Tail Strike! Latam Airlines 9 July 2024

LINKS:

[scottpescatore]

I was a passenger on this flight, seat 2C. Yes I felt the strike, it was a loud bang as if we blew a tire, followed by intense vibrations which shook all the luggage in the overhead compartments . Seemed like we used all the runway with only the nose off the ground until finally we lifted off and the vibrations stopped. There was only one communication from the pilot (in Portuguese) telling us there was a problem and we would be dumping fuel and returning immediately. We landed safely about 90 mins later greeted by a couple dozen emergency vehicles, police and stunned looking ground crew. We didn’t receive any further communication from the flight crew except being counted a few times before exiting via air stairs. When we finally got on the bus I could see a nice hole in the underside of the tail. Fortunately everyone was calm throughout and we all walked away without any issues.

[lebojay]

Impressive how the crew managed to keep the tail on the ground even after all the wheels had left the concrete.

[patrickchase]

That's not a tail strike. That's a tail drag.

[riccardocolombo]

Hi Juan, as a turnaround coordinator who works in LIMC/MXP, from what i can ghater from the video, i would say that the tail strike began at the height of the intersection DA/DE of RWY 35L and ended at the height of the intersection EM/ EW, it would indicate that the tail strike lasted for 600m and the main landing gear lifted off a few instants after they passed EM/EW, which means that the airplane was effectively airborne at a distance of 650/700m form the RWY 17R threshold.
To verify my theory, we can take into account the typical average Vr of a 777-3
(130-160Kt) and how long the tail strike lasted (~8/10").. it seems that math is matching my theory.
Even though the tail drag was incredibly long, the damage that the aircraft reported was not serious, only the tail skid system was “ripped off”.
As a matter of fact, the aircraft departed today from LIMC following a non major technical inspection.
If you are interested to see photos and videos of the aircraft shortly after it landed back in LIMC, do not hesitate to reach me out.
Take care Juan

[ColeDedhand]

If you scrape the tail for a couple hundred feet, that's a tail strike. If you drag the tail two thousand feet with your mains off the ground, that's gotta have a different name.

[Ratmoonapper]

I have been watching your channel for quite some time now, but this is the first time you have put me on the floor out of my desk chair nearly dying of laughter. Slim Pickens would have done the same thing. I am willing to believe he came out of his grave just for a moment to laugh himself before going back to his long rest in appreciation for your well timed and very well chosen remark about this aviation...whatever this was. Thank you for the ab workout! I needed it!

[didittraveller]

“What in the wide, wide world of sports is a goin’ on’. LOL One of the best lines from Blazing Saddles.

[svcan]

I don't often comment on posts from anyone, but THIS is worthy! Juan's straight-faced dry humour - WOW! Beautiful. Anyway, I have years of maintenance and decades of ramp services experience and my immediate thought on this was the aft cargo load was unsecured and rolled back on acceleration for the takeoff roll. I'll be surprised if the back end crew didn't hear the thumping of the containers under their feet when they moved.

[robertwolcott]

Stanley Steamer “Toby’s new trick” comment and pic had me rolling Juan 😂😂😂

[tbirdracer]

Omg. That old commercial you brought up took me back in time! I was laughing my butt off! I always enjoy your channel!

[tanarosegreen]

"Hard on the airplane and scares the passengers."

[hernanhernandez]

Latam should put "wheelie bars" on their 777s just like NHRA dragsters. Minimizes damage...

[jlangevin]

Juan doesn't often inject humor into his analysis, but when he does it's great.

[chairlife]

"Don't do this. It's hard on the airplane and scares the passengers." Thats great!

[commerce-usa]

Surprised not to see luggage exiting from the back. Remarkable.

[gilliantracy]

This unfortunately reminds me of a chartered TIA DC-8 that I saw crash at JFK in Sept of 1971. We were landing on the parallel when an aircraft took off almost vertically to about 300 ft and rolled and came down on the runway. NTSB said that asphalt pebbles from a newly paved taxiway that the aircraft taxied on jammed the elevator nose up. The pilots, both with a ton of time on the aircraft didn’t understand why there was early rotation and also didn’t realize the tail was dragging on takeoff. Instead of just stopping they decided to keep going and lift off sealing their fate. I’m glad this flight returned safely.

[JohnLeaman-unrh]

Aft bulkhead damage brings down aircraft, number of bulkhead fasteners compromised is critical. Thanks Juan for your report.

[LuvSubbin]

I don't know much about tail striking a 777 but my dog used to do that on our carpet all the time... Thanks for including the link.

[Watchdog_McCoy_.x]

Gives a new meaning to the term Tail Dragger...

[williamlloyd]

Tail strike incident reminds me of the root cause of Japan Air Lines Flight 123 disaster. On August 12, 1985, the Boeing 747 suffered a severe structural failure and decompression 12 minutes into the flight. Ultimately determined to be a failed bulkhead repair failure from an earlier tail strike.