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Draft:Flight 1748

Coordinates: 40°28′52″N 107°13′04″W / 40.48111°N 107.21778°W / 40.48111; -107.21778
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JetBlue Flight 1748
JetBlue A320 N760JB taking off with a high pitch angle causing a tail strike.
Incident
DateJanuary 22, 2022 (2022-01-22)
SummaryTail strike caused by aircraft avoidance
SiteHayden-Yampa Valley Airport
40°28′52″N 107°13′04″W / 40.48111°N 107.21778°W / 40.48111; -107.21778
First aircraft
TypeAirbus A320-232
Name"These Blues Were Made For Flying"
OperatorJetBlue
IATA flight No.B61748
ICAO flight No.JBU1748
Call signJETBLUE 1748
RegistrationN760JB
Flight originHayden-Yampa Valley Airport
DestinationFort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport
Passengers102
Crew6
Fatalities0
Injuries0
Survivors108
Second aircraft
TypeBeechcraft King Air 300
OperatorSOUTHERN STAR INC
RegistrationN350J
DestinationHayden-Yampa Valley Airport

On January 22, 2022, JetBlue Flight 1748, operating its seasonal service en route from Yampa Valley Regional Airport to Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport suffered a tail strike during takeoff whilst trying to avoid an oncoming Beechcraft King Air 300 (N350J) that was landing on the opposite side of the runway. Flight 1748 was diverted to Denver International Airport as a general precaution. There were no injuries occurred during this incident.

Incident

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JetBlue Flight 1748 was departing the Yampa Valley Regional Airport for its scheduled service to Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport. The Yampa Valley Airport is an uncontrolled/ Non-towered airport airport which means it has no air traffic control tower managing and overseeing the operations of the airport. All pilots operating into and out of any uncontrolled airport are required to broadcast and monitor the airports radio traffic to deconflict and coordinate airfield movements.

Airline pilots are required to manage multiple tasks other than just flying the aircraft in a safe and professional manner. Pilots are often saturated with multiple tasks and procedures at any given time while keep a mental picture of what other air traffic is doing on top of inputting data for the flight, making sure they adhere to their schedule times, communicating with the company, and other pilot duties. This can lead to task saturation and the pilot/s becoming overwhelmed and "getting behind their airplane". This a contributing factor with what happened with the pilots of flight 1748.

During taxing both pilots were unfamiliar with the airport and airfield operations. They pilot monitoring was transmitting radio announcements to the surrounding airport traffic that the flight would be taxing to the end of runway 10 for departure. At this same time the pilots of the Beechcraft King Air 300 had been properly broadcasting their intentions of landing opposite of JetBlue 1748, runway 28.

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Winter operations

Runway 10/28 at Yampa Valley is the only runway at the airport. The runway is 10,000 feet long of paved asphalt that raises 26 feet along the distance. The airport is already a high altitude airport at 6606 feet above sea level which requires more power to be applied at takeoff. This combined with cold winter operations and a snow in the area

Pilots Communication Errors and Unicom communication

The pilots of JetBlue Flight 1748 announced on the airport common traffic advisory frequency their intentions of taking off from runway 10. They had failed to hear and remember the traffic (N350J), had announced it was on a short final for runway 28. They applied takeoff power and started their takeoff roll as N350J was crossing the runway threshold on the opposite end. By the time they realized the King Air had already landed and was in front of them the A320 aircraft had already accelerated close to its V1 speed. As both aircraft speed towards one another the JetBlue pilots attempted to apply full power and rotate before their rotate (Vr) speed resulting in the aircraft over rotating without achieving enough lift and scraping the aft end of the fuselage on the runway before managing to get airborne. The A320 was able to climb away at a steep rate of climb from the runway avoiding the King Air 300 opposite to it avoiding what could've been a tragic incident.

After tailstrike the flight continued to climb which is not part of the standard procedure post suspected tailstrike.

No loss of cabin pressure detected which would've indicated a fuselage/structure breach and subsequent damage.

Lack of awareness of the tailstrike till flight attendants alerted pilots of what they heard.

Late decision to make an emergency decent to a safe altitude and diversion to a enroute airport as a precaution and aircraft post incident saftey inspection.

Post Accident

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NTSB Report

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Results

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[1][2]

[3]

[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Accident: Jetblue A320 at Hayden on Jan 22nd 2022, tail strike on takeoff, B350 on short final in opposite direction". avherald.com. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  2. ^ "ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A320-232 N760JB Hayden-Yampa Valley Airport, CO (HDN)". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  3. ^ Richard, Lawrence (December 15, 2023). "Planes narrowly avoid collision on runway in Colorado after pilot's last-second maneuver: video". FOXBusiness. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  4. ^ 2023-12-13T22:57:00+00:00. "JetBlue 2022 tail strike caused by pilots taking off too soon to avoid collision". Flight Global. Retrieved March 1, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)