An air carrier aircraft made a hard landing in which the nose gear and tires were damaged. The pilot...

Narrative:

Descent and approach to runway proceeded normally and according to SOP. Approach control had issued windshear warnings and we discussed the windshear avoidance procedures and precautions. We determined it was safe to continue the approach. After intercepting the localizer; we contacted the tower. Tower issued a microburst alert and as we were about to go-around; tower reported all windshear and microburst warnings had stopped and the wind was calm. These updates were the latest we received and we elected that it was safe to continue. Rain was observed west of runway. We had visual contact with the runway at all times on final approach. At approximately 100 ft AGL the first officer lost visual reference to the runway due to heavy rain. I had the runway in sight and assumed control of the aircraft and landed. The landing was a hard landing. During rollout I noticed an obvious vibration from the nose gear area. Tower mentioned they observed sparks. I brought the airplane to a complete stop and made a PA announcement for everyone to remain seated. Crash; fire and rescue personnel were on the scene immediately and advised us that there was no smoke; fire or leaks. They advised us the nose gear was damaged. Passengers deplaned in an orderly fashion through the 2L door via portable airstairs. The hard landing was a result of loss of depth perception caused by the rain.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier aircraft made a hard landing in which the nose gear and tires were damaged. The pilots lost depth perception at 50 FT in an unseen rain shower.

Narrative: Descent and approach to runway proceeded normally and according to SOP. Approach control had issued windshear warnings and we discussed the windshear avoidance procedures and precautions. We determined it was safe to continue the approach. After intercepting the localizer; we contacted the tower. Tower issued a microburst alert and as we were about to go-around; tower reported all windshear and microburst warnings had stopped and the wind was calm. These updates were the latest we received and we elected that it was safe to continue. Rain was observed west of runway. We had visual contact with the runway at all times on final approach. At approximately 100 FT AGL the First Officer lost visual reference to the runway due to heavy rain. I had the runway in sight and assumed control of the aircraft and landed. The landing was a hard landing. During rollout I noticed an obvious vibration from the nose gear area. Tower mentioned they observed sparks. I brought the airplane to a complete stop and made a PA announcement for everyone to remain seated. Crash; fire and rescue personnel were on the scene immediately and advised us that there was no smoke; fire or leaks. They advised us the nose gear was damaged. Passengers deplaned in an orderly fashion through the 2L door via portable airstairs. The hard landing was a result of loss of depth perception caused by the rain.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	841562
Time
Date	200906
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Medium Large Transport Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Landing
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Not Flying Captain
Events
Anomaly	Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

An air carrier aircraft made a hard landing in which the nose gear and tires were damaged. The pilots lost depth perception at 50 ft in an unseen rain shower.