Emirates Tail-strike A340 Might Be Written Off

It has been alleged in an Australian newspaper that Emirates might be considering writing off the $220 million Airbus A340-500 involved in a tail-strike accident on takeoff from Melbourne, due to potential repair costs. The event was investigated by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which has categorised it as an “accident”, rather than the less serious grading of “incident”.

At about 10.30 p.m. on March 20, Flight EK407 to Dubai was carrying 225 passengers and around 215,000 litres of fuel when it failed to become airborne as expected from Melbourne’s 12,000 ft (3,657 m) Runway 16. It is claimed that the pilots rotated the Airbus almost at the extreme end of the runway, severely striking the rear fuselage against the runway.

According to the Sunday Herald Sun, the aircraft did become airborne but remained in ground effect for some distance before finally climbing out over Port Phillip Bay, where the pilots circled to dump fuel. Apparently, smoke was then reported in the cabin and an emergency landing was made back at Melbourne at about 11.15 p.m.

It was reported that after leaving the runway, the aircraft struck three 70 cm-high strobe-lights, which were located 170 m from the runway threshold. About 350 m from runway, it then struck the 180 cm-high localiser antenna before barely clearing the 8 ft (2.44 m) perimeter fence another 150 m further on. The A340-500 is reinforced against tail-strike, but damage to the fully laden aircraft was listed by the ATSB as “substantial”.

Both pilots concerned were interviewed by ATSB investigators and have subsequently resigned from the airline. Emirates, meanwhile, has declined to comment, as the investigation is ongoing.

The ATSB has recovered the aircraft’s data recorders and hopes to establish the power settings used for the takeoff run, as well as the data input to the aircraft’s onboard computers prior to takeoff.