27 January 2004
HONG KONG - Aviation officials in New Zealand said on Tuesday they are investigating an incident in which the tail of a Cathay Pacific jet hit the runway as it took off from Auckland.
The airline has grounded the captain and first officer of the plane as a result of the “tail strike” last Tuesday involving an Airbus A340-300 carrying 145 passengers to Hong Kong.
The plane flew on to Hong Kong - a 10 hour flight - and the damage was discovered on the underside of the wing after it touched down.
Cathay Pacific spokeswoman Lisa Wong described the incident as minor and said the decision to continue with the flight was “a company decision”.
The captain and the first pilot have been removed from flying duties while the investigation into the incident is carried out, Ms Wong said.
Bill Sommer, manager of communications for the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), told Deutsche Press Agentur dpa Cathay had reported the incident to the authority.
“Damage was found on the aircraft consistent with a tail scrape which would have occured on departure from Auckland,” he said. “The CAA is carrying out a routine investigation into the incident.”
Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department (CAD) described the damage to the plane as “not significant” and said it had asked Cathay for a full report into the incident.
The incident is the second of its kind within a year at Auckland Airport. Last March, a Singapore Airlines Boeing 747 with 369 passengers on board jet was forced to make an emergency landing after a tail-strike on take-off last March. The captain was subsequently demoted.
From correspondents in Hong Kong
January 27, 2004
A CATHAY Pacific Airways jet's tail scraped the runway as it took off from New Zealand to Hong Kong last week, and two pilots had been suspended while authorities investigate, the company said today.
Flight CX108 carrying 140 passengers suffered "some scratches" on its tail end during the takeoff in Auckland on Jan. 20, Cathay spokeswoman Lisa Wong said.
Shortly after the takeoff, the pilot checked with Auckland's air traffic controllers, who said they had not seen the incident and that the runway was fine with no evidence of being struck, she said.
The pilot then consulted and received approval from the Hong Kong-based company to continue the flight and the Airbus 340-300 landed safely in Hong Kong, Wong said. No one was injured in the incident.
She said suspension of the pilots was routine under such circumstances.