Plane Damaged After Tail-strike
China Airlines confirmed that an A330 Airbus was damaged after a tail-strike incident during landing. The plane was forced to abort the landing and do a fly-around.
The Aviation Safety Council has confirmed that damage to the aircraft structure is substantial and extends to the pressurized section. The council will carry out a full investigation of the incident.
The accident occurred on a flight from Manila as it was attempting to land at Taipei Taoyuan International Airport.
A tail-strike can occur on take-off or landing when if the nose of the aircraft is pulled up too aggressively.
While a tail-strike is not a catastrophic event in itself, damage resulting from a tail-strike has been known to lead catastrophic events in the future life of aircraft.
On 25 May 2002 China Airlines flight 611 disintegrated in mid-air between Taipei and Hong Kong killing all 225 people on board. Investigators determined that the break-up was caused by metal-fatigue traced back to a tail-strike incident 22 years before.
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