Tail Strikes From A Pilot's Perspective

Every now and then, we get reports of aircraft suffering from a tail strike during landing.

A British Airways tail strike case that took place in early 2022 has already been investigated and the reason behind the incident was attributed to pilot error. And this is a common finding in almost all tail strike events that have occurred in the past.

Considering the fact that the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 are the most advanced aircraft in the skies today, with so many built-in protections, including systems to prevent tail strikes, it’s interesting that tail strikes can still take place with these aircraft types.

This shows the important role the pilot plays in keeping the tail of the aircraft safe during both take-offs and landings. Let’s examine these types of incidents in today’s video - particularly from the perspective of a pilot…

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[joecrammond]

think the scariest thing i've heard about tail strikes is how some planes weren't repaired properly afterwards leading to crashes later on, for example Japan Airlines Flight 123 and China Airlines Flight 611

[MagicalBacon]

1:35 “Over 65% happen during landings, and 25% during takeoffs.” Where do the other 10% happen? Or is it just unrecorded data?

[NBLCGBLN]

I know two notable instances of a tail strike: the KLM 747 trying to lift off at Tenerife before ramming the Pan Am 747 and that Emirates 777 leaving Melbourne.

[KeemBeckford]

Love how informative this is 👍🏽 great job

[XPLAlN]

I do not think Vr is “directly proportional to weight”. A look through the take off V speed tables confirms this. I don’t think there is a simple way to calculate this speed, you just have to look it up. But if you only wanted to know the unstick speed at some limiting pitch attitude, that would simply vary with root W. And take off run varies, to a good approximation, with V squared. A look through the speed tables shows that operational Vr does not vary as the root of weight either, but a little more. That makes sense as the heavier airplane also has to get a bit nearer to its minimum drag speed (which already increased by root W) in order to get the minimum regulated climb gradient (2.4% for twins assuming one engine out).

[mrcannotfindaname]

I know a captain friend who prefer to start rotating at Vr +3 (to 5) kts. This is to reduce tail strike should there be any miscalculation.

[kelly]

(Speaking as a student, so take it with four truckloads of salt)

There is this idea that we have in aerospace engineering where we *can* design an aircraft that would be nearly impossible to stall, spin, etc. but we instead design aircraft to be capable of stalling and spinning in case the pilots need to sacrifice a bit of performance in that moment to get out of a hairy situation, and we trust the pilots flying the aircraft to not push the aircraft past its limits when it is not needed. We could build in tailstrike protections, but there may always be a time where a tailstrike is preferred to the outcome that could occur when a tailstrike can be prevented, i.e. excess rotation at low speed to avoid another aircraft on the runway. We just trust the pilots flying the aircraft to not push the aircraft to tailstrike conditions when it is not necessary.

[TW]

It’s amazing isn’t it that tail strikes are always usually human error and yet the aviation world seems to believe we should be flying jets by hand everywhere. The automation can fly the aircraft far more accurately and react quicker and perform very very accurate takeoffs and landings but we still only use it for airspace management and lowering workloads.

[havanadaurcy]

China Airlines 611 had this problem. The final investigation report found that the accident was the result of fatigue cracking caused by inadequate maintenance after a much earlier tailstrike incident.

[BetweenTheEvergreenTrees]

65% during landing… 25% during take off… what are the other 10%??

[czjfecs]

I’m saying this out of ignorance, but maybe tail strikes would occur less often if aircraft weren’t designed to maximize the number of people we can stuff inside them. Long-ass tubes aren’t the best shape for getting airborne, staying airborne, or landing.
What if future airports were (re)designed with much wider airstrips and passengers were arranged horizontally along the fuselage of a giant flying wing, instead of a toothpaste bottle?

[Titot]

I was left sore upon landing when the first office gave me multiple tail strikes when I went to use the loo

[eamonahern]

I don't recall being on a plane that had a tail strike. I'm surprised that they happen more often on landing given the nature of the take off roll.

[grahamnash]

There's a lot to be said for tail wheels... LOL

[itzfaroff]

65% during landing and 25% takeoff ok... then where did the rest 10% go?

[comndanty]

atr pilot say there is to kind of atr pilots ones who had a tail strike and others who will have a tail strike 😂😂

[ryan_n]

1:39 65% and 25% don’t make 100%… so when’s the other 10% if tailstrikes?

[ihatemegatron]

65% of tail strikes occur on landing, 25% occur on takeoff. What about the remaining 10%?

[haroldfletcher]

Anyone who doesn’t understand why you have tail strikes has never flown an airplane. If they haven’t flown one, they probably don’t give a darn about tail strikes. Now go away!

[mrtommyboy]

Stopped watching this very interesting video because of the loud and anoying and completely unnecessary music