On Sunday, August 20, 2023, an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800 with registration N516AS, operating flight AS1288 from Seattle to Santa Ana, California, sustained substantial damage after a heavy landing at Santa Ana Airport.
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The aircraft landed so hard in the winds that the left main gear strut was punched through the left wing. The aircraft came to a stop on the runway and was disabled. There were no injuries, but the aircraft sustained substantial damage.
The incident happened at around 11:15 PM local time. There were heavy winds and storms in Southern California that day, making for challenging conditions landing at the airport. It’s also worth keeping in mind that Santa Ana Airport has one of the shorter runways used by commercial jets, as it’s just 5,700 feet long.
The passengers had to be deplaned by stairs and then taken to the terminal by bus as the aircraft could no longer move once it was on the taxiway¹. It remains to be seen whether this aircraft will be fixed or written off. Assuming the aircraft can be fixed, it’s a question of what the aircraft’s value is vs. how much it would cost to fix.