Last Friday, an Azul Linhas Aereas Embraer ERJ-195-E2 suffered a heavy landing while arriving at Caxias do Sul International Airport in Brazil. Following the incident, which led to a tail strike, the aircraft has been grounded. Let’s investigate further.

What happened?

According to The Aviation Herald, the aircraft involved in this incident was an Embraer ERJ-195-E2 registration PR-PJN. The plane is only 1.88 years old, as it was delivered to Azul on September 24, 2019, according to ch-aviation.

The aircraft was landing on Caxias do Sul following a small domestic operation from Viracopos International Airport in Campinas. Azul’s flight number was AD-2860.

The crew was landing on Caxias do Sul’s runway 33 at 14:00 local time. When it touched the ground, the tail struck the runway surface. The pilots were able to roll out the aircraft without further incident, and no one was injured.

Nevertheless, PR-PJN has been grounded since Friday, as it is receiving maintenance to repair the strike.

This particular airplane is averaging 239.2 flight hours per month, as reported by Radarbox.com. It has approximately 152 monthly cycles.

Simple Flying reached Azul for a statement regarding the incident. We haven’t received an answer so far, but we’ll keep you updated on the matter.

You can see that the Azul aircraft received significant damage in these pictures.

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Two incidents in one day...

On August 6, Azul experienced not one but two incidents. The other one happened at Ilhéus International Airport, in the Brazilian state of Bahía.

According to reports by Aeroin, a Boeing 737-800 from GOL and an Embraer E195 E1 from Azul had a collision. The registrations of these two planes are PR-GUC (GOL) and PR-AXJ (Azul).

According to Radarbox.com, none of the aircraft were grounded due to this minor collision. Both planes operated commercial flights during the weekend despite the incident.

As far as we can tell, GOL’s aircraft suffered damage on its left winglet, while Azul’s had some issues on its horizontal stabilizer.

Embraer Azul E2
Azul will receive 54 more Embraer E2 aircraft. Photo: Embraer.

Azul’s fleet

Azul is currently the largest domestic airline in Brazil, according to data provided by the Civil Aviation authorities.

Until June 2021, Azul had carried 9.6 million passengers versus the 7.4 and 7.0 million from GOL and LATAM, respectively. The airline is only 23.8% below its pre-pandemic numbers. During 2019’s first half, Azul carried 12.6 million passengers.

Azul currently has a fleet of 151 aircraft, according to ch-aviation. Moreover, it still has to receive 73 additional planes, including 14 A320-200N, five A321-200NX(LR), and 54 Embraer ERJ 190-400, like the one involved in Friday’s incident. Plus, Azul wants to operate 220 electric aircraft around Brazil by 2025.

The current fleet of Azul is composed mainly of Embraer E190-E1 planes. It has 49 units, followed by 42 Airbus A320-200ceo aircraft. It also has 33 ATR 72-600 aircraft, nine Embraer E2, seven A330-200, five A330-900, four A321neo, and two B737-400F.

Additionally, it has several Cessna aircraft that operate for Azul Conecta, a small regional carrier with bases in Aracatuba, Junidiaí, Macapá, and Marília.

Have you flown onboard Azul’s Embraer E2 fleet? How was it? Let us know in the comments.