Ground strike involving a Boeing 767-338ER, VH-OGE, Perth Airport, Western Australia, on 29 November 1994

At the time of taxi out, for a runway 03 take-off, ATIS Delta was current. This advised the surface wind was from 090 degrees, with a wind speed of 20 kts, gusting to 30 kts. The crew arrangements were that the first officer would fly the aircraft from the right hand seat.

Take-off clearance was given to the aircraft and then the tower controller advised the crew that the crosswind was 22 kts. On the take-off roll rotation was commenced as normal. However, the captain sensed the rotation rate then increased and put the palms of his hands on the wheel to try and reduce the rotation.

A brief tail skid strike occurred during lift off. After take-off the tail skid retracted normally. Crew radio discussion with maintenance staff followed and it was considered safe to continue with the flight.

Company policy was that first officers are subject to limitations on the strength of crosswind allowed for them to perform a take-off. In the first year of operations the first officer was limited to 15 kts. The first officer flying the aircraft had been approved to take-off with 20 kts of crosswind.

The captain reported that he had looked at the windsock and assessed the wind strength and considered it did not exceed 20 kts at the time of take-off. Following the incident, it was not possible to determine whether the crosswind had exceeded 20 kts. However, senior company flight personnel considered that the tower report of 22 kts crosswind should have been used for the captain's decision on who should have done the take-off.

Significant Factors

The following factors were considered relevant to the development of the incident:

1. Significant crosswind component present during the take-off.

2. The captain probably made a judgement error in allowing the first officer to do the take-off.

3. An excessive rotation rate occurred during the take-off.