An Air New Zealand Airbus A321-200 arriving from Brisbane, Australia suffered a tail strike after a hard touchdown in Wellington, New Zealand on 26 September 2024.
Air New Zealand flight NZ272, an Airbus A321-200, was conducting an approach to runway 34 Wellington International Airport (WLG). During the landing, the aircraft touched down hard resulting in its tail striking the runway surface.
Air New Zealand NZ272 Brisbane-Wellington
Following the tail strike, flight crew initiated a go around procedure and elected to divert to Auckland. The aircraft was then the repositioned on a direct track to Auckland International Airport. The flight landed without further incident at the diversion airport approximately 1 hour after the landing event at Wellington.
A weather forecast valid for the flight’s arrival into Wellington International Airport shows that winds were variously gusting up to 43 knots.
According to the online source Aviation Herald, flight crew reported encountering windshear on short final approach. This resulted in a heavy touchdown, registered at approximately 2.9G, causing the fuselage skin to wrinkle.
It was later reported by the airline that at post flight inspection did not uncover evidence of a tail strike. The recorded flight data has been referred to Airbus for inspection and review.
Flight data shows that flight NZ272 had departed Brisbane Airport (BNE) at 0956 local time on 26 September. The flight had then proceeded normally, climbing to flight level FL270 (27,000 feet) for the trans-Tasman service to Wellington.
Descent and approach procedures into Wellington were similarly conducted normally. Following the go around procedure from runway 34, flight crew climbed the aircraft to FL180. A direct track was then made to Auckland International Airport (AKL).
The aircraft conducting the NZ272 service were from Brisbane was an Airbus A321neo, registered ZK-NND. This is a 5.7 year old narrowbody aircraft belonging to the national carrier Air New Zealand. It has been in operational service with the airline since its initial delivery from the factory in February 2019.
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