The tailskid does its job

Qantas plane with 120 passengers on board had to abort its ascent and return to Sydney airport after a tail strike on take-off yesterday afternoon.

Flight QF453, a Boeing 767 bound for Melbourne, had taken off from Sydney at 5pm and was in its climbing phase when the captain told passengers over the PA system that that plane’s tail may have struck the ground on take-off.

A tail strike occurs when a plane takes off at too sharp an angle and scrapes the underside of the tail assembly on the runway.

Passenger Nicole Kearns, 33, who was flying with her one-year-old son, said she thought she detected the pilots throttling off to slow the engines while the plane was still climbing.

The captain then made his address just minutes into the flight, as the coastline was still in view.

“We were on ascent then the announcement came over that we’d have to turn around,” she said. “They said another plane had thought they’d observed a tail strike on take-off on our plane.”

“The pilots said it was quite gusty on take-off, and wind might have contributed,” said Ms Kearns.

Ms Kearns, an experienced parachutist of 300 jumps, said that she felt no impact, or any unusual noise from the plane during take-off.

“I didn’t hear anything or feel anything unusual,” she said.

The plane turned and landed about 15 minutes later without incident, and was tailed by a ground vehicle with flashing lights as it taxied back to the terminal.

Passengers were kept on board for about 10 minutes while the plane was inspected on the ground, Ms Kearns said.

Passengers were then told they would be offloaded and rebooked on later flights.

She said she believed the crew were still strapped in their seats when the incident occurred and were “extra courteous” to passengers when they were disembarked for replacement flights.

A Qantas spokeswoman told Fairfax Media a gust of wind lifted the nose of the plane as its front wheel had just left the ground, lifting the plane up more sharply than normal.

“The tail skid — a shock absorber at the back of the aircraft — touched the runway,” the spokeswoman said. Tail skids are devices purposely fitted to aircraft to absorb tail strike impacts.

The pilots were aware of the strike from the cockpit instruments, the Qantas spokeswoman said.

There was no damage to the plane although some paint was scratched off, she said.

Engineers have inspected and cleared the plane to return to service. It takes to the skies again tomorrow as flight QF581 from Sydney to Perth at 10:10am.

There was no pilot error, she said.

Qantas had notified the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority of the incident.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau had been notified of the event, a spokesman confirmed, but won’t need to investigate.

The most significant recent occurrence of a tail strike was during the take-off of an Emirates Airbus carrying 275 people from Melbourne in March last year.

Its potentially disastrous impact with the runway, airport lights and antennas was caused by the pilots underestimating the aircraft’s weight by 100 tonnes, leading to insufficient thrust for take-off.

Source: The Age

Thanks for the info! I never flew the 767.

Oooops! Normally, if the tailskid cartridge is crushed, there is an indication in the cockpit and the flight must be discontinued.

Not on the 767.
The 767’s tail skid oleo has a pre charge of compressed nitrogen in side it. It is extended and retracted with hydraulic pressure. When the skid is compressed. Hydraulic fluid is forced through a metered orifice into a transfer reservoir. The Nitrogen pre charge acts as the shock-absorbing medium.
There is no indication of a tail strike in the flight deck but there is a Tail skid annunciator light and an EICAS warning for a tail skid position “Disagree”
The tail skid assembly has a sacrificial “Shoe” made of light alloy on its end. That is the primary indication of a tail strike. If they are having a bad day and they compress the oleo enough it will push out a over pressure “Pop out” indicator on the oleo its self. If there day goes from bad to worse there are shear pins between the oleo and the structure so that the oleo can be ripped clean out of it’s mounts. (Hydraulic fuses prevent you dumping the entire centre system contents in that case)
The 737-400 has a crushable cartridge. It is always extended and it’s indication is confined to a green and red stripe painted on it!
The 777-300 typically has a combination of both. It has a tail skid “Disagree” light and message, a tail strike proximity warning and a tail strike indication warning in the flight deck!!! (I love the 777 to bits but boeing did over complicate it in parts!)

Rgds Cking

Now thats right on the limit!

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Austrian-Airlines/Boeing-767-3Z9-ER/1646611/L/

Oooops! Normally, if the tailskid cartridge is crushed, there is an indication in the cockpit and the flight must be discontinued.