LATAM Tail Strike In Milan Caused By??
Intro
A little bit ago, a LATAM 777-300ER departing from Milan bound for Sao Paulo suffered a tail strike upon departure. At the time of the incident, we didn't have all of the details. However, the Italian authorities have now released their primary findings on this.
Let's get into it!
The Details
On July 9th, 2024, tail number PT-MUG suffered a tail strike upon takeoff from Milan Malpensa airport. Upon departing runway 35L, the jet's tail struck the runway for over 700 meters! This would indicate that the jet's tail was striking the runway for a good solid 3-5 seconds+ before lifting off.
The captain was notified of the tail strike, halted his climb at 5,000 feet, and continued on in a holding pattern while they assessed their options. The call was made to ascend to 6,000 feet and dump the remaining fuel before descending back into Milan. The 777 touched down about an hour and 15 minutes after departing from Milan airport originally.
Tail strikes are rarer on takeoff than on landing, especially when weather isn't in play. So what happened?
The flight deck programmed their calculations incorrectly in regard to rotation speed. Well, the Italian aviation authorities have concluded that the flight deck inserted the weight of fuel on board as "zero, or close to zero." The rotation speed should have been 181 knots, and instead, the captain on board rotated at 153 knots. Oops.
The worst part is that the captain in charge of the flight over to Sao Paulo was an instructor captain. The other two on the flight deck were also captains as well!
Look, accidents happen, and I am grateful everyone is safe since that is what is important. Obviously, when most of us make a mistake in the world, it isn't shown, but when it comes to airplanes, there is also a larger margin of error if a mistake is made. Props to everyone for sorting out this unfortunate situation.
Final Thoughts
A Latam 777-300 departing Milan Malpensa airport bound for Sao Paulo suffered a tail strike on July 9th. The aviation investigating unit in Italy has finally found that the experienced flight crew of three captains programmed the aircraft's fuel weight of zero or close to zero. Due to the miscalculation, the aircraft rotated 30 knots too early, and therefore suffered a vertical pitch of over 8 degrees, and of course, a long tail strike.
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