Part 1 of 2
Aviation Law Group (ALG) is monitoring the investigation into Frontier Airlines flight 5306, which appears to be the latest in a series of troubling incidents involving U.S. airline aircraft being damaged during landing.
Frontier Airlines Flight 5306 departed Orlando, Florida, for San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. The flight appeared to be uneventful until the flight crew attempted landing on Runway 10 at San Juan-Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport (SJU/TJSJ).
As the Airbus A321 Next Engine Option (NEO) aircraft with 228 passengers and seven crewmembers attempted to land, the aircraft experienced a hard landing. The force of the landing caused the left wheel of the nose gear to break off from the landing gear. The left wheel then entered the left (number one) engine, substantially damaging it. Passenger cell phone footage captured the damage and resulting engine fire as the flight crew performed a go-around.
Air traffic control at the airport closed both Runway 10 and Runway 8 and advised crews of arriving aircraft that there was debris on the runway.
The pilots of flight 5306 flew the damaged aircraft for approximately another 45 minutes while they held and performed a fly-by maneuver of the aircraft over the airport so that ATC could confirm the condition and position of the airplane’s landing gear. There are unconfirmed reports that the crew was forced to shut down the damaged engine in flight due to the fire and resulting damage. Thankfully for all involved, the aircraft landed safely on Runway 8, and there were no reported injuries.
ALG commends the crew for successfully dealing with the multiple and substantial failures and emergencies that they faced following the initial hard landing. In the end, this crew ensured the safety of their 228 passengers in extremely challenging circumstances, and a far more tragic result could have easily happened if it were not for the actions of this crew in dealing with the substantial emergency resulting from the hard landing.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating this accident. The NTSB will most likely look into whether there were any mechanical abnormalities that could have played a role in causing the hard landing or subsequent failure of the nose landing gear. They will also look to see if the weather could have played a role in the accident. At the time of the accident, the weather was mild, with light winds from the east at 7 knots, few clouds at 2,300 feet above the airfield, and a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius or 79 degrees Fahrenheit. The NTSB will also look to the pilots and human factors to determine if the airmanship of the flight crew may have played a role in the hard landing.
While the cause of the hard landing of Frontier 5306 has not been determined and will likely take 18 months to two years for the NTSB to make such a determination, this incident is yet another in a series of incidents involving damage to airline aircraft while attempting to land.
The rise of these types of accidents is very concerning, as pilot-induced landings hard enough to damage a transport category aircraft should be extremely rare. Yet, in recent months, there have been an unusual number of these accidents.
- Most notably, on February 17, 2025, Delta flight 4819 operated by Endeavor Airlines attempted to land on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport in icy and gusty wind conditions. The aircraft hit the runway with a descent rate of more than 1,100 feet per minute, resulting in an impact force of approximately 2.74 Gs. The airliner hit the runway so hard that the right main landing gear collapsed, the right wing sheared off, and the fuselage ultimately came to rest upside-down and on fire. Amazingly, all 80 people on board survived, although 21 people were seriously injured.
- On March 16, 2025, Delta flight 4814, also operated by Endeavor Airlines, impacted its left wing on the runway while attempting to land at LaGuardia in New York. Flight 4814’s captain was heard over air traffic control transmissions taking control of the aircraft from the first officer while he initiated a go-around. The plane safely landed on the next attempt. Delta Flight 4814 was carrying 76 passengers and four crewmembers, and no injuries were reported.
These Recent Accidents are Strikingly Similar to the United 702 Accident in 2023.
Based on ALG’s own investigation of Frontier 5306, Delta 4819, and Delta 4814, these accidents have strong similarities to other accidents on landing, like in the case of United 702. Investigators and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are undoubtedly looking for the common threads in each of these accidents.
On July 29, 2023, United Flight 702 sustained major hull damage to the Boeing 767-322 aircraft following a hard landing and subsequent pilot-induced oscillation that caused the nose landing gear to impact the runway three separate times with impact forces between 1.4 and 1.6 Gs. The post-accident examination revealed damage to the crown of the upper fuselage. The fuselage skin was buckled and fractured, and there was significant damage to the underlying stringers and frames.
In its final report, the NTSB determined that the proximate cause of the accident was “[t]he first officer’s improper control inputs after the airplane touched down.”
Also in the Final Report, the NTSB noted the first officer’s training history leading up to the hard landing. The first officer was hired six months prior to the accident and had only 129 hours of flight time at United and in the Boeing 767 aircraft. Notably, the first officer struggled in training. The NTSB described how the first officer received an “unsatisfactory” or failure of his initial checkride. While the first officer obtained a satisfactory performance rating on his subsequent checkride, he received the minimum grade in three areas, one of which was landings. Because of his performance, the first officer was placed on “short cycle.” A “short cycle” allowed the first officer to proceed to fly in the actual airplane with passengers but required him to be evaluated in 90 days rather than the normal period of 9 months. According to the checkairman who completed the first officer’s second line-oriented evaluation, the purpose of the short cycle was to ensure that the first officer’s “proficiency is up to standards, “given his previous “struggles.” At the time of the accident, the first officer was still within the original 90-day “short cycle,” and his performance had not been re-evaluated after completion of initial operating experience.
In Part 2, ALG will detail the common elements and potential industry factors that may have contributed to these accidents.
Christopher Rusing is an attorney with Aviation Law Group PS and has over 20 years’ experience as a commercial airline pilot. He is currently a captain on the A320 series of aircraft, a line check airman, a simulator check airman, and a simulator instructor at his airline.
Aviation Law Group PS (ALG) is a law firm that limits its practice to aviation accidents and has represented clients involved in major airline disasters, as well as general aviation accidents. ALG currently represents clients involved in Hawaii Airlines Flight 35, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, and Delta Airlines Flight 4819. ALG has offices in Seattle, Washington, Honolulu, Hawaii, and Jupiter, Florida. ALG attorneys are licensed in Washington State, Hawaii, Alaska, California, and Florida, but can represent clients in all 50 states and have represented clients internationally with the association of local counsel.