An Aerosucre Boeing 737-200 clipped the top of a tree while taking off causing damage to its engine and forcing the plane to land.
The cargo plane took off from Puerto Carreno Airport in Colombia (PCR) to Bogota with five crew onboard on February 3, 2022.
According to the Colombian Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which investigated the serious incident, after take-off the jet struck the top of a 14-metre tree located 239-metre past the end of the runway which caused the temporary loss of the left engine
Although the crew members onboard the flight managed to regain thrust the display indicated that temperatures were too high.
The Aviation Herald reported that the aircraft had reached 2,500 feet, but the decision was made to return to Puerto Carreno Airport.
Footage of the Boeing taking off was captured by a doorbell camera at a house near to the airport.
The recording shows the Aerosucre incredibly low and seemingly missing electrical wires by feet.
The investigation by the CAA found that the engine had ingested vegetation, with debris also found in several joints of the slats and the leading edge of the left wing.
The report concluded that the probable cause was “late rotation caused by extreme conditions of aircraft weight and density altitude, that did not permit the aircraft to achieve a sufficient climb rate” and “take-off with more aircraft weight than permitted by performance calculations”.
According to the performance table, with a weight of 108,556.75 lbs, at 34C, the maximum take-off weight was 107,950 and was therefore 606 lbs over.
The CAA said a contributing factor in the incident was the “overconfidence by the crew assuming they would lose sufficient weight during taxi for departure rendering their gross weight within the performance calculations”.
The first officer also reported that he made the rotate call, but the captain did not immediately rotate, perhaps because he needed more speed.