Narrative:

With the captain flying; [this] night landing was at 6.5 degrees of pitch. Immediately after landing; aircraft did pitch up a little; but did not seem at all unusual. There was no unusual sensation or noise during landing touchdown or rollout. However; shortly after touch-down; there was a very quick amber ECAM indication that I noticed out of my peripheral vision. During my scan; I was looking at airspeed at time of amber indication and was unable to identify since it was only illuminated about two seconds. Captain did not see the actual indication readout either; only seeing the amber light. Captain chose to look aircraft over after arriving at the gate. He stated that there had been a slight amount of damage to tail section; underneath APU; due to what he thought might have been a tail strike. Captain said he entered the occurrence in aircraft logbook.in retrospect; it appears that captain touched down within pitch limitation; but may have pulled back on side stick at touchdown; causing a slight grazing of tail section against runway surface. This is a difficult one; because it is very difficult at times to know where the pitch is in relationship to the limitation without staring at the attitude indicator continuously. The pitch was well below the 10 degree limitation at touchdown; but evidently it changed just enough to cause a problem just after landing. I felt equally responsible for not seeing the amber indication reading; so I could report this to the captain. I had just made the 'speed brake' callout and had shifted focus on the airspeed; anticipating the high speed turnoff ahead; when the amber light flashed on and then off. In the future; I will put more of an emphasis on monitoring pitch; not only during landing; but also just after touchdown. My scan is going to be more intense at this critical time during the flight. I also will be determined to improve my scan overall; as monitoring pilot; making sure not to fixate; but take in the entire picture before me.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 flight crew experiences a tail strike during a night landing. Damage to the APU drain mast is noted during post flight.

Narrative: With the Captain flying; [this] night landing was at 6.5 degrees of pitch. Immediately after landing; aircraft did pitch up a little; but did not seem at all unusual. There was no unusual sensation or noise during landing touchdown or rollout. However; shortly after touch-down; there was a very quick amber ECAM indication that I noticed out of my peripheral vision. During my scan; I was looking at airspeed at time of amber indication and was unable to identify since it was only illuminated about two seconds. Captain did not see the actual indication readout either; only seeing the amber light. Captain chose to look aircraft over after arriving at the gate. He stated that there had been a slight amount of damage to tail section; underneath APU; due to what he thought might have been a tail strike. Captain said he entered the occurrence in aircraft logbook.In retrospect; it appears that Captain touched down within pitch limitation; but may have pulled back on side stick at touchdown; causing a slight grazing of tail section against runway surface. This is a difficult one; because it is very difficult at times to know where the pitch is in relationship to the limitation without staring at the attitude indicator continuously. The pitch was well below the 10 degree limitation at touchdown; but evidently it changed just enough to cause a problem just after landing. I felt equally responsible for not seeing the amber indication reading; so I could report this to the Captain. I had just made the 'speed brake' callout and had shifted focus on the airspeed; anticipating the high speed turnoff ahead; when the amber light flashed on and then off. In the future; I will put more of an emphasis on monitoring pitch; not only during landing; but also just after touchdown. My scan is going to be more intense at this critical time during the flight. I also will be determined to improve my scan overall; as monitoring pilot; making sure not to fixate; but take in the entire picture before me.

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.