Tailstrike and runway overrun - Airbus A340-541, A6-ERG, Melbourne Airport, Victoria, on 20 March 2009

Interim Factual report released 18 December 2009

On 20 March 2009, at 2230:49 Eastern Daylight-saving Time (1130:49 UTC), an Airbus A340-541 aircraft, registered A6-ERG, commenced the take-off roll on runway 16 at Melbourne Airport, Vic. on a scheduled 14-hour passenger flight to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Onboard the aircraft (operating as flight number EK407) were 257 passengers, 14 cabin crew and 4 flight crew.

During the reduced thrust take-off, the aircraft's tail made contact with the runway surface, but the aircraft did not begin to climb. The captain commanded and selected take-off and go-around engine thrust, and the aircraft commenced a climb. After jettisoning fuel to reduce the landing weight, the flight crew returned the aircraft to Melbourne for landing.

The investigation has determined that the pre-flight take-off performance calculations were based on an incorrect take-off weight that was inadvertently entered into the take-off performance software on a laptop computer used by the flight crew. Subsequent crosschecks did not detect the incorrect entry and its effect on performance planning.

As a result of this accident, the aircraft operator has undertaken a number of procedural, training and technical initiatives across its fleet and operations with a view to minimising the risk of a recurrence. In addition, the aircraft manufacturer has released a modified version of its performance-planning tool and is developing a software package that automatically checks the consistency of the flight data being entered into the aircraft's flight computers by flight crews.

The investigation has found a number of similar take-off performance-related incidents and accidents around the world. As a result, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has initiated a safety research project to examine those events. The findings of that project will be released by the ATSB once completed. In the interim, the ATSB has drawn this interim report to the attention of relevant Australian operators to highlight the risks when calculating and checking take-off performance information.

On the night of 20 March 2009, an Airbus A340-541, registered A6-ERG and operating as Emirates EK407, with 18 crew and 257 passengers, sustained a tail strike and overran the end of the runway on departure from Melbourne Airport, Victoria. The investigation found that the accident resulted from the use of erroneous take-off performance parameters. Those erroneous parameters were themselves a result of an incorrect take-off weight being inadvertently entered into the electronic flight bag during the pre-departure preparation. Due to a number of factors, the incorrect data entry passed through the subsequent checks without detection.

As part of its investigation of the accident, the ATSB undertook a research study titled Take-off performance calculation and entry errors: A global perspective to review the factors involved in a number of incidents and accidents in the 20 years leading to 2009. That report indicated that this accident was just one of many occurrences involving the use of erroneous take-off performance parameters across a range of aircraft types, operators, locations and types of operation.

As in the accident under investigation, a consistent aspect of these occurrences was the apparent inability of flight crew to perform 'reasonableness checks' to determine when parameters were inappropriate for the flight. Equally significant was that degraded take-off performance was generally not detected by the flight crew until well into the take-off run, if at all. The investigation found that the take-off performance philosophy used in civil transport aircraft did not require the flight crew to monitor the acceleration of the aircraft or provide a reference acceleration that must be achieved.

As a result of the accident, the operator and aircraft manufacturer have taken, or are taking, a number of safety actions. In addition, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has issued a safety recommendation to the United States Federal Aviation Administration and a safety advisory notice to the International Air Transport Association and the Flight Safety Foundation in an effort to minimise the likelihood of future similar events.

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