Air Nippon flight ANA731 – On Sunday, February 5, 2012, an Airbus A320-200, registered JA8384, which was operated by Air Nippon Co., Ltd., took off from Osaka International Airport, flew to Sendai, and approached Runway 27 of Sendai Airport. It was the scheduled Flight 731, jointly operated with All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd. At around 09:03 Japan Standard Time (JST: UTC +9 h, unless otherwise stated all times are indicated in JST on a 24-hour clock), when the Aircraft rejected the landing above the runway, the lower part of its rear fuselage contacted with the runway, damaging the airframe. Later, the Aircraft landed Sendai Airport at around 09:27. A total of 166 persons consisting of a captain, five crew members and 160 passengers were on board the aircraft, but nobody sustained injuries.

The chief purser told the cockpit crew via intercom that an unusual sound had beenheard, and that there was a possibility of a tailstrike.

Air Nippon flight ANA731 suffered a tailstrike

In this accident, it is highly probable that when the Aircraft rejected the landing after touching Runway 27, its nose was raised sharply, causing the lower part of the rear fuselage to contact with the runway and be damaged. It is highly probable that the substantial pitch-up moment caused the quick Aircraft nose-up with the following reasons: The captain decided to reject the landing under the circumstance where he could not recognize the touchdown of main landing gears due to the soft landing; Balanced pitching moment was disrupted by the captain’s nose-up elevator input as his go-around was initiated from the full-aft sidestick position.