Date: 201603
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: SFO.Airport, CA
Flight conditions: VMC
Light: Daylight
Aircraft: B737-900
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Mission: Passenger
Flight phase: Landing
Airspace: Class B SFO
ATC / advisory: Tower SFO
Second aircraft: A380
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: Captain; Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Second reporter function: First Officer; Pilot Not Flying
Anomaly: Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Inflight Event / Encounter Wake Vortex Encounter
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Contributing factors: Procedure; Environment - Non Weather Related
Primary problem: Ambiguous

Narrative: On visual approach to Runway 28R; slightly behind and left of heavy Airbus. Winds 260/20. Smooth approach. I planned to land slightly beyond the Airbus' touchdown. Just as my left wheel touched down; the aircraft was thrown back up into the air and the right wing rose very quickly and the nose pitched up. I slowly added power and had to apply full rudder; left aileron; and forward pitch to right the airplane. The airplane righted and I chose to finish the landing. The rest was uneventful. I had Maintenance meet me at the gate and did an after flight inspection with them. No damage noted.


Second narrative: On a visual approach to 28R into SFO we experienced severe/extreme wake turbulence in the flare from a [heavy airbus] preceding us by about 15/20 seconds for the adjacent 28L. The conditions at the field were CAVU and wind 260@20G25. This provided a quartering headwind emanating from our left; which must have provided ideal conditions we experienced on touchdown. The Captain was flying this leg and I the pilot monitoring. There were mild bumps coming down final; but appeared to be strictly wind related. Upon commencing the flare at approximately 800ft from the threshold and maybe 10 feet above the runway; the aircraft began to roll and pitch excessively. As the Captain was doing a textbook job of attempting to keep the aircraft upright; we experienced a severe roll to the right. The right wing was in extreme danger of making contact with the runway (737-900ER scimitar aircraft) and I instinctively assisted with the ailerons and applied what felt like full left aileron; and the force required to do so was immense. The Captain applied the rudder required to keep us lined up with the centerline and together we wrestled the aircraft onto the runway. There was no transfer of controls as this was a necessary team effort to keep the aircraft under control. Once the aircraft was safely on the runway; the Captain completed the rollout and we exited with no further incident. I told tower what we had experienced on short final (which the Controller seemed to not find very interesting) while the Captain made a PA to let the passengers know what we experienced. Maintenance was called to meet the aircraft; but no damage was noted. In the 8;000+ hours of flight time I have enjoyed over the last 11 years flying for the airlines; [I] have never had an experience that could have just as easily resulted in bent metal; or worse. Yes; we are trained to avoid wake turbulence; and we did plan our touchdown point to be further down the runway; however the conditions (wind direction/speed and relative positions of us and the preceding heavy Airbus) provided conditions of a severity that we did not anticipate.


Synopsis: B737-900 flight crew reported encountering 'severe/extreme' wake turbulence while in the flare on Runway 28R in trail of an A380 landing on Runway 28L at SFO.