On the 6th of October, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787 suffered a tail strike while landing at Lubumbashi Airport in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-9 with registration ET-AYC was performing flight ET877 from Lilongwe to Lubumbashi. Before landing safely, the crew performed a go-around and continued for another approach. However, on landing at Lubumbashi’s runway 07, the aircraft struck its tail on the runway.
Nevertheless, it is unclear if the tail strike occurred during the first or second attempted landing. No one was injured in the incident but the aircraft sustained substantial structural damage.
Footage shared on social media shows substantial damage to the aircraft. Despite the damage, the aircraft taxied without any further incidents. At the time of the occurrence, the temperature at Lubumbashi was 32 °C, easterly winds at 12 knots, no gusts and no precipitation.
The Dreamliner remained on the ground in Lubumbashi for about 24 hours before being positioned back to the airline’s headquarters at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.
The aircraft was ferried unpressurised to Addis Ababa as flight ET9201 one day after the incident on October 7th. It climbed to a maximum of FL130 so that pressurisation wouldn’t be necessary.
An investigation will likely be launched as to why the aircraft struck its tail during landing.
Feature Image via Twitter