Emirates Flight 407
| Occurrence | |
|---|---|
| Date | 20 March 2009 |
| Summary | Tailstrike on takeoff |
| Site | Melbourne, Australia |
| Aircraft type | Airbus A340-500 |
| Operator | Emirates Airline |
| Registration | A6-ERGdisaster |
| Flight origin | Melbourne Airport |
| Destination | Dubai International Airport |
| Passengers | 225 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Survivors | 225 |
Emirates Airline Flight 407 was a flight operated by Emirates Airline flying from Melbourne to Dubai on March 20, 2009. In spite of no fatalities or injuries result from this accident, it was severe enough to be classified by Australian Transport Safety Bureau a significant event and thereby categorized as an accident by the authority.
Chronology
The scheduled flight departed from Melbourne as planned at 22:30 using the 3,657m long runway 16. However, after exhausting the entire length of the runway, the aircraft failed to become airbourne. Reaching the end of the runway, the aircraft was travelling at a speed of 280km/h, the pilots attempted to rotate as they pitched the nose upward, causing the tail to crash onto the ground and scrap along the end of the runway. It eventually left the ground but at 170m beyond the end of the runway, it was only 70cm (about 2ft) above the ground. Subsequently, it took out a 200m stretch of strobe lights at the end of the runway. The aircraft continued to climb with difficulties. At 350m beyond the end of the runway, the aircraft hit and destroyed an airport antenna operated by Airservices Australia for use by air traffic controllers that was 180cm (about 6ft) in height. At 500m beyond the end of the runway, the aircraft barely missed the 2.24m tall airport perimeter fence. It was also reported that after clearing the airport perimeter, the aircraft only cleared a small brick building by 50cm. The aircraft eventually climbed away over Port Phillip Bay but passengers reported smoke in the cabin. The pilots started dumping fuel over the bay and the aircraft returned to the airport at 23:15 with no further incidents.
Aftermath
Despite having tailstrike protection built-in on the A340, it was later determined that the rear pressure bulkhead and the underlying structure was severely damaged during the take-off roll when the pilots attempted to rotate and the tail hit the runway hard. The damage was so severe that the 4-year-old A$220 million aircraft is under consideration to be a write-off as of April 12, 2009. The investigation is performed by the ATSB.
The two pilots of the flight returned to Dubai after being interviewed by investigators and have resigned from the airline immediately afterwards. The reason of the resignation was not disclosed.