Test Flight Didn’t Go as Planned

On May 2, 1980, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 was performing a test flight in California. The goal was to determine the horizontal distance required for landing and a full stop on the runway. There were seven people on board.

The aircraft was approaching Edwards Air Force Base with a vertical descent rate of 3.6 meters per second. Just before touchdown, the pilots noticed an increase in the rate of descent and gently pulled back on the control yoke to reduce it. However, the aircraft made a very hard landing, which was caught on video.

Upon touchdown, the main landing gear collapsed and the tail section broke off. The pilots had no clear understanding of the extent of the damage and followed standard braking procedures, using thrust reversers and brakes. The aircraft came to a stop on the runway. Of the seven people onboard, only the flight engineer was injured, suffering a broken leg.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the incident was caused by pilot error – the failure to perform a stabilized approach. A contributing factor was the absence of test flight procedures requiring other crew members to monitor critical flight parameters.