A "very big bang" was heard as a TUI plane took off from Manchester Airport.
The Boeing 737 was flying 178 passengers to Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands on March 9, 2022, but its tail hit the runway during take off and it had to return to Manchester Airport. Both pilots reported hearing a bump as the plane took off and cabin crew said that they heard a bang as the plane struck the runway.
Once returning to the airport, an inspection was carried out. It found the plane had sustained some damage, but not enough to stop it from being able to operate.
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The Air Accident Investigation Branch investigated the incident and has now published its findings. It explained the co-pilot was newly trained and had experienced significant disruption in this process as a result of the pandemic, reports LancsLive.
The report explains that start up and taxi to the runway were uneventful and that, after discussion about take off, the commander handed control to the co-pilot. After some issues with the rotation speed in gusty winds, the co-pilot struggled to control the aircraft drift and the tail struck the runway.
The report said: “Both pilots felt a bump as it did so. The pilots continued the take off and followed their cleared departure routing. There were no adverse indications, and the aircraft was flying normally. Initially the commander intentionally left the landing gear extended to focus on the flight path, but then omitted to retract it until after the flaps were retracted.
“Once established in the climb the commander contacted the cabin crew to confirm if they had heard anything abnormal on the take off. The cabin crew at the back of the aircraft confirmed they had heard “a very big bang” on take off."
The commander informed air traffic control about what happened and declared that assistance may be needed as they chose to stop the plane’s climb while they reviewed what to do. They then decided to return to Manchester as a precautionary landing with the commander choosing to take control.
The report added: “The subsequent approach and landing were uneventful although the commander did report there was significant windshear just prior to touch down. The aircraft landed at 0921 hrs. They briefly stopped the aircraft on the runway to speak to the airport fire service and confirm everything was normal, then taxied to stand without further incident.”
Limited damage was found to the aircraft and the AAIB’s investigation said the co-pilot’s disrupted training and low experience may have contributed to what happened. He joined the operator in 2019 after obtaining his commercial pilot’s licence and completed a jet orientation course followed by a type rating course with a third-party training organisation.
He completed an operator conversion course in March 2020, but his training was then interrupted by public health restrictions associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. He completed refresher training in the simulator followed by base training in the aircraft in July 2021. After a further delay and some additional refresher training in the simulator, his first two line training sectors were completed on January 27, 2022. His third and fourth line training sectors were completed on March 7.
The incident occurred two days later, on the co-pilot’s fifth sector - he had experience totalling 15 hours and 40 minutes flying this type of aircraft beforehand. The report concluded: “During take off on a training flight the trainee co-pilot rotated the aircraft too rapidly, causing the aircraft’s tail to strike the runway. The co-pilot had experienced several delays during his training which would have made it harder to learn the correct technique. His low experience coupled with a slight crosswind is likely to have exacerbated the situation.”
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