Near Catastrophe: Boeing 777 Scrapes Tail On Takeoff, Avoids Major Incident

A Boeing 777-300ER aircraft operated by Latam, a South American carrier, had to make an emergency landing back at Milan Malpensa Airport due to structural damage sustained when its tail struck the runway, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra. This event, which is referred to as a "tail strike," lasted several hundred metres and continued for several seconds. The Lombardy airport's surveillance cameras recorded the incident.

Watch the video here: 
 

The National Agency for Flight Safety (ANSV) launched an investigation to ascertain the specifics after the incident on July 9. According to experts interviewed by the Corriere, there may have been catastrophic outcomes if the pilots had cancelled the flight because they would not have been able to operate the aircraft, according to the local news outlet.

The jet, which was headed for Sao Paulo, Brazil, can be seen on video dragging its tail hundreds of feet down the runway while grey smoke plumes billowed behind it. As the mayhem started, witnesses claimed to have seen sparks flying from the plane's back.

After takeoff, once the pilots were in the air, they asked the control tower to let them return to the airport to have the aircraft inspected. Before landing in the province of Varese, the captain and first officer had to fly around the plant for an hour and ten minutes to lighten the jet. Once on the ground, passengers and cabin crew were made to disembark. The Boeing is still at Malpensa.