Wouldn’t a tail (fourth) wheel be worth fitting instead of risking that sort of damage? Concorde was one aircraft that did have one. When they are certifying a new type, rubbing strips (of wood?) are fitted when the tail is dragged along the runway at the minimum take off speed tests.
mmitch.
The IL-62M has a fourth wheel too but I don’t think it’s for tail strikes.
The only time I’ve heard of tailstrikes is associated with poor piloting. The pilot gets way too slow and has the nose way too high. With little airspeed the aircraft controls are less effective which often brings the whole thing down rather abruptly and under minimal control. There was a EMB-145 a few years ago at a different company that did just that. The images looked similar to this Airbus in that there were 6 foot scraps along the tail cone. I believe it ended up totaling (or near totaling) the airplane. Upon further inspection it was realized that the tail strike had bent the aft fuselage and broke most stringers along it’s length.
As wysiwyg said, the tail isn’t made for any sort of abuse which leads to a lot of damage even in the smallest situations.
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