[Philip Argy]

This report is from the Avherald at http://avherald.com/h?article=416c9997&opt=0

Accident: Emirates A345 at Melbourne on Mar 20th 2009, tail strike and overrun on takeoff
By Simon Hradecky, created Friday, Mar 20th 2009 23:11Z, last updated Saturday, Mar 21st 2009 08:12Z

An Emirates Airlines Airbus A340-500, registration A6-ERG performing flight EK-407 from Melbourne,VI (Australia) to Dubai (United Arab Emirates) with 225 people on board, experienced a tail strike on takeoff from Melbourne's runway 16 (length 3657 meters/12000 feet) at around 22:30 local (12:30Z), hit the runway end lights and the localizer antenna past the end of runway 16. The airplane climbed out safely, went to dump fuel overhead the ocean at Port Phillip Bay but returned for an immediate emergency landing when smoke started to fill the cabin about 30 minutes after takeoff. The airplane landed heavily on Melbourne's runway 34 and was able to taxi to the apron after being checked out by emergency services.

Severe abrazions occured to the tail skin and several access panels were ripped off during the tailstrike, the landing reportedly caused additional damage to the gear.

The Melbourne Airport confirmed, that several runway end lights were damaged in the accident, too, and needed to be replaced. NOTAMs (NOTices for AirMen) state, that the ILS runway 16 will not be available until March 23rd: "F2248/09 - ILS RWY16 'IMS' FREQ 109.7 NOT AVBL. 20 MAR 16:10 2009 UNTIL 23 MAR 07:00 2009 ESTIMATED. CREATED: 20 MAR 16:10 2009"

In daylight Saturday morning it was established, that the airplane was still on the ground when it passed the runway end during takeoff, according gear tracks were found in the soft ground past the runway end.

PPRune mentions a rumour that freight shifted to the rear on rotation - that potentially adds an interesting element to the factual matrix and perhaps shifts the focus to the loadmaster more than the flight crew.