Airbus is preparing to revise A321 flight crew guidance after a series of tail-strike events, in what amounts to a meaningful operational and training update for one of the world’s largest in-service narrowbody fleets. According to FlightGlobal, the manufacturer plans to add more detailed guidance in an upcoming revision of the flight crew manuals, with extra focus on how crews manage flare height during landing.
The update matters because the A321’s longer fuselage leaves crews with less geometric margin against a tail-strike during touchdown than on shorter A320-family variants. FlightGlobal reported that Airbus intends to provide additional information on environmental conditions, aircraft weight, and center-of-gravity effects, all of which can influence how the aircraft behaves during the flare.
Airbus has already highlighted in its own safety guidance that tail-strike risk increases when approach speed decays too far below Vapp before the flare, because the aircraft can reach a higher angle of attack and pitch attitude near touchdown. Airbus also notes that the flare technique may need to account for factors such as tailwind, which can raise groundspeed and vertical-speed demands late in the landing.
For airlines, the significance goes beyond a manual revision. Any Airbus adjustment to flare guidance can feed directly into simulator sessions, line training and standard operating procedures across a vast global A321 fleet. That makes this more than a technical note: it is a fleet-wide reminder that landing technique, energy management and pitch control remain central to preventing avoidable airframe strikes.
Images: Airbus Media Centre