A LATAM Airlines Boeing 777-300 has suffered a tailstrike as it departed from Milan Airport. Having continued with the takeoff, the aircraft continued its climb-out and dumped fuel before making a safe return to the airport 70 minutes later.
The flight involved in the incident was LATAM Brasil flight LA8073 which departed Milan Malpensa Airport (MXP) in Italy on July 9, 2024. The flight was heading to Sao Paulo Guarulhos Airport (GRU) and was being operated by one of the carrier’s 10-strong fleet of Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with registration PT-MUG.
Having taken off from Milan’s runway 35L at 13:26 local time, the aircraft’s tail made contact with the runway surface as the aircraft rotated. Despite the tailstrike, the aircraft continued into the air and climbed out as normal in accordance with standard operating procedures.
Images posted on social media show the aircraft climbing out leaving a large cloud of dust behind it where the underside of the tail struck the runway surface.
The aircraft initially headed north and climbed to 5,000ft before turning south towards an area southwest of the city of Milan where it entered a hold for the crew to assess the aircraft’s technical state and to prepare to dump fuel.
The flight then headed west towards a forested area close to the town of Tronzano Vercellese where it commenced fuel dumping at around 13:50. Having got the aircraft’s weight down to the minimum safe landing weight, the crew left the holding pattern at 14:25 and headed back towards Malpensa Airport where the plane carried out a safe landing back on runway 35L at 14:37, around 70 minutes after departure.
The passengers were disembarked as normal, and the flight was subsequently canceled with the aircraft awaiting inspection. At the time of writing, the aircraft has not flown since and remains on the ground in Milan.
According to ch-aviation, the aircraft involved in the incident (PT-MUG) is 11.8 years old, having first been delivered to LATAM Airlines in October 2012. The aircraft is configured to carry 410 passengers in a three-class configuration – 38 in business class, 50 in premium economy, and 322 in economy. The plane is powered by a pair of General Electric GE90 powerplants and is operated under a long-term lease from Wells Fargo Trust via asset management company Aircastle.