On June 21, 2022, about 1738 local time, RED Air flight 203, a Boeing MD-82, HI-1064, experienced a left main landing gear failure shortly after landing on runway 09 at Miami International Airport (MIA), Miami, Florida. The airplane departed runway 09 and came to a stop in the grassy area between runway 09 and 30. A post-crash fire occurred and was extinguished by Miami-Dade fire rescue (MDFR). The airplane was evacuated, and 4 passengers received minor injuries. The flight was a 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 129 scheduled international passenger flight from Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic (SDQ) to MIA.
The accident flight was the second of the day for the flight crew. The captain was the pilot monitoring, and the first officer (FO) was the pilot flying. The incident flight departed SDQ at 1535 after a 36-minute delay. The aircraft was cleared for the ILS runway 09 at MIA and the crew reported that the approach was normal. The FO stated that the landing was smooth, and they first touched down on the right main gear followed by the left main gear slightly right of centerline. The crew felt an increasing vibration on the left side of the airplane shortly after the left main gear touched down. During the landing roll out the left main gear collapsed, the airplane traveled to the left where it eventually departed the paved surface and impacted the runway 30 glide slope equipment shelter. During departure from the paved surface and impact with the steel and concrete shelter, the airplane’s right main landing gear and nosewheel collapsed, and the fuel tanks were breached. Shortly after the airplane came to a stop, a postcrash fire began on the right wing. All 130 passengers and 10 crew evacuated the airplane, of which 4 passengers sustained minor injuries. MDFR successfully extinguished the post-crash fire, and all airplane occupants were bussed to the terminal.
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We determined the probable cause(s) of this accident to be the structural failure of the left main landing gear downlock following ineffective shimmy dampening during the landing roll which caused the collapse of the left main landing gear, resulting in a runway excursion and post-flight fire.
