Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Training / Qualification
Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Aircraft Aircraft Damaged; Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control; General Maintenance Action
Weather
Approach was stable into the flare. At approximately 5 feet; a gust of wind caused an increase in performance and induced a float. I corrected to arrest the float with a slight forward pressure on the yoke. When the gust dissipated; the correction was removed to arrest the descent. However; the aircraft landed firmly and bounces a couple feet back into the air and immediately resettled. Appeared to land wings level. I didn't notice if the ground spoilers deployed on the initial bounce or see the VSI indication. To my knowledge; the Thrust levers were at idle at approximately 10 feet prior to the initial touchdown. I can't recall completely. Control of the aircraft and had a normal rollout.The aircraft was inspected and shown to have no visible damage and granted a 25 flight cycle waiver to get it to maintenance.
I was conducting initial IOE with a new First Officer (FO). He had flown a 3-day trip with another Line Check Airman prior to this trip with me. We were on day 2 of a trip. The FO was doing very well with all phases of IOE. Winds were gusty as we approached OAJ and he was handling the approach well. Just prior to touchdown; with thrust at idle; a gust of wind caused the airplane to balloon slightly. The FO applied what I thought were appropriate corrections to recover and land. The airplane hit the runway firmly and bounced maybe 2 feet into the air. Before I could react the airplane landed firmly and stayed on the ground. I did not see what the VSI read at the time of the bounce or the landing. After taxiing to the gate; I made an entry in the aircraft maintenance log for a possible hard landing. The initial inspection by the mechanic noted no damage.
Air carrier flight crew reported landing hard after encountering a wind gust during flare.