Statuts:	Enquête Officielle
Date:	27 DEC 1987
Heure:	23:39 CST
Type/Sous-type:	McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31
Compagnie:	Eastern Air Lines
Immatriculation:	N8948E
Numéro de série:	47184/274
Année de Fabrication:	1968
Heures de vol:	55645
Moteurs:	2 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-7B
Equipage:	victimes: 0 / à bord: 4
Passagers:	victimes: 0 / à bord: 103
Total:	victimes: 0 / à bord: 107
Dégats de l'appareil:	Substantiels
Conséquences:	Written off (damaged beyond repair)
Lieu de l'accident:	Pensacola Regional Airport, FL (PNS) (Etats-Unis d'Amérique)
Phase de vol:	A l'atterrissage (LDG)
Nature:	Transport de Passagers Nat.
Aéroport de départ:	Atlanta-William B. Hartsfield International Airport, GA (ATL/KATL), Etats-Unis d'Amérique
Aéroport de destination:	Pensacola Regional Airport, FL (PNS/KPNS), Etats-Unis d'Amérique
Numéro de vol:	573

Détails:
As Flight EA573 approached Pensacola, the crew were told to expect a runway 16 ILS approach. At 23:30 the controller advised that the glide slope monitor in the tower had just gone into alarm (unreliable indications), and repeated this message several times during the approach. At 2000 feet from the runway (at 400 feet agl) the first officer told the captain he was high on the glide slope. The captain then reduced power and pushed the nose over. The captain started the flare, but the nosegear touched the runway before reaching a level attitude. The DC-9 bounced back into the air and touched down hard again. This caused the cabin to break open just aft of the wings (between Stations 813 and 756), causing the aircraft to stop with the tail resting on the runway.

PROBABLE CAUSE: "The captain's failure to maintain a proper descent rate on final approach or to execute a missed approach, which caused the airplane to contact the runway with a sink rate exceeding the airplane's design limitations. Contributing to the cause of the accident was the failure of the captain and first officer to make required altitude callouts and to properly monitor the flight instruments during the approach."

Sources:
» Aviation Week & Space Technology 4.1.88(68/69)
» NTSB/AAR-89/02/SUM