An Emirates Airline jet came within centimetres of crashing at Melbourne airport last month when it barely cleared the 2.4-metre perimeter fence on takeoff, it was claimed Sunday.
Referring to an Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ASTB) investigation update Australia’s Melbourne Herald Sun newspaper said it had been placed in the most serious category of aircraft mishap available to it – an accident, rather than an incident.
“During the take-off the aircraft’s tail scraped the runway surface. Subsequently smoke was observed in the cabin,” the newspaper report said.
A preliminary report is due out before the end of the month.
The pilot of the Airbus A340-500, carrying 225 passengers on a flight to Dubai aborted the flight and made an emergency landing in Melbourne after dumping fuel over the ocean.
Two pilots have since resigned.
An investigation by the Sunday Herald Sun claimed that the flight – EK407 to Dubai – almost failed to become airborne and barely made it over the airport perimeter fence, half a kilometre away.
The fully-laden Airbus A340-500 was believed to have been travelling about 280km/h when it reached the end of the runway without becoming airborne.
At the last minute, the two pilots ‘rotated’ the plane – or pulled its nose up into a steep ascent – causing its tail to crash into the end of the runway, it was claimed.
Despite its steep climb, the plane was still so low that it wiped out strobe lights that were only 70cm high and positioned 170m from the end of the runway.
It then took out an antenna, believed to be near a small building, before barely making it over the 2.44m wire perimeter fence, the newspaper also claimed.
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