The Smart Marty Sky Dispatch
Muscle Memory: Heathrow Tail Strike Wrote Off 33-Year-Old Airbus A300 After Aborted Landing
The incident occurred more than a year ago, but an AAIB bulletin has now shed more light on the circumstances surrounding it.
A DHL-branded Airbus A300-600F, operated by European Air Transport Leipzig, was on approach to London Heathrow Airport when a tail strike occurred during landing. The incident happened on the first landing attempt, after which the aircraft performed a go-around and then made a second landing attempt. After touchdown on the second approach, the jet did not fly again and was subsequently written off, according to the report summarized by Simple Flying and the referenced AAIB bulletin.
The report notes that the tail strike happened on the initial landing attempt at Heathrow, leading to a go-around, followed by a second landing attempt which completed but resulted in the aircraft being written off. Details about injuries, the exact number of crew or passengers, and the immediate condition of anyone on board are not provided in the material. The event is described as a write-off in the sources compiled by Simple Flying, which cites an AAIB bulletin as providing the additional circumstances surrounding the incident.
The aircraft involved was an Airbus A300-600F wearing DHL branding, operated by European Air Transport Leipzig. The sources do not specify the flight number, serial, or exact tail configuration beyond the model and operator, but they confirm the aircraft was a freighter on a landing at Heathrow where the tail strike occurred during the first approach and the second landing subsequently followed. No other aircraft were reported as being involved in the incident.
Location and timing details given indicate the event occurred at London Heathrow Airport during a landing sequence. The Precision of the timing (date and local time) is not stated in the provided material. The report confirms that the tail strike happened on landing, precipitating a go-around and a second landing attempt at the same airport, with the outcome described as the aircraft being written off after the second touchdown.
Emergency response and investigations: The material references an AAIB bulletin as the source of the detailed circumstances, implying that the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch conducted or contributed to the investigation. The specifics of emergency response actions, such as fire services, airport authorities, or recovery operations, are not described in the supplied material. There is no report of injuries or fatalities within the supplied material, and no explicit mention of the investigation’s preliminary conclusions beyond attributing the write-off to the landing incident as described.
The New York Post coverage included in the provided material discusses a separate aviation event involving a sightseeing helicopter near New York City that conducted an emergency landing due to an engine failure. This incident is presented as occurring near the morning hours and near New York City, with the outcome not fully detailed in that source. ABC7 New York corroborates this helicopter emergency landing on a pier in Bayonne, New Jersey, reporting damage to the helicopter including a sheared tail rotor and debris on the pier. The Bayonne pier location distinguishes this account from other mentions. WJTV and NBC 6 South Florida provided broader or parallel aviation coverage, but their reports either summarize multiple sources or focus on different incidents in other locations, not adding new injuries or aircraft details for the New York helicopter event. WFLA also references another aviation incident in Florida (a separate floatplane event near Estero Bay) that is unrelated to the New York helicopter event. The material does not establish injuries or precise outcomes for the helicopter event beyond the reported damage and the fact that emergency landing occurred on a pier in Bayonne.
Across the material, the primary aviation incident described is the DHL A300-600F at Heathrow with a tail strike on landing, a go-around, and a second landing that led to the aircraft being written off. The other aviation items in the material relate to a separate helicopter emergency landing near New York City and the various outlets’ reporting on that event, including Bayonne, New Jersey, as the pier location, but these do not connect to the Heathrow event beyond being included in the same collection of coverage. No further details, such as specific injuries, exact times, weather conditions, or the precise investigative findings beyond the existence of an AAIB bulletin, are provided in the supplied material.