As of: April 9, 2024, 7:35 a.m
By: Bettina Menzel
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A flight to Mexico gets off to a bumpy start: When taking off, a plane loses altitude on the runway. The airline Edelweiss is investigating the incident.
Zurich - Last Saturday (April 6th), a disturbing incident occurred at Zurich Airport during the takeoff of an Airbus A340-300 that was traveling to Cancún in Mexico: The plane briefly sank so much that it almost hit the runway touched again. The pilots were able to quickly bring the machine under control. The airline Edelweiss announced that it had initiated an investigation into the incident on flight WK-24.
An Edelweiss airline plane at Zurich Airport (archive image, April 2021). © IMAGO/robertbuchel840/Pond5 Images
First findings about flight WK-24: Gust as a potential cause of sinking?
According to the crew, the aircraft had a tailwind during the rotation, as the
Aviation Herald
magazine reported. The rotation point marks the moment the pilot raises the aircraft's nose during takeoff. Numerous speculations about the possible cause of the incident can be found under the
Aviation Herald
article , including comments such as: “It looks like premature rotation.” This is “very dangerous.” This information could not be verified.
Initial findings from the ongoing investigation indicate that a gust from the back of the aircraft may have caused the incident. A spokesman for the airline Edelweiss told the television station
RTL
that they wanted to analyze the flight data in the coming days and reconstruct the incident. “We have a report from our cockpit crew describing how they experienced the situation and why they acted accordingly. This report will also be evaluated in the next few days,” the spokesman continued. The Swiss airline Edelweiss belongs to the German Lufthansa group.
Dangerous during take-off and landing, but airplanes remain one of the safest means of transport
The takeoff and landing phases are considered the most risky moments during a flight. Recently there were problems when a Boeing 737 was approaching Amsterdam Airport: The plane had difficulties with the flaps and had to abort its attempt to land. Recently there have been increasing reports of problems with Boeing 737 aircraft. Nevertheless, the plane remains one of the safest forms of transport overall.
Despite a significant increase in passenger numbers, 2023 was one of the safest years for international commercial aviation. According to the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry, there were three accidents involving aircraft in civil use last year. A total of 80 people lost their lives, including eight crew members. A total of 4.6 billion passengers were transported in 2023.