Tail Strikes
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Tail Strikes
Evening all, just been reading an interesting thread in the tech log about rotation techniques, in particular over rotation leading to a tailstrike. My question:. .. .How serious is a tailstrike?, are there big ones and small ones?. Is it a case of one for the maintenance log, or is it an immediate return to the departure field with possible stuctural concerns?. .. .Appreciate your thoughts.. .. .Regards.
Join Date: Feb 2002
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Inbound,. .. .In the vast majority of cases the flt deck do not know they have had a tail strike and it is picked up on the next sector walkround. If an over rotation was bad enough to be felt in the flight deck then I for one would PAN or evan MAYDAY back to the departure field 'cos the damage will be horrendous.. .. .P.S. I am talking 757 and 319/320/321 'bus here 'cos none of them have a tail skid. The long 75's and 76 have a tail skid but a jolt felt in the flight deck will still require immediate maintenance action.. .. .Cheers.
Join Date: Aug 2001
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A 757 at Brand X had the APU doors ground flat and the lower fuselage skins worn thin enough to poke your fingers through. The lower fuselage frames and stringers were bent and cracked, and in all the aircraft was out of service for 3 weeks sorting out the mess. The crew said they felt nothing up front. JAL I believe had a really ugly incident on a 747-200, and the aft fuselage damage on that had to be seen to be believed. Again the crew had no sense of a problem up in the cockpit.
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Just a thought, the 727-200 has a tail skid and it was not that unusual to find the tail strike indicator sheared off, yet the crews invariably never feel a thing. At least thats what they'd tell us ,and as they was mostly Officers and Gentlemen, well we'd believe 'em......naturally.
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Hmmm, yes indeed the damage can be quite severe. Recall some years ago TWA had a tailstrike in an L10 and the tailskid was ground away (gone), rear pressure bulkhead fractured and number two engine reverser badly damaged.. .Expensive.. .This was done on landing with full flaps...but no slats. The book says maximum 22, but the crew thought otherwise.. .Big mistake.
