revenue flight with nine crew and 150 passengers.
Aircraft
- Registration
- N306US
- Reported as
- Airbus Industrie A320-211
- Category
- Airplane
- Serial number
- 60
- Engine
- CFM CFM56, 23,500 lbs thrust, turbo fan
- Damage
- Minor damage
- Flight
- Part 121
- Operator
- Northwest Airlines
- Registered owner
- Northwest Airlines
- Airworthiness certificate
- Standard, Transport
- Departed
- MSP · St Paul, MN
- Destination
- ORD
- Flight plan
- IFR
Matched to the registry by N-number and the event date; the registry’s history has gaps, so older matches can be wrong. Compare the reported make and model.
Flight crew
As NTSB recorded them. NTSB leaves out names.
- Role
- Pilot
- Certificate
- Airline transport
- Airplane ratings
- Multi-engine land
- Instrument ratings
- Airplane
- Medical
- Class 1, Unknown
Weather
- Conditions
- Visual (VMC) · Not reported
FAA reports on this event · 1
The FAA’s own accident and incident reports, matched to the aircraft by N-number and date.