Smoke fills cabin before plane dumps fuel in Port Phillip Bay

[oz_mark]

Smoke fills cabin before plane dumps fuel in Port Phillip Bay | Herald Sun

A SMOKE-filled Emirates flight from Melbourne Airport made an emergency landing last night after dumping fuel into Port Phillip Bay.

An emergency services source told the Sunday Herald Sun the A340-500's tail hit the tarmac as it took off from Melbourne Airport for Dubai at 10.30pm.

 

[munitalP]

None of the other online news sites have picked this story up yet...

I did hear a plane doing laps last night, I assumed it was something out of AVV - maintenance tests or similar...

Mr!

 

[Mwenenzi]

None of the other online news sites have picked this story up yet..

That is becasue its not Qantas.

Report is on the ABC Vic plane emergency landing 'terrifying'

 

[NYCguy]

That is becasue its not Qantas.

Report is on the ABC Vic plane emergency landing 'terrifying'

People seem to be easily terrified these days, don't they?

I mean, really... A tail-strike and a bit of smoke?

The poor little flowers...

 

[Nigelinoz]

Some excellent pics here:
EK407 Tailstrike @ ML - PPRuNe Forums

 

[turtlemichael]

People seem to be easily terrified these days, don't they?

I mean, really... A tail-strike and a bit of smoke?

The poor little flowers...

Do you need the wing to fall off to be really scared?

While some of the techos here can tell us how serious such a thing could be, I imagine the Joe passengers who apparently heard and felt it and those who saw a cabin with smoke in it may be a touch on the apprehensive or terrified side.

 

[NYCguy]

Smoke in the cabin at FL390 half-way between EZE and SYD would be reason enough for me to be concerned. That would be a tale worth telling, particularly if you managed to get back on the ground in one piece.

What I would like to know is how a tail-strike could cause the cabin to "fill" with smoke? Joe Public and Betty Housecoat not only scare easily, I daresay they might be prone to exaggerate a little too.

 

[oz_mark]

Some excellent pics here:
EK407 Tailstrike @ ML - PPRuNe Forums

Interesting thread - taking out stuff at the end of the runway sounds much like they ran out of runway and had to take off, and if they were still a bit slow putting the tail down is often an outcome.

Will be interesting to see what the ATSB have to say.

 

[Mal]

Interesting thread - taking out stuff at the end of the runway sounds much like they ran out of runway and had to take off

Yeah, the ATSB report will make good reading.

The damage won't be simple to repair either!

 

[turtlemichael]

Yeah, the ATSB report will make good reading.

The damage won't be simple to repair either!

For what it is worth some on the PPRuNE thead are suggesting this was not a long way off being a disaster. Or should I take that with a grain of salt?

 

[straitman]

For what it is worth some on the PPRuNE thead are suggesting this was not a long way off being a disaster. Or should I take that with a grain of salt?

Post on PPrune are opinions and as such are prone to exaggeration however no where near as much as the media reports tend to do so :!:

Having now read the PPrune thread I'd have to say this was very serious IMHO :!:

 

[Nigelinoz]

Interesting thread - taking out stuff at the end of the runway sounds much like they ran out of runway and had to take off, and if they were still a bit slow putting the tail down is often an outcome.

Will be interesting to see what the ATSB have to say.

Yeah it will be very interesting to see what the ATSB says,the most intersting words I've read so far are these one-

A Melbourne Airport spokesman said flight EK407, headed for Dubai with 225 passengers on board, returned to the airport about 30 minutes after take-off, about 10.30pm (AEDT) last night.
"It was what's known in the industry as a 'tail hit at take off'. It took off very steeply, the tail touched the end of the runway, and it went up, stabilized and came back,'' he said.

 

[straitman]

A Melbourne Airport spokesman said flight EK407, headed for Dubai with 225 passengers on board, returned to the airport about 30 minutes after take-off, about 10.30pm (AEDT) last night.
"It was what's known in the industry as a 'tail hit at take off'. It took off very steeply, the tail touched the end of the runway, and it went up, stabilized and came back,'' he said.

Certainly not what I would call a technical description :!:

 

[serfty]

Post on PPrune are opinions and as such are prone to exaggeration however no where near as much as the media reports tend to do so :!:

Having now read the PPrune thread I'd have to say this was very serious IMHO :!:

Looking again at that PPRuNe thread, if this post has any credence/applicability, there are some very lucky people around today:

I'm certainly no expert, just an unfortunate FF, but having just come back from YMML, I can tell you that it hit the antenna that is about 300m south of 34. The big orange array that is about 6 -7 ft tall.

:shock::shock:

 

[NM]

[speculation]
With that sort of damage, I suggest there was a problem with some numbers. This has happened before with a SQ 747 out of AKL where the miscalculated the VR based on an incorrect weight number and tried to rotate too early. Or a major weight and balance misjudgement in the cargo loading.

Given the antenna damage at the end of the runway, I am assuming it not an accidentally early rotation that was the cause.

So one explanation is that the aircraft was overweight. Or the V numbers were miscalculated. Or rotation was attempted too early or too aggressively.

I suppose they may have encountered wind-sheer right at the rotation point??
[/speculation]
Whatever the cause, the passengers have every right to be shaken by such events.

However, the report that the fuel was dumped INTO Port Philip Bay is likely to be a little misleading. Fuel dumping is done with ATC permission and generally at an altitude where the liquid fuel vaporises and dissipates into the atmosphere long before reaching sea/ground level. The aircraft took 20 mins to return, so I assume they climbed to an appropriate level to dump safely OVER Port Philip Bay and not INTO the bay.

 

[oz_mark]

Interesting bit on AVherald about this

In daylight Saturday morning it was established, that the airplane was still on the ground when it passed the runway end during takeoff, according gear tracks were found in the soft ground past the runway end.

The Aviation Herald

Seems they really did run out of runway and had to take off. How that came to pass will be interesting to read

 

[munitalP]

the PPRuNe thread...

After reading it - wow...:!:

Channel 9 news last night gave this incident 20 seconds if any, QF turning back because of a faulty bit of kit dominates the news for 2 days or more!

If what the boys at PPRuNe are saying is right, the PAX were lucky to be still here,

"In daylight Saturday morning it was established, that the airplane was still on the ground when it passed the runway end during takeoff, according gear tracks were found in the soft ground past the runway end."

Now that would scare the bejesus out of me...


Mr!

 

[Nigelinoz]

The more I hear about this the more I'm starting to think that this was a very close thing to a major incident,a friend who lives quite close to the airport rang me last night and said that he had just arrived home and was in his front yard and heard the plane above,he says the engines were literally "screaming" and obviously at max power to get the thing off the ground.
Apparently there were three strikes and the whole length of runway(and some) was used,sounds like either someone made an error in doing the weight/power calculations or there was a loading issue,perhaps with a container shifting on takeoff roll,either way as those at PPRuNe who know more than I are saying the ATSB report should make chilling reading.

 

[munitalP]

I've been playing with photoshop. The dimensions are close as is the scale, however, don't plan a landing on this!

It was close - very very close - why isn't it headline news?

 

[oz_mark]

The more I hear about this the more I'm starting to think that this was a very close thing to a major incident,a friend who lives quite close to the airport rang me last night and said that he had just arrived home and was in his front yard and heard the plane above,he says the engines were literally "screaming" and obviously at max power to get the thing off the ground.

To be honest, I always thought most take-offs were done with the engines cranked up a fair way. The difference in this case is more likely that the plane was lower to the ground hence would sound louder.