The National Transportation Safety Board says it is investigating after a Frontier Airbus A321neo suffered a hard landing and subsequent damage in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Flight 3506 was operating from Orlando, Florida, to San Juan on Tuesday evening. The crew “performed a go-around after an initial hard landing,” a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson said.
Social media reports show flames coming from the jet’s left-hand engine after the balked landing. However, airport officials denied that a fire occurred, per AvHerald.
Debris was also found on the runway following the first landing attempt. Weather at the time of the incident was normal with light winds.
Landing Gear Damage
The FAA – which is also investigating – stated that the landing gear had been damaged after the hard landing.
“Yesterday evening, Flight 3506 from Orlando to San Juan experienced a hard landing upon arrival in San Juan,” an airline spokesperson said. “The aircraft subsequently did a go-around and landed safely. Passengers deplaned and no injuries were reported among passengers or crew. The cause of the incident is under investigation.”
Photos on social media show the 2-year-old A321neo (N607FR) missing one of its nose gear tires. Early reports indicate that the tire may have struck the engine, causing the reported fire.
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“Slammed the plane on the runway broke the nose tire off ingested it while doing the go. around, full engine fire to failure. Held, did a single engine approach to a go around and then landed the third time.” https://t.co/rtXa686ckr pic.twitter.com/bDbACApCXK— Combat Learjet (@Combat_learjet) April 16, 2025
The flight landed safely about 30 minutes later. Passengers deplaned on a taxiway, and the A321neo remains out of service at the time of writing.
An NTSB spokesperson told AirlineGeeks that the agency will investigate the incident.
