Passengers aboard a British Airways flight were left screaming in fear after their plane’s tail struck the runway during a frightening landing attempt at London’s Heathrow Airport, forcing pilots to abandon the touchdown and take the aircraft back into the air.
The terrifying incident unfolded Thursday morning, November 12, as Flight BA431 arrived from Amsterdam. The Airbus A321neo was approaching the runway around 10:35 a.m. when what should have been a routine landing suddenly took a dramatic turn.
Video captured by aviation livestream channel Big Jet TV shows the aircraft swaying as it descends toward the runway. Its left landing gear touches down first, followed by the right, before the plane’s tail appears to scrape against the pavement twice.
Moments later, the pilots pull the aircraft back into the sky, leaving passengers shaken by the unexpected maneuver.
“There were screams. No one knew what was happening,” a source told The Sun, describing the frightening moments inside the cabin.
The incident, known as a tail strike, occurs when the rear of an aircraft makes contact with the runway during takeoff or landing. Depending on the severity, such strikes can cause significant structural damage and require extensive inspections before an aircraft can safely fly again.
Flight BA431’s crew performed what pilots call a “go-around,” an established safety procedure in which an aircraft climbs away from the runway to attempt another landing.
Fortunately, the second attempt went smoothly. The aircraft landed safely at approximately 10:49 a.m., and passengers were able to disembark normally. No injuries have been reported.
The jet was subsequently removed from service for engineering inspections, although the extent of any damage has not been disclosed.
British Airways confirmed that it is cooperating with the United Kingdom’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch as investigators examine what went wrong.
“The aircraft landed safely and we’re assisting the AAIB with its investigation and are legally unable to comment further at this stage,” an airline spokesperson said.
Windy conditions were reported around the time of the incident, but investigators have not determined whether weather, pilot actions or other factors contributed to the frightening landing.
For those aboard, the flight ultimately ended safely, but footage of the aircraft scraping the runway has raised serious questions about what happened in the final seconds before touchdown.