NTSB CAROL · Event
Event DCA20CA050
Registry · N7739A
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
BOEING 737-7BD
Year of manufacture
2006 · 13 years old at event
Engine
CFM INTL CFM56-7B24
Seats / Engines
149 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
20121009
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S AA77C0
Registrant of record
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES CO
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
a bird strike during descent
Factual narrative
On December 21, 2019, at approximately 2020 central standard time, Southwest Airlines flight 5246, a B737-700, registration N7739A, struck a bird while descending to Kansas City International Airport (KMCI), Kansas City, Missouri. There were no injuries to the 5 crew members and 136 passengers onboard. The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage. The flight was operating under 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 as a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Ronald Reagan National Airport (KDCA), Arlington, Virginia, to KMCI. According to the flight crew, the airplane was on the downwind leg for arrival on runway 19R at KMCI. As the airplane was descending through 10,000 feet-msl altitude, the flight crew noticed a white object go through the landing lights and heard a loud bang from the from fuselage below their feet. The flight crew checked engine parameters for any anomalies and the airplane for any damage, and none was found. The flight landed uneventfully, and post flight inspection of the airplane revealed evidence of a bird strike and dents in the lower right fuselage skin. Further inspection revealed two internal frames were bent and fractured. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- — Aircraft-Aircraft structures-Fuselage-Longerons/stringers (main fus)-Damaged/degraded
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2019_DCA20CA050.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type. Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
A preliminary study of a wake vortex encounter hazard boundary for a B737-100 airplane
A preliminary batch simulation study was conducted to define the wake decay required for a Boeing 737-100 airplane to safely encounter a Boeing 727 wake and land.
- NASA NTRS 2018 · Other
A Numerical Simulation Study to Develop an Acceptable Wake Encounter Boundary for a B737-100 Airplane
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is conducting research with the goal of enabling safe improvements in the capacity of the nation's air transportation system.
- NASA NTRS 2025 · Conference Paper
A Training Study to Improve Monitoring During A Go-Around
As part of an FAA program to improve go-around (GA) safety, we were asked to determine if we could improve the performance of the Pilot Monitoring (PM) during a GA maneuver.
- arXiv 2023 · arXiv preprint
Radar detection of wake vortex behind the aircraft: the detection range problem
In this study, we showcased the detection of the wake vortex produced by a medium aircraft at distances exceeding 10 km using an X-band pulse-Doppler radar.
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Conference paper
Airline Pilot Risk Profiling by Using Unstable Approach Management Case
Risk and human decision-making cannot be separated from each other. Many of theories and studies have tried to analyze pilots’ decision-making processes, risk factors, and preference behavior in the a…
- Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons 2023 · Journal article (IJAAA)
Historical Research and the case for a Fifth Component of SMS
Abstract Three tragic events from aviation history were examined using a Historical Research and Case Study Method. The events explored were the disasters of the Airship R101 (1930), the Space Shuttle…
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