No-one on board was injured.The speed of the jet when it tore out fixtures at and beyond the end of the runway was at least 290.8 kmh.The airline is quoted by the ATSB as saying it will review some of its procedures.The jet was using (as almost all airliners do) a reduced thrust ‘flexible’ take off process that saves on engine wear and tear but is calculated to produce a safe takeoff, even with an engine failure, on the runway available, provided the data used by the flight management computers is the The captain had flown for 98.9 hours in the previous 30 days, or nearly 20 hours longer than most Qantas pilots might expect from a roster, while the first officer had racked up 89.7 duty hours.These factual disclosures by the ATSB ought to cause a serious review by Emirates of key aspects of its operations.Or they could set the scene for a truly horrific accident if left unaddressed, and one which no amount of generous sporting and cultural sponsorship deals by Emirates, which brings you the Melbourne Cup, could ever overcome.Ben Sandilands has reported and analysed the mechanical mobility of humanity since late 1960 - the end of the age of great scheduled ocean liners and coastal steamers and the start of the jet age. Choose Emirates airline to enjoy our world-class service on all flights.
- Emirates The takeoff was planned as a reduced-power takeoff and the first officer was the handling pilot for the departure. ATSB air accident investigators could know as soon as this afternoon what sort of incident they are dealing with after an Emirates A345 with more than 230 people on board was severely damaged on taking off from Melbourne Airport on Friday night. ATSB air accident investigators could know as soon as … Was it badly flown? This was the nearest thing Australia has ever had to a fully loaded jet airliner disaster in which the aircraft was damaged yet no-one was killed or injured. Was it superbly flown, as many believe, in dealing with an unexpected crisis at a moment when the jet was moving too fast to safely stop?Whatever the reasons and sequence of events, one thing is indisputable. Did an engine fail? Please select a valid form Fatigue also was a factor. This would have played havoc with control of the jet, or did a sudden upward pitch in the jet initiate a roll back by a container making things much worse? He’s worked in newspapers, radio and TV in a wide range of roles as a journalist at home and abroad for 56 years, the last 18 freelance. With its nose pointed high and its engines blasting tracks in the grass , it missed a brick building by as little as 50 cms.The ATSB has recovered the various flight data and cockpit voice recorders from the jet and is believed to be interviewing the flight crew.
This event was classified by the South African authorities as an incident rather than an accident. Assuming the data recorders are in perfect condition, a really good overview of the events including during the subsequent emergency landing at Melbourne should be readily available to the investigators.The jet is known to have experienced as least one but possibly three or more tail strikes during its takeoff roll. Please select a valid form The cause of the crash was pilot error; The wrong weight was calculated for takeoff, causing a slower than normal acceleration. This was the most serious incident ever to happen without loss of life in airline operations in Australia.And it is fortunate it didn’t happen flying out of Sydney instead, because of the 50% chance that a well loaded jet making a 14 hour flight would have departed toward the rising ground of inner western suburbs, or hit the container storage yards just outside the airport.When flight EK 407 belted off the end of the runway it used at Tullamarine doing close to 280 kmh it took out an instrument landing system antenna at a point about 150 centimetres above the ground, with the underside of its tail.The ground beyond sloped downwards. For both pilots it was only their second flight in an A340-300, and it was the flying pilot's first flight in this type of aircraft in that role. It is responsible for the conditions under which flight crew work.The airline has a terrific reputation for passenger service and strategic thinking in developing its Dubai hub.But what is going on in its flight standards division for the events on EK 407 this night to have even been possible?These are some of the highlights of the timeline (in UTC) in the ATSB report, as the jet began to take off from runway 16, which is 3657 metres long, showing the distance remaining at each point.The flight climbed to 7000 feet and dumped fuel over Port Phillip Bay to reduce its weight to a safer level for landing.The jet was severely damaged by the accident. But that alone would not have prevented the flight taking off well before hitting the antenna.Like the overwhelming proportion of jet aircraft departures made today, the Emirates jet is believed to have been making a reduced thrust takeoff. A severe tail strike incident by a Singapore Airlines 747 several years ago in Auckland was caused by the pilots not being given the correct weight and load information.Emirates was severely criticised by the South African equivalent of the ATSB after another superficially similar incident at Johannesburg on 9 April 2004, when two inexperienced A340-300 pilots smashed their jet through the landing lights at the end of the main runway and managed a safe return.However until the ATSB reveals more nothing is really clear.Unless of course, someone in the container loading detail at Melbourne Airport has run away to join the French Foreign Legion.Ben Sandilands has reported and analysed the mechanical mobility of humanity since late 1960 - the end of the age of great scheduled ocean liners and coastal steamers and the start of the jet age. They are certified as safe even in the event of an engine failure because the procedure is set to ensure that even then, the aircraft will become airborne and clear any obstacles near the end of the runway.There have been numerous incidents similar to the EK 407 accident involving different types of passenger and freighter aircraft.
He’s worked in newspapers, radio and TV in a wide range of roles as a journalist at home and abroad for 56 years, the last 18 freelance. These are almost universally used by airlines to save fuel and reduce airport noise. Airbus A340 plane crashes Incident details from Flightglobal.