Emirates A345 tail strike

[damien b]

From the ABC

A plane has been forced to return to Melbourne Airport overnight after smoke was noticed in the cabin.

The tail of the Emirates flight struck the tarmac as it was taking off late last night, and later returned to the airport after smoke was noticed inside the aircraft.

An airport spokesman says the plane landed safety and none of the 225 passengers were injured.

The cause of the smoke appearing is not yet known.

There are photos of the damage on PPrune and it looks like the fuselage skin was 'removed' in places as some stringers are certainly visible. Some more information is on the site as well including a possible heavy landing and damage to the landing gear.

link to the pprune photos here http://www.pprune.org/d-g-reporting-...strike-ml.html

The ATSB report may be a intersting read when its released.