Packed Boeing 777 jet drags its tail during take-off
A Boeing 777 carrying hundreds of passengers was filmed tearing down an Italian runway with its tail dragging on the ground, sending smoke and sparks flying — with an expert praising the pilots for avoiding a “massacre.”
The Chilean LATAM Airlines plane was mid-way through taking off at the Milan Malpensa Airport in northern Italy on Tuesday when the back end suddenly dropped after suffering an apparent malfunction, local outlet Corriere reported.
Video shows the jet, which was bound for Sao Paulo, Brazil, scraping its tail hundreds of feet along the runway as plumes of grey smoke billowed behind it.
Witnesses reported seeing sparks flying from the back of the plane as the chaos unfolded.
The pilots managed to take off before abruptly turning back and safely landing the Boeing jet some 70 minutes later.
None of the passengers or flight crew were injured.
“The pilots were good, from what we can see, at not panicking, at continuing to maintain control of the aircraft until it took flight because if they had interrupted takeoff they would have killed everyone on board,” an aviation expert told the outlet.
“If they had stopped the maneuver it would have been a massacre.”
The aircraft suffered extensive damage during the ordeal and is currently grounded, authorities said.
Investigators with Italy’s National Agency for Flight Safety are currently probing the cause of the malfunction.
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