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Over the weekend, an American Airlines Boeing 737 suffered a tail strike when taking off from Tampa, Florida, on its way to Washington, D.C. The aircraft initially climbed to Flight Level (FL) 260 before diverting to Jacksonville, Florida. No members of the crew or passengers were hurt.
The passengers were flown to their destination with a replacement aircraft, which arrived safely in Washington, but with a considerable delay. Simple Flying has reached out to the airline to know more about this incident.
Tail Strike Followed By Diversion
An incident from Sunday, February 15, saw an 
American Airlines service, operated by a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, suffer a tail strike when taking off from runway 19R at Tampa International Airport (TPA). As per reports from the Aviation Herald, flight AA-3203 was on its way to Washington Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) when this incident occurred.
Data from FlightRadar24 shows that the aircraft, after taking off, continued climbing to Flight Level 260 (26,000 feet) and headed in a Northerly direction before diverting to Jacksonville International Airport (JAX), also in the state of Florida. The aircraft involved was a 16-year-old airframe, and it landed safely at JAX just about an hour after initially departing from Tampa. No passengers or members of the crew on board were reported to be hurt or injured during this incident.
Flight data shows that the airline deployed an alternate aircraft from Jacksonville, on an unscheduled flight (but with the original flight number) to carry the passengers from JAX to their original destination in Washington. The replacement aircraft was also another Boeing 737-800, and it departed at 12:52 AM (Florida local time) the following day, February 16, and arrived in DCA at local time 02:19 AM, nearly five hours after the originally scheduled arrival time.
What About The Aircraft Involved?
The aircraft that suffered a tail strike during the incident would have had to undergo a thorough inspection upon landing by the airline’s maintenance team in order to assess the damage suffered and come up with an action plan to return the aircraft to commercial service. However, as per the aircraft data, it would appear that the damage was not substantial.
Aircraft data shows that the airframe returned to commercial service, performing a flight to Dallas, Texas, the very next day, about 10 hours after landing in Jacksonville. However, in more severe cases, there have been examples wherein the aircraft requires a significant amount of maintenance work before returning to service, and the aircraft is grounded for a number of days or even months. Despite this, aircraft are manufactured and tested to ensure that they remain safe even if it experiences a tail strike.
Some of these examples include a tail-strike incident of another American Airlines Boeing 737-800 back in June 2024, which saw the aircraft remain grounded for three days. A more recent and more significant tail strike incident saw an Airbus A350-1000 operated by Cathay Pacific suffer a strike when landing at Hong Kong in November 2025, and the aircraft has not flown since, indicating it has been grounded for over two months.
Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-1000 Tail Strike In Hong Kong After Botched Landing
The incident occurred when the aircraft was performing a go-around.
Can Anything Be Done About This?
Tail strikes can prove to be very expensive for airlines and, not to mention, highly disruptive to the carrier’s network operation. Considering this, aircraft manufacturers include a variety of systems in their aircraft while working on newer technologies. Meanwhile, airlines provide pilots with sufficient training to ensure the chances of tail strikes occurring are kept to a minimum.
Some of the newer generation Airbus aircraft have systems that provide the flight crew with pitch limitations on their flight deck Primary Flight Displays (PFDs) when the aircraft is configured for landing and descends below 400 feet. This system essentially provides the pilots with audible alerts, increasing situational awareness if the aircraft detects unusually high pitch attitudes, which could result in a tail strike. Alternatively, 
Boeing has a tail-strike protection system (first introduced with the Boeing 777-300ER in 2003) that detects the aircraft’s rotation rate, and if the system senses the aircraft’s tail gets too close to the ground, the elevators are automatically adjusted to slow down the rotation rate.
Furthermore, in 2024, Boeing also filed a patent for a new tail strike detection system, which provides pilots with a definitive indication of a tail strike, while also providing maintenance personnel with more information regarding the incident, allowing for easier aircraft diagnostics. Have you ever experienced a tail strike before? Let us know about it in the comments below.
