Incident to the ATR72 registered F-OZKN operated by Air Calédonie on 19/12/2024 at Ouvéa Ouloup AD

During the arrival briefing before the start of the descent, the PF identified the short runway at Ouvéa and the night landing as threats. The crew agreed to keep the autopilot engaged until the minima to mitigate these threats. Around ten minutes later, during the descent, each crew member indicated their small amount of experience of landing at night on runway 31 at Ouvéa. These admissions were not the subject of a formal assessment of the associated risk(s) and possible measures to be envisaged. On disconnecting the autopilot at the minima, the PF intercepted the PAPI approach slope which is steeper than the RNAV LNAV approach slope for runway 31. The approach remained stable.

On approaching the threshold of runway 31 with limited external visual references due to the dark night, at a height of around 60 ft, i.e. 40 ft higher than ATR’s recommended value for the flare, the PF reduced power and made a strong nose-up input causing the aeroplane to rise slightly and increasing the nose-up attitude up to 6.4° before the tail struck the runway. The crew continued the landing and then taxied to the stand where they observed the marks on the tail bumper.