Tail strike on takeoff. United Boeing 767-400 returns to Washington Dulles Airport. Real ATC

THIS VIDEO IS A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE FOLLOWING SITUATION IN FLIGHT:

20-APR-2024. A United Airlines Boeing 767-400 (B764), registration N59053, performing flight UAL260 / UA260 from Washington Dulles International Airport, DC (USA) to Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport (Spain) after departure from runway 1 right was climbing out of Dulles Airport. Meanwhile the flight crew of Aer Lingus Airbus A321neo on the ground informed Ground controller that UAL260 may have had a tail strike on departure. The Departure controller reported the information to the flight crew of UAL260 and they confirmed that. After that United flight 260 entered the hold north of Dulles Airport to run through the checklist, declared an emergency and returned back to the airport of departure. This airplane (N59053) is still on the ground at Dulles Airport (about 36 hours after landing).

#realatc #aviation #airtrafficcontrol

Image from thumbnail was provided by a passenger.
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Timestamps:

00:00 Description of situation
00:17 United Boeing 767-400 takes off from Washington Dulles Airport
01:10 Aer Lingus A321neo reported that United 260 may have had a tails strike on departure
01:48 Departure controller asks if they had a tails strike. Answer is positive
02:30 United 260 contacts Departure controller. The flight crew requests a holding pattern
06:24 The airplane is ready to start approach to runway 1 right
09:31 The flight crew contacts Tower controller
09:50 Landing at Dulles Airport. Communications on the ground
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THE VALUE OF THIS VIDEO:
THE MAIN VALUE IS EDUCATION. This reconstruction will be useful for actual or future air traffic controllers and pilots, people who plan to connect life with aviation, who like aviation. With help of this video reconstruction you’ll learn how to use radiotelephony rules, Aviation English language and general English language (for people whose native language is not English) in situation in flight, which was shown. THE MAIN REASON I DO THIS IS TO HELP PEOPLE TO UNDERSTAND EVERY EMERGENCY SITUATION, EVERY WORD AND EVERY MOVE OF AIRCRAFT.

SOURCES OF MATERIAL, LICENSES AND PERMISSIONS:
Radar screen (In new versions of videos) – Made by author.
Text version of communication – Made by Author.
Video editing - Made by author.

HOW I DO VIDEOS:
1) I monitor media, airspace, looking for any non-standard, emergency and interesting situation.
2) I find communications of ATC unit for the period of time I need.
3) I take only phrases between air traffic controller and selected flight.
4) I find a flight path of selected aircraft.
5) I make an animation (early couple of videos don’t have animation) of flight path and aircraft, where the aircraft goes on his route.
6) When I edit video I put phrases of communications to specific points in video (in tandem with animation).
7) Together with my comments (voice and text) I edit and make a reconstruction of emergency, non-standard and interesting situation in flight.

[poker_rs]

Her communication with ATC is so well spoken & professional.

[malahammer]

I'd say she knew about the tail strike before the Aer Lingus notified ATC.

[PetrolHeadBrasil]

She speaks extremely clearly, calmly, readbacks all the information correctly... Just by listening to her you can tell that she is an excellent professional! It would be an honor to fly with her one day! As for United, just another "normal" day...

[boahneelassmal]

this has to be the best atc and pilot interaction we've ever witnessed.... absolutely everyone did pretty much perfect....
glad we have these examples as well amidst the recent flood of poor performance

[timduggan]

I'm retired from United, but was "legacy" Continental. All of the B-767-400s were originally delivered to CAL. When we were trained ('differences' training fot B767-200 pilots) there was much emphasis on pitch control during rotation.

When the flight was cleared for takeoff, I heard the winds reported as gusty. We'll see if that was a factor?
And I believe the Captain was the Pilot Flying, and the F/O on the radio Monitoring Pilot

[schenry]

The pilot was excellent at her communications. Calm, clear. Very professional and thanking everyone. I would want this pilot to fly my plane trips.

[gregheyheyhey]

Narrator: “In fact, they did not have a ‘good day’”

[DCI]

"We are quite certain that they may have had" 🤨

[donaldgrump]

The crew & ATC communication made this tail strike quite easy, barely an inconvenience.

[jasonrichards]

oh boy, here we everyone is experts on tail

[sandeegrey]

Youtube commenters hear a female voice and lose their marbles, lmao

[idunnoanymore]

I Like how the pilot provided both fuel in pounds and time to avoid repeating.

[FliesFLL]

It's not hard at all to get a tail strike in the 767-300. 8.9 degrees nose up with the mains still on the ground and you are going to nail the tail skid. The 767-400 has longer main gear, but it is also 20 feet longer so I bet it is even easier to do it on this plane.

On the -300, I rotate a few degrees and let the plane fly off the runway. Only when I am 30-40 feet off the ground do I slowly pull the nose up into the command bars. And it is best to land this airplane kind of flat too, with only about 2 degrees nose up for the flare.

I wonder if this was an IOE flight....

Great video!

[jorgeB-ER]

Perhaps the weight/balance figures were off by hundreds of lbs, which may have affected the rotation speed. If V1 was too low for the actual aircraft weight, the pilot rotated too early. In any case I'm sure the pilots knew about the tail strike as soon as it occurred, as did the passengers and flight attendants sitting in the back, and they should have advised the tower they had an issue and to stop the climb. Now people may think they wanted to continue the flight to Spain disregarding the tail strike.

[Michael_K_Woods]

The pilot flying, did in fact, not have a good day when they had to talk to the chief pilot. Pilot monitoring on the other hand earned a W.

[AdHominem]

What a pilot monotoring to have in a sotuation like that, sure makes a difference! Very well done!

[shirleysmith]

She's young and very professional!!

[simonf]

She knew before they told her. Why did she not call it in immediately?

[ddavidone]

You would think there would be a tail strike sensor or something so you know for sure. I was on a plane once that had to return due to a “possible” tail strike. Turned out to be fine

[robertlafnear]

This lady is ON POINT in every way.... I'd fly anywhere with her up front I flew Denver to Wisconsin with an all female perfect ride in every way .. GREAT JOB !