JetBlue plane tips backward at JFK Airport gate after ‘shift in weight and balance'
 

Interesting Incident! Thankfully, nobody hurt. Passengers were disembarking.

Photos:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e6f6821f77.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....0221733ea8.jpg

I though that this was not possible with contemporay planes.

NJ post link:

https://nypost.com/2023/10/23/shocki...heelie-at-jfk/

IB

An aircraft built so as to be unable to tip on its tail in any circumstances would be unable to fly.

Taildraggers excepted, obviously. :O

Mainly avoidable by procedure- like offloading baggage from the rear before the front empties.

Maybe it was a group of the anvil collectors club crowded in the aft section waiting for the aisle to clear before lugging their prize anvils out to the terminal.

Some aircraft have provisions for a tail stand for this reason. https://simpleflying.com/aircraft-tail-stand/

I felt a bit uncomfortable when sat near the back on a BA A321 at Heathrow one day. There was a problem with the jetty and it was announced that the rear door would be used for disembarkation.
There was a rush to the back of the, "I must be first off", brigade. The back of aircraft settled quite a few inches as the C of G shifted and the crew PA was to stay in your seat. Of course they did?

Shame that Kennedy Steve has retired. His commentary would have been priceless.

Back in 2000, the USAF sat an Ellsworth B-1 on its tail due to mis-fueling. Repaired and still flying.

Perhaps the McVitties were at the back?

Do I correctly recall an incident at Gatwick years ago involving an A320 or 757 inbound from some holiday spot? The aircraft dropped half the passengers at Gatwick and was then taking the rest to Manchester. The Man people were mostly seated towards the back so the crew asked some of them to move forward. Unbeknown to the flight deck, most of those people then returned to their original seats. As it accelerated, the aircraft felt as though it was prematurely rotating so the crew abandoned take off - and then discovered the imbalance in the cabin!

Think I saw that tale in Pilot..

I remember from many years ago a picture of what I think was a Fedex MD10 sitting on its' tail. The caption underneath was 'Fedex captain loses wallet out of cockpit window'.

I assume your avatar name is just - coincidental - to this event? Looks like this A321 may have a sore bum now. ;)

Anyway, I will be interested to see just what happened here, if the NTSB bothers to take note.

McVitties, a bowling team travelling with their (ahem!) balls as carry-ons, a squad of professional (US) football linemen getting to a game? Or odd cargo distribution down below?

Or possibly someone disabled, or tangled up in their carry-ons, in the aisle mid-airframe, which allowed the front to empty out while delaying forward movement of the rear passengers?

Apologies for the cryptic reference. McVities is a UK biscuit brand. I vaguely recall an ad from my youth where a rumour spread on a airliner that the McVitties were at the back, the passengers all ran aft and the ad then moved to an outside shot showing the airplane nose up heading for a stall. Then again, I can't find it online anywhere so I may have imagined it.

Not the first time, won't be the last. Korean did it in Sit-on-knee a few years, and I had it in my mind there was a 747 there too, but I can't find a reference to it, so perhaps it was only just the MD11...
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....018e103206.jpg

My favorite was a T-tail, probably a 727, that accumulated enough snow overnight to tip. They built a snow pile under the nose gear to prevent disaster if the snow were to slide off the stabilizer.

It must have been in the 1960s as the clipping I recall seeing in 1975 was yellowed with age.

I got it straight away Soarbum you didn’t imagine the advert :)

A few weeks back I noticed DL had a support under the tail of a 737-900 in PIT. Does anyone know which aircraft typically have these supports fitted on the ramp? Or is it just "available" for all and Jet Blue chose not to use it here?

Well of course there is the old Soviet Ilyushin-62, with an extra set of wheels at the tail.

For those who have never seen one, 2 photos:

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....9b4c868bd4.jpg
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....faeda5cf98.jpg


IB

737-900s seem particularly prone to tipping, for obvious reasons, likewise the 757-300, less so the 737-800 (but still possible, depending on factors such as hold loads).

A number of other types are often seen using a tail steady, including many freighters.

One or two of the old propliners, forget which ones... ?

The last few flights I've had on Jet 2, 757 & 321, there was a PA from the CC asking the passengers at the front to wait until the rear passengers had disembarked.
This has only happened recently. Is it due to densification?
I think the early 757s only carried about 180 pax, these days it's nearer 220.

The 757 is 235 in high density, the A321 Neo is 240 for some airlines.
The 75 was see likely to tip because it disembarked fro. door 2, so it emptied from the middle first. The 321 is a doors 1 plane, so the front cabin empties first. Put that together with an aft loading for bags and you can get into trouble if the baggage handlers aren't on their game.
I have to say I never thought it would actually go though!
I remember years ago, sitting on the flight deck and all the light came on and the ECAM went nuts. The aircraft had pitched up enough to set off the ground/air logic. The captain ran out side and low and behold they had started unloading the front hold first.

Tail prop essential on Islanders and Trilanders as I recall. With one in four Britons now obese, and these being striplings compared to some Americans, I wonder if unit weight was a factor in this incident?